Meet Laura McKenna!
School Sports Build Character
Despite being the shortest kid in ninth grade, I was determined to get on a sports team. After getting rejected by the cheerleaders, who for some reason weren’t interested in a near-sighted, short girl with no sense of rhythm, I joined the cross country team. And much to everyone’s surprise, I turned out to be good.
Ms. Dougherty, the gym teacher at Tenafly High School, would say in front of the entire gym class, “Peanut, I can’t believe that you’re a good runner!” My classmates all stared me and wondered the same thing.
For the next four years, I ran almost every day. I proudly saved all my varsity letters and cut out clippings from the Bergen Record. At a time when I felt insecure about just about everything, the cross country trail and track were places where things made sense — you go fast, and you win a medal.
As Coaches Waterman, McGlincy, and Wallace cheered me on, I slowly grew in both height and confidence. In my senior year, my classmates elected me as a captain of the team, which meant that this shy girl had to lead a hundred kids in warm-up exercises and support the younger runners.
My surprising success in sports led to other successes in real life. I learned how to be a leader, to take risks, and to support others on a team. It gave me the guts to run for office in Ridgewood.
While I was a very successful runner in my Division 2 schools in high school, when it came time to run against the bigger schools, I faced steep competition from the Mileski twins from Ridgewood High School. They flew by me in every race. It wasn’t even a close call. They smoked me.
Every Sunday, I would study their race times in the paper, determined to beat them in the next race. I would train doubly hard during the week.
And I never beat them. They were really good.
Those third place medals in the races with Mileski twins taught me how to laugh at myself, keep fighting the good fight, and never give up. As a school board member, I will use those skills to fight hard for students, our schools, and our town.
Whether we win or lose, athletics teach us confidence, maturity, tenacity, and all sorts of qualities that help us thrive as adults. Sports are an integral part of Ridgewood’s Tradition of Excellence, and it’s something that I would support, as a school board member. I would also make sure that everyone who wants to play a sport has that opportunity, regardless of ability or height.
And if you walk by the gym in the high school and see pictures of the Mileski twins on Ridgewood’s Athletic Hall of Fame, please say hi from me.
Epilogue
Cursed with my slow-growth gene, my son didn’t make Ridgewood’s Freshman soccer team. A few days later, he joined Ridgewood’s cross-country team.
One fall afternoon, he called me from the Darlington course, where his team was running a big race for Freshman.
“Mom, I won,” he said with surprise and hesitancy.
“What? You were the best for your team?”
“No, Mom. I won the whole thing,” he said still shocked.
And my boy, who like other teenagers wasn’t feeling so good about himself and lacked direction, got a little boost that day.
Jonah stayed with the team for four years and in his senior year, he was a member of the varsity team that won the State Sectional races for Ridgewood High School.
I’m Laura McKenna, and I’m running for Board of Education in Ridgewood. Follow me on Facebook and check out my website for more information about me and how you can help.
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