By Luke Stocker
1. What’s your name? Ian Menk
2. Where are you from? Pleasanton, CA
3. What’s your major? Political Science
4. Why do you row? I love to race and love the team.
5. Port or Starboard? Port
6. What do you spend your time doing when not rowing? Right now, I am a part of the UC Student Resident Firefighter Program. I work and live in the fire station on campus as a student firefighter shadowing and helping the career firefighters. So, I spend a lot of time doing that.
7. What your favorite Davis hangout? Somewhere downtown. Where any of my friends are at is really where I would like to be.
8. How do you define success? Setting a goal and achieving it.
9. What do you expect to be doing in 10 years? Either working as a firefighter or going to law school.
10. What is your greatest rowing achievement? The first time I sculled to the towers and back. I had terrible technique and was extremely slow, but it showed me that a lot of rowing is just your mentality.
11. What is your greatest achievement outside of rowing? Being a part of the student resident firefighter program at Davis.
12. Why/how did you join rowing? I looking to play a new sport and decided to try it out. I figured I could do pretty well, so I stuck with it.
13. What differentiates UC Davis rowing from other clubs in your eyes? You spend a lot more time practicing and hanging out with your teammates in rowing which creates a sense of camaraderie that other clubs don’t have.
14. How has rowing affected you? Definitely made me be a morning person, but I’d have to say it made me more of an athlete and more appreciative of being part of a team.
15. Of all the races you have rowed, which was the most significant to you and why? UC Challenge cup of my novice year. It was my first race. We could have won but didn’t. That race really sparked a fire inside me that wanted to win.