With support from dozens of Brown volunteers, a Brown biology professor and men's crew coach launched a free program that brings rowing and science lessons to local middle schoolers from the Providence area.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Growing up, Nigel Fortes found little interest in playing sports. After a brief stint in youth soccer at age five, he felt discouraged when his command of the sport didn't come quickly.
"I did one six-week soccer session, and I didn't like it," said Fortes, now a ninth-grader at East Providence High School. "I thought I'd make a lot more progress, and I would get frustrated when that didn't happen."
A few years later at Edward R. Martin Middle School, Fortes described himself as a "techy" kid who might have easily ruled out sports altogether. That changed, however, in the summer before eighth grade when he discovered a new, natural athleticism he never knew he possessed through a sport he didn't know existed - rowing. With limited budgets, most public schools don't offer the sport, and lessons and dues for club rowing can be costly. Travel expenses for regattas can also hinder participation.
So how did Fortes end up a rower?
Determined to expand the reach and accessibility of the sport, two members of the Brown University community - Kristi Wharton, a biology professor and president of the Narragansett Boat Club, and men's crew coach Paul Cooke - joined forces to create a program designed to introduce rowing to Providence-area middle schoolers.
The free summer and after-school program, named STEM to Stern, couples rowing lessons on the Seekonk River in Providence with hands-on science lessons in Brown classrooms led by University faculty and students. By partnering with Martin Middle School, the San Miguel School in Providence and the Boys and Girls Club of East Providence, the program recruits nearly a dozen middle school students each summer, fall and spring and has welcomed more than 30 newcomers to the sport since its start in 2021.
