The Philadelphia City Rowing season-end awards ceremony went virtual this year. A total of fourteen student-athletes received awards, including the fifth annual Urban Engineers Edward M. D’Alba Leadership Award Scholarship, the Golden Hammer Award (top 2k erg score), the Golden Duct Tape Award (most improved student-athlete), and the Golden Buoy Award (a student-athlete who displays a positive attitude).
 

The Edward M. D’Alba Leadership Award Scholartship: Seth Lopez

Science Leadership Academy at Beeber graduate, Seth Lopez, was awarded the 2020 Edward M. D'Alba Leadership Award Scholarship presented by Urban Engineers. Seth will be attending West Chester University of Pennsylvania in the fall.

This is the fifth time this award has been presented by Urban Engineers and Mr. Edward M. D'Alba to a PCR student-athlete who demonstrates leadership on and off the water. Mr. D'Alba is a longtime rower and athlete who found great success in business in the engineering field, serving as the president and CEO of Urban until retiring in 2016.

"I never thought I could be addicted to a sport, but I knew I wanted to keep coming back to PCR. Although I learned to enjoy hard work, that isn't what brought me back to the river every day. Rather, it was the newfound trust that I had with my teammates, and how they wanted me to keep coming back, which made it all the more enjoyable. What seemed so scary at first was now so comforting. This is when rowing became my passion and PCR my new safe space." — Seth Lopez

You can read more about the award here: https://urbanengineers.com/news/fifth-annual-edward-m-d-alba-scholarship.

Novice Women

Golden Hammer: Simone Roberts (Center City Slam Bronze Medalist)
Golden Duct Tape: Chloe Capizzi (2:30 improvement on 2k erg test)
Golden Buoy: Olivia Crockett

Novice Men

Golden Hammer: Tim Panagoplos
Golden Duct Tape: Patrick Davis (3:50 improvement on 2k erg test)
Golden Buoy: Cameron Roberts

Varsity Women

Golden Hammer: Julianna Rogers (Will row for Drexel University this fall)
Golden Duct Tape: Asata Mander
Golden Buoy: Ava Campagna

Varsity Men

Golden Hammer: Adam Lutz
Golden Duct Tape: Dwayne Campbell and April Serrano (April's photo is featured below!)
Golden Buoy: Oscar Wahl

The staff and coaches of PCR hosted an awards ceremony to remember. In addition to the individual awards, there were heartfelt speeches by student-athletes and coaches, a senior slideshow, and a commemorative video put together by Coach Gabi and the junior class. All eighteen seniors graduated from the School District of Philadelphia and all have plans to further their education or professional training at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities. PCR's 2020 senior class will be attending the University of Pennsylvania (2), Drexel University (2), Temple University (2), West Chester University (2), Northeastern University (2), Spelman College, Penn State University, Marietta College, the Community College of Philadelphia, the School of Visual Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Although we will miss the class of 2020, we are proud of all that they have accomplished and are grateful for everything they’ve done for our program. We are extremely excited to see what these outstanding young people achieve in the next chapter of their lives. Because of their phenomenal leadership, we are confident that the younger generations of PCR student-athletes will carry on the traditions and team culture set by this class of seniors, including hard work, unparalleled sportsmanship, and a deep commitment to their teammates. PCR novice rower and Golden Buoy award winner, Cameron Roberts, shared some thoughts with the team on his novice year experience at PCR:

“To my coaches and teammates: I appreciate being here and talking to you all. The beginning of the novice year for me was... it wasn’t easy. It was a huge change. But a few weeks in, you learn that rowing is more than a sport. It’s more like a family. The coaches care, but they also know you have that extra inch you can reach, and those extra 50 watts you can pull. They know you can do better than you did yesterday, and way better than you did a week ago. But like I said before, it’s a family, so not only do the coaches get you to give that extra push, it’s also your teammates. Sometimes your teammates push you even harder than your coaches. When someone is done on the erg, they get right off and go over to someone that is still working hard to cheer them on. By the end of the workout, everyone is gathered together around those who are still erging cheering them on. This isn’t just a sport, it’s much, much more than that.”