SBP Winter 2021 magazine Final 1_29

Op-Ed
Rowing with my Brothers
Before entering St. Benedict’s as a freshman in fall 2020,
Steven Palacios attended San Miguel Academy, a Catholic
middle school in Newburgh, N.Y., near where he lives. During
the pandemic, Steven returned home to Newburgh and is back
at San Miguel where he attends SBP via computers and trains
with other rowers in a socially distanced manner. He wrote
this reflection on what the rowing program developed at
San Miguel means to him.
By Steven Palacios
People that mean the most to me and that
bring me comfort are friends.
There are certain friends that I created a
strong bond with over the pandemic. These
certain friends would always put a smile on
my face. We would be in the same pain
together, eating the same food together, and
getting stronger every day together.
These weren’t just my friends, these were
my brothers who I could truly trust and care
about. We have our differences but that won’t
affect our bond. We come to San Miguel at the
same time so we can get stronger every day
and get to see each other, which is better than
just sitting and talking in front of a screen.
I'm safe when I'm near my brothers. I'm
happy when I'm near my brothers. We can
share our pain and find ways to agree after
arguing.
These are the brothers who buy breakfast
when we are going to our practice. They give
me rides when I need one to get to school or
go to New Jersey. We hang out and laugh
together. They do a lot for me and this
happened because of a sport called rowing.
27 The Benedict News Vol. 3 Issue 1 Winter 2020-2021
Story Package:
Essay
Rowing made me create friendships and
responsibilities with the brothers I have now.
Without them, I don’t know what would
have happened. In the pandemic, some of my
brothers could no longer come to rowing or
practice because of COVID-19. What started
with 10 rowers for 2 weeks ended up
dwindling down to 5 of us.
Our coach runs the middle school I
attended before entering St. Benedict’s Prep.
Our coach's name is Fr. Mark Connell. He is
Roman Catholic and lives in Newburgh, New
York. Father Mark is a busy man who sits in
his office and works. He motivates himself
with equality for those who do not have the
privilege of being born into a family with
economic strength with high education. The
challenge of doing his work is to
raise money to
fulfill it. He
depends on good and
generous people who believe in
equality and equity.
Rowing is so important to him because he
says “rowing transforms the entire person,
physically, emotionally, spiritually.” Earlier
this year, he made us train for two months
before entering us in a competition between
our middle school and a local public high
school. The competition was called “the
ergathon” because we were using a rowing
machine called an “erg” to compete on. We
competed in terms of speed and how hard you
pull on the handles that simulate the weight
of oars in the water. It was scary for all of us
because we were going against older students.
We were nervous but Fr. Connell said, “Don’t
worry. I saw all of your times. You guys are
machines!”
The night before the competition, my
brothers were all scared and nervous. We were
texting about the ergathon until about 2 a.m.