RowLA received a grant to support their first paid Executive Director position. RowLA combines intensive rowing activities with individualized academic support to empower girls in the City of Los Angeles to pursue excellence in all dimensions of their lives. RowLA engages girls from underserved communities in the Los Angeles area, offering them intensive rowing activities, academic tutoring and college counseling as a means of encouraging them to become student-athletes, confident in their abilities to make wise choices for themselves and those they affect.Mariana was with the RowLA program during all four years of her high school years. She was awarded a full scholarship for College, where she also participated in the rowing program on campus. After graduating in 2016 she decided to harness the altruism of RowLA’s mission by giving a full year of service through the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers program in Denver, CO. She continues her work in Denver today, teaching developmentally challenged children.