As college counselor, Judy Oberlander has helped hundreds of Ojai Valley School students navigate the college application process and get into the schools of their dreams.
But there’s a side to the college counselor most students know nothing about.
Since January of last year, Ms. Oberlander has been a member of the Casitas Rowing Club, rising early most mornings, before the school day begins, to skim across the water at Lake Casitas, her sleek, fiberglass shell cutting cut through the cold fog floating above the lake.
Ms. Oberlander joined the club after taking a rowing class at Lake Casitas two years ago. She began rowing in sculls, holding one, two, or four rowers. Last April, she was propelled into the regular rowers group and started rowing in a sweep boat, which holds eight rowers and a coxswain.
“It’s always a great workout and a lot of fun,” Ms. Oberlander said.
The difficulty of the sport sets it apart from others.
Rowers strive to be completely synchronized. If just one rower in a boat shifts his or her body the wrong way, the entire boat is affected. Being fully mentally and physically focused presents a challenge to rowers, but it’s those challenges Ms. Oberlander loves most of all.
“I have no time to focus on anything else,” she said.
The focal point of rowing is physical memory and mental concentration, both traits that Ms. Oberlander has developed to a more advanced level because of the sport. Her dedication has given her an incredible outlet, and her passion parallels that of many athletes at OVS.
“I think it’s great that Ms. Oberlander has this passion for rowing and she is able to fit it into her busy schedule, because college counseling is no simple task,” said senior Ally Feiss, one of the school’s best athletes. “It’s not really something that she talks about, but if you ask her about it, you can see her passion for the sport just by the way that she describes it.”
Ms. Oberlander’s dedication often goes unseen, as does her involvement in a multitude of activities off the hill, which include leading hikes and volunteering with the Red Cross.
“There are a lot of people who do some things and talk a lot about it, but there are some people who do a lot of things and don’t talk much about it,” said English teacher Crystal Davis, one of Ms. Oberlander’s close friends. “Judy is one of the latter.”