AP Sports 05.28.20

This week’s scholar athlete is Mackenzie Julien. Mackenzie is a distance runner on the Varsity Outdoor Track team and the Varsity Cross Country team. Mackenzie also skates competitively outside of school. Mackenzie was first introduced to skating through a learn to skate program at RPI. She says “I loved the learn to skate program and progressed through the levels eventually getting a private coach to continue to improve.” Mackenzie says her favorite aspect of the sport is that “there is always something new to learn and practice and every time you practice you know you can get better.” However, challenges to come with skating. Mackenzie explains “the ability to overcome the mental blocks while jumping. It’s hard to fling yourself so far into the air, rotate and land while knowing there is a possibility of falling and seriously injuring yourself.” In order to improve in her sport, Mackenzie skates year round and trains during the summer at the Lake Placid Olympic Center. Her efforts were recently recognized when she passed her novice ladies moves test and moved up to the junior level.

Mackenzie works hard in school and her sport. She maintained a GPA of 97 throughout high school. This year, her courses include: AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP Government and Politics, Engineering Design and Development, and the Human Brain. For extracurricular activities, Mackenzie is a member of science club and has been inducted into the National Honor Society. Mackenzie’s hard work helped her to earn the Society of Women Engineers award at the underclassmen awards ceremony last year. In her future, Mackenzie will be attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study biomedical and chemical engineering.

Mackenzie says her coaches, Casey Neari and Bobby Hammond, have served as role models in her sport. “They have spent nearly ten years with me and have shaped me as a person as well as a skater.” She also thanks her parents and sister for supporting her in skating. “My older sister also skates, pushing me to be the best, we are able to help each other out whenever it’s needed and coaches aren’t around.” We wish Mackenzie the best as she concludes her senior year and prepares to enter WPI.