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Boston Latin crew taking its diversity to the national stage

BOSTON — Boston Latin Girls Rowing is celebrating historic success and now has a shot at a national title.

"We compete in a league with a lot of prep schools as well, where we are a...public school racing against some of the best schools in the country," Coach Jasmine Howard said. "To be in the position we are now is unprecedented and unheard of."

Boston Latin’s program is also setting an important example. Coaches Jasmine Howard and Beata Coloyan are both alumni and women of color. They're a rarity in the sport.

"I walked on as an 8th grader," Coloyan said. "If there was going to be a time for it was going to be now."

The program started with just 20 girls but now has expanded to over 130 girls and boys.

"[We're] really hoping to not only diversify coaching but diversify participants in the sport," Howard said.

Boston Latin has worked to make the teams’ make up match the percentage of students of color at the school. They focused on addressing barriers to entry into the sport like swimming competency, transportation and cost.

"Growing up in a world where I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me and having folks not understand just cultural competencies, I think it’s really important for this sport and the impact on people’s lives to understand there are folks that want to get involved," Coloyan said.

That impact is not lost on these girls who understand they’re role models.

"A lot of teams don’t really have big diversity, so I’m really proud to be part of a team that has more diversity on the water and seeing us out there doing that is amazing," team member Sontiya Banyen said.