I’ve always been an orchestra kid. Growing up committing my time to practicing piano and violin meant that I never had time for sports. I was always scared to play sports because of how unathletic I felt, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself. 

But that all changed when I got to Rice. I felt so welcomed into Brown College during O-Week that I decided to take a leap of faith and join a few sports teams. Every residential college has their own cycling team with fancy racing bikes and equipment, so I decided I would start there. Every Saturday we biked around Houston, exploring the city and its parks. Sometimes we would go to the on-campus bike track and practice sprinting. Initially, I was one of our team’s slowest riders. I would frequently fall behind or give up my sprinting efforts, but nobody made fun of me or made me feel bad about myself. This motivated me to get out of bed early most mornings, and I started training on my own, sometimes even inviting other new bikers to train with me. Yes, we were training for the campus-wide, end-of-year Rice Bike Race, but to me and many others, the team meant so much more than that. It was the opportunity to stay active in a judgement-free, friendly environment. 

Around this time, I also decided to join Rice’s equestrian team. I had gone horseback riding a few times as a young girl, and I figured, “Why not?” In high school, there was a lot of stigma around being a “horse girl,” so I was a little embarrassed at first. However, like with the bike team, my friends and peers encouraged me to pursue my interests. Every week, I would carpool with other riders to some stables nearby, and we would have our weekly lesson. I made so many friends through the team and it gave me an opportunity to explore a different world than I was used to. Throughout the year, there were several chances to participate in horse shows at universities around the south, and attending them provided an opportunity to bond as a team and grow as a rider. By this point, my relationship with sports had become very important to me. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t playing the “basic sports” and wasn’t the most athletic person on the team because I was having the time of my life, and I was staying active and healthy. 

Before I knew it, it was the end of the year, and I was named Brown College’s new bike captain! If you had told me even one year ago that I would be the captain of a college sports team, I  never would have believed you. But working hard throughout the year not only improved my own skills, it also allowed me to welcome other peers into the athletics scene at Brown College. Today, I work hard to make sure other students feel as welcome as I did. I empower people to keep coming out on rides even if they think they’re not fast enough. I try to pay special attention to the other women who may have been put down in the athletics world like I was, because I know everybody deserves an advocate. Now that I know how welcoming Rice and college athletics is to newcomers, I’ll keep spreading that joy for the rest of my time at Rice because everyone deserves an outlet to feel safe while staying active. 

-Helena, Brown ‘28 (Published 6/2/26)