Celebration!

Thought I'd bring back the retro picture (dang, I don't even remember my hair being that long!) in honor of this fabulous, awesome, exciting, celebratory day. I, Stacey Young-Caudell, received some exciting news on Monday and wanted to wait to share it with everyone until it was made official and I signed my contract today.

I am the new graduate assistant coach of Indiana University Women's Varsity Rowing. Yep, COACH! As the G.A. coach I will be helping with the day-to-day administrative activities of the program as well as coaching at the varsity and novice levels for the upcoming 2008-2009 school year, while I am earning my certification and master's degree in elementary education.

SO... it's going to be an INSANE year (I will need lots of hugs and prayers, and some dog-sitters, I'm sure) with a full load of graduate classes AND a coaching assistantship, but I couldn't be happier. My four years of rowing were tough, but they were also some of the best of my life. I would venture to say that I learned much more from my rowing experiences than I did from my in-classroom experiences during my four years as an undergrad, and I'm happy to be able to give back to the program in this way. Plus, it pays for all of my tuition, fees and books, which just sweetens the deal.

I'm pumped to get started. I'll be at AuthorHouse until Aug. 15th and then will fully assume my new role. It's gonna be a long -- but good -- year, kiddos. I was always kind of sad that not many of my friends and family came to my races throughout my four years of rowing, so hopefully I can drag some people out to watch the Hoosiers as we head into what is hopefully a very proud and productive season.

You can read the official announcement here:

http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-rowing/spec-rel/070908aaa.html