Were there any special coaches, teachers or friends that influenced your decision to give back to the community?
Tara: My parents have always taught me that giving to the community was important. I was part of the Leo Club (it's associated with the Lions Club) in high school and was president of the Honor Society. Both of those groups were service oriented, so I absorbed that from them. I also remember one particular teacher, Ms. Wise, who taught the leadership class and emphasized giving back as part of leadership. Later, at Stanford, I began to realize just how lucky I was and how it was important to not be selfish with my good fortune. Finally, as I was applying for the Rhodes Scholarship (I was a finalist), I understood that I wanted to do things that would change the worlds of the people around me for the better.
Your academic resume is as accomplished as your athletic one. How do you stress to young swimmers with big dreams that studying is just as important as training?
Tara: It's obvious that no matter how talented you are or how hard you train, you will someday have to have a life outside of swimming. Education is so important. Many swimmers ask me how they could one day swim at Stanford like me, and I always say, "Study hard!"
You didn't start to get serious about swimming until 14. Then it was a steep curve upwards to success. How did this affect your high school life socially and academically? Did you have a "normal" high school experience?
Tara: I think that being good at sports might have made me more accepted, but I'm not sure. Swimming wasn't glamorous and I wasn't one of those typical "jocks." I mostly just did my own thing. Of course, I suffered through all those teenage insecurities that most people go through--I just never dwelled on them.
I had a good coach at my club in Bremerton--we weren't a huge team but I was dedicated. I didn't need to go to a special boarding school or have home schooling or special tutors to be a good athlete. However, I do think that it takes a special level of dedication and time management to make it all work.
Do you feel like the support you get from the Bremerton community is valuable to your training and racing as a professional swimmer?
Tara: The support I feel when I visit home is always so great. Everyone is so excited just to know how things are going. While I was growing up, the local YMCA was especially helpful in providing us with the opportunity to swim and lift weights for morning practices.
The funny thing about swimming is that when you watch it, you see an athlete get up to race and stand on the blocks alone. But what you never see is all the people who stood behind them to make them into that athlete.
Is your involvement with the Bremerton Schools Foundation mainly influenced by civic pride, an understanding of the importance of education, a desire to create change where it may be needed...or something else?
Tara: I think that my involvement stems from all three. I've gained a new appreciation of Bremerton in recent years. Education has always been important to me and my family (my mom came to this country with $100 hidden in her shoes and through education and pure grit made herself into a community leader). And I also see the opportunity to be an Engine of Change and create hope and a view of new horizons through my work with the Foundation.
What advice can you give to coaches or team captains to encourage swimmers to be active in community service?
Tara: I think that if you just make community service part of your team culture, that helps to ease the way for the athletes to become active in the community and then have the initiative to begin to do things on their own. Community service is something that is extraordinary, but it doesn't have to be rare.