Authored by Rylee Walsh
The starter beeps, and the sound of splashes of water fill the room. The crowd begins to roar, and Aprille is totally focused. Her mind is set on the prize.
Since she can remember, Aprille has always been in the pool. She found her love for swimming at a very young age, and has loved it ever since. At the age of seven, she started competitively swimming at Bluefish Swim Club. Eat. Sleep. Breathe. SWIM. “I love being a captain, I get to challenge myself,” says Aprille Gangi, captain of the Oliver Ames Girls and Boys Swim and Dive team.
Starting her freshman year, she has been on varsity for the school team and has received the All-Star award each year. Her dedication for the sport shines through. Going into senior year, she is the captain of the team. Being a captain allows Aprille to “feel respected” and with respect, “comes appreciation and admiration.” When asked about her captaincy, Aprille says, “I feel like I have grown as a person and leader, I feel pride in my team.” She feels proud of the team she belongs to and is hopeful of finding new leadership skills to use throughout the upcoming season.
With leadership comes a lot of struggle. Aprille finds that the hardest thing about being a captain is “being a leader. Helping to unite the team. Keeping the energy up.” She sometimes is not always in the best mood, but the thing that keeps her going and motivated is “hyping others up” to really bring the team together. It’s no surprise that she never fails to do so, even when walking into our interview, I could already tell that she can easily brighten the mood.
Although swim plays major role in her life, Aprille“doesn’t want it to control [her] life.” Because it is her senior year, Aprille is trying to work as hard as she can. She values school and wants to always be the best she can in her classes. At the moment, Aprille is currently taking three AP courses. She wants to challenge herself so she can prove to herself that she can handle rigorous class loads. Aprille says her favorite subject in school is philosophy because of her teacher, Mr. Gillis. He “makes the energy exciting” she says and “ I feel like I actually taking something away from the class. I actually learn something because he makes me challenge my beliefs.”
There is a large amount of stress put on Aprille, having to handle the school day and hours of swimming after each day. She believes that “on the days when [she] has school and [she rushes] to swim, [she] finds [she] is able to worker harder and focus.” Having to balance school, swim, and everything in between has helped Aprille learn time management skills that she will use for the rest of her life.
Aprille sees herself at Bowdoin College after leaving the halls of Oliver Ames. Aprille dreams of becoming a child psychiatrist because, as she says, she “has always wanted to be a doctor, but [she] is squirmish of blood so that would not work out.” Aprille is confident Bowdoin can help her with getting her where she needs to be in order to fulfill this dream. While touring, Aprille says, “it felt like home” and that she belonged there. “The energy was just right,” explained Aprille. When I was listening to her talk about this school, I am able to see and hear how passionate she is about attending Bowdoin.
Besides swimming and school, Aprille enjoys being outside. Whenever she’s stressed, she goes to Borderland State Park to walk around. Aprille exclaims that being outside “makes [her] happy, shows [her] true beauty, and everything is so pure.” Going outside is “[her] favorite part of the day” and Aprille anticipates it every day. With all the stress of school and swim, nature is the place where everything comes together for Aprille.
Finding what keeps her motivated throughout her life has led to many successes for Aprille, both physically and academically. At the same time, keeping a balance in her life has been very important to her.
I asked Aprille if she is excited for the rest of senior year, and she immediately exclaimed, “Oh honey, yes!” Her anticipation for this school year is surprisingly high, and Aprille is looking forward to what her future will be after graduating from OA.