May 1, 2006

Dear Friends of lake Merced:

My name is Laura Kocourek, and I am a Junior at Leadership High School.  A classmate, Tommy, and I are group mates for a project called the Junior Project.  In this project you need to find an issue in your community and then address it.  I am a varsity rower and member of the Pacific Rowing Club, and Tommy tried out this year as a novice, but quit at the beginning of spring season. We have both decided that our issue is the lack of attention towards teens in our community. A perfect example is the condition of the lake Merced Boathouse. 

The junior rowing programs are excellent programs that keep probably about 200 kids in an after school activity throughout the school year.  Yet the conditions under which we work are ridiculous.  We all love rowing and love our team.  We also realize that compared to many other teams that we are actually very lucky to have what we have. That however, should not restrict us from becoming a bigger and better program.

If we could do something with the restaurant, like turn it into a workout area for the team, and also have  a community center room that we could perhaps rent out, it would be such a better use for the space. Our project requires community service hours to be completed, so I was wondering if there was anything that we could do to help us get towards our goal of putting the restaurant building to use.

I recently came into contact with the Cal rower Mara, and told her about my project.  She told me that her father started this program and that I should contact you guys for hours, so I hope to hear from you soon.

 

Laura