This and that…
Conner’s Marathon
Last Sunday July 5, recent grad and future UCSB student Conner Hsu got up early and went for a run…a 26.2 mile run. Starting in Los Gatos and running all the way to Baylands in Sunnyvale, Conner covered a full marathon distance with some support from Kyle, Pranav, his parents and his sister Ellie.
Here’s the thing–most of us don’t want to DRIVE that far. If after the Top 8 meet at Los Gatos High School, someone said ‘I know a great pizza place in Sunnyvale, let’s go there for pizza after the meet’, that suggestion would be shouted down–no way we are driving that far to eat. Conner ran that distance just to run it and show he could do it. That’s gritty! Well done, Conner. (Plus, Conner’s 3:17 mark is good–he beat coach’s first marathon mark, without a bunch of runners and crowd support. Nice job!)
Cohort One Is In The Books
MVXC has completed the first three week training session for the summer of 2020. For the rest of their lives, when people ask ‘tell us what it was like during the great pandemic of 2020’, Agnes, Amogh, Ethan, Jannah, Margaux, Max, Nerea, Pranav, Sean, Sydney, Sylvana and Upasana can say that they were the first group of athletes at Monta Vista High School to start training after the shelter-in-place order closed the school down. That is part of history now, and part of our own stories. Don’t forget…we are all still writing our own stories of the pandemic. You have lots of time to make some heroic additions to your own saga of the great pandemic of 2020…what will your story say?
We all thank our first twelve athletes for doing such a good job of being safe, following all protocols, letting the community see how well we are following our protocols, and setting the stage for future progress towards getting the whole team back together and to a return to competition.
We are starting two new groups on Tuesday, July 14…there is still some room for late additions…please contact Coach Flatow if you want to talk about joining. Whether you are a returning cross country runner, a freshman thinking about joining the team, or someone that has been part of another sport, it’s OK with us–come join the cross country team!
Volunteering Opportunity
Alumna Lauren Ling asked me to share the following with you. This certainly seems like a worthy cause and an opportunity to do something nice for someone!
Dear Coach,
I am writing to you from Letters to Seniors, a recently founded (along with other MVXC alumni!) nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting high school and college students with senior citizens at care facilities through hand-written correspondence. Our mission is to develop meaningful relationships between students and residents of care facilities, combat the effects of social isolation and loneliness, and encourage students to engage with members of their community. To find more information about our organization, here is a link to our website:
Currently, we’ve partnered with several care facilities in the Bay Area. I was wondering if you could spread the word about our organization to MVXC, as we are currently seeking new volunteers to write letters. Moreover, I was also wondering if you would be willing to provide a brief statement of support for our organization (just one to two sentences would suffice). Here is a link to other letters of support:
Feel free to check out our website to learn more about our organization and our team!
If you have any questions or suggestions about Letters to Seniors, feel free to contact me via this email. Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Best,
Lauren