Rowing her boat
Many people will tell you that you can’t have it all. However, it seems that University of Cape Town (UCT) student Julia Mackay is proving the naysayers wrong. Her go-getting attitude has seen her course from being stuck in the doldrums to cruising down the Kowie River in the annual Universities’ Boat Race this September.
Hailing from a small community in Johannesburg, the second-year anthropology student is the eldest of eight siblings. Now, though, she finds herself at the front of a different team of eight: the rowing squad. While she was born into the first role, she found her place in rowing in a very different way.
When speaking with Mackay, her effervescent personality and positive approach to life shine through immediately, belying her initial reason for joining the rowing team. “I started rowing as an outlet. Last year, in my first year, I was in a very depressive state. I wasn’t really happy with how I was balancing my life. I figured that a way that I could deal with that would be through being active,” she said.
Read the full article on the UCT News website here.
