Sam Fearnow
Major: Criminal Justice
Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI

For me, being a member of the rowing team happened by pure coincidence. After leaving the Marines in 2008 and heading back home to Grand Rapids, I started taking classes at Grand Rapids Community College, and eventually transferred to Grand Valley. When I started at GVSU I had no real intention of getting involved in the campus life or even of making any friends. I planned on taking my classes and that’s it; spending as little time as possible on campus. The second day of classes however, fate intervened. While walking to class I passed by Geoff Sadek, the Novice Men’s Coach, who was recruiting for rowing team. He took one look at me and knew that I was going to be a rower before he even started talking. It didn’t take him long to convince me to come to the informational meeting, and after that I started going to practice. I told myself every day, “I will just go one more day and see how it turns out.” But by the end of my first semester I had been hooked. Although I have only been a member of the team for two years, I am proud of those two years. I have made some new friends and a lot of fond memories that will stick with me for a long time.