Senior Marta Gershanok has been a varsity swimmer on NVD’s swim team since her freshman year. Last month, Gershanok chose to commit to swimming at Babson College in Massachusetts. She grew up in Closter and has studied in the Northern Valley school district since kindergarten.
Gershanok has been swimming for seven years and has been a part of two teams. Currently, she swims for Jersey Flyers Aquatic Club in Secaucus, NJ, and NVD Swim. She began as a ballet dancer but later found her passion for swimming.
“I started ballet at five because my mother was a professional dancer and is now a dance teacher. My dad inspired me to start swimming and I decided to stick to it because I saw more of an opportunity for college,” Gershanok said.
She practices 16 hours a week for her club team, including both dry land and pool practice. Gershanok’s best event is the 200-individual medley. Although there are many different events in a swim meet, the IM is for highly skilled swimmers, because it is the only event that includes all four strokes.
“My favorite event is 200 IM because it includes all the strokes in a single race. In that way, IM is more strategic, and I like the planning that goes into it,” Gershanok said.
Gershanok’s recruitment process was hectic. She was heavily considering three schools that she officially visited, and was very unsure of which to choose.
Official visits include meeting the team, attending a team practice, sitting in on classes, sleeping in the dorms, and essentially being a “student-athlete” at that college for a day. This is an experience that recruited athletes get to go through, to see how well they click with their prospective sports team.
“After officially visiting Connecticut College, Lafayette, and Babson, I was unsure of where I fit best. There were such different pros and cons to each school, and (I) genuinely enjoyed different aspects of each,” Gershanok said.
Gershanok decided on Babson, or as she likes to call it “Babo” because of the academic rigor. Babson has been the #1 college for entrepreneurship for the past 30 years and was ranked as a top ten college in America. Gershanok has studied business every year at NVD, has pursued the Marketing CTE pathway, and has also been a part of DECA for four years. She is also the current editor-in-chief of the Northern Star.
“I chose Babson because I felt the classes were the most challenging and interesting of the colleges I visited. The team environment was also great, and I could tell genuine, intelligent people were surrounding me,” Gershanok said.
The staff at the Northern Star wishes Gershanok luck in both her athletic and academic endeavors.
