Confidently Coxing

By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications

As a freshman, Laura Parks kept to herself. She lived on campus, but often went home because she was shy.

Four years later, things have changed... drastically. The change happened primarily due to the sport of rowing and specifically, being thrust into the role of coxswain, the person responsible for steering the boat and coordinating the crew.
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"Becoming a coxswain gave me a little confidence boost, which made me emerge as a leader on the team because I held a leadership position within the boat," said Parks. "I came in small and not very athletic. I competed in a lot of sports in high school, but was never the most valuable player. I had some confidence issues in that regard, so being put in the coxswain seat was meant to be."

From an early age, it seemed meant to be that Parks would end up at Lehigh. Living in the same city as the university, she always had her eyes on becoming a Mountain Hawk.

"My mom is an employee at Lehigh, so my parents have always pushed me to look at the school and make sure that my grades were at a standard that would get accepted," said Parks. "When I was in high school, it was the number one school I was looking at. I went to the Lehigh-Lafayette football game for years with my dad and wasn't really looking anywhere else."

Little did Parks know she would end up playing a sport at Lehigh, and she would have never imagined that sport being rowing.

"I went to Liberty, which is a Bethlehem public high school who doesn't offer rowing," said Parks. "I don't think high schools around here offer rowing. I played volleyball in the fall, swam in the winter and summer, and ran track and field a little bit in the spring. Swimming was probably my favorite, and a lot of former swimmers actually walk on to rowing teams when they get to college."

Parks did exactly that at Lehigh.

"Once I got to Lehigh, I didn't like the fact that I didn't have a team anymore," she said. "I liked having a very strict and busy schedule because I'm the most productive when I don't have a lot of down time. My griffin, Leah Paulson, was actually on the rowing team and about halfway through my first semester freshman year, she asked me if I was interested. It was actually a little late for walk-ons; most freshmen walk-ons get a flyer one of the first weeks of school and start coming to practice."

It was not an easy transition for Parks, but she stuck with it.

"I came just as the team was entering winter training," she said. "I honestly didn't really like it at first, but I wanted to stick it out and finish one year at least. Over time, I ended up really liking it."

Part of growing to like rowing was a position change at the end of her freshman year, being moved to coxswain.

"Initially, we moved Laura to coxswain because we were short one day for practice," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "It happened a couple more times, so there was a point when Laura came into the office to discuss her role on the team and expressed a desire to cox. She felt that was where she could be the best for the team and compete in a way that was genuine to her abilities."

"To be honest, a lot of things weren't clicking," said Parks. "Rowing is a dynamic between technique, power and endurance. I couldn't pick it up right away and it took a long time."

"At first, I was terrified at coxswain, but as I gained more experience, the more I began to like it. I believe I added more speed to a boat from being a coxswain than I did actually pulling on an oar."

"From there, we never looked back," said Conley. "She made it hard for any coach to take her out of a boat."

That move helped on a number of fronts… It helped Parks as a student-athlete, helped the team's collective success and, perhaps most importantly, helped Parks develop skills that translate into her life beyond rowing.

Parks' confidence grew exponentially.

"As a coxswain, you have to pick something and stick with it," she said. "A lot of times, that might mean picking something that you don't necessarily know is correct, but once you make the decision, you have to follow through with it and you have to own it.

"I believe that lesson translates into all of the non-rowing aspects of my life," Parks continued. "Sometimes you're going to pick something that ends up being wrong. If you make a mistake, you have to learn from it and move on. Rowing has taught me so much more about life than I ever imagined."

"A lot of times, a coxswain has to make split-second decisions that can end in a good or bad result," said Conley. "Laura experimented in the coxswain seat and the more she did, the more confident she became in her decisions.

A marketing major, one of Parks' next decisions is deciding on her post-graduate route. Options could include Lehigh's technical entrepreneurship master's program, a job in retail or something completely different.

Parks already has part-time retail experience working with Lululemon, a company that features an important value – personal growth – which is also an integral focus of Lehigh rowing.

"It was really nice to be working in an environment at Lululemon where people held me accountable to my goals and helped me step out of my comfort zone and take on challenges," she said "That's what I try to do with the rowing team, along with being the leader who challenges others to step out of their comfort zones."

Early in her collegiate career, Parks stepped out of her comfort zone and now, she is a leader of an up-and-coming Lehigh rowing program that enters the Patriot League Championships with high hopes. Last year, the Mountain Hawks posted their most-ever points in a league championship, and hope to make even bigger leaps this year.

"As seniors, we've talked a lot about the progression of the team over the past four years," said Parks. "I've been trying to find the words to describe it, and it's just so hard. Looking back at the beginning of my freshman year to the end of my senior year, it's night and day.

"Today, people show up ready to work, they want to win and they're willing to sacrifice other aspects of their lives. People want this team to perform well, but they also want to be leaders. They want to have positive impacts on those around them and be strong influences."

Parks is one of those people who has come a long way and now wants to help younger teammates do the same.

"I'm a completely different person than I was four years ago," she said. "We're not only developing good athletes, but we're also developing good, overall people and well-rounded student-athletes. I can't wait to see where Lehigh rowing is two years from now because we have so many people who are invested and want to make it something great."

Over the course of her career, Parks used individual struggles to find her niche and improve within her niche. Because of the way she approached failure, that shy first-year student-athlete is now a fearless senior leader who is leaving an important legacy.

"Laura fully embodies the idea that success comes from making mistakes and learning from past decisions," said Conley. "That is why Laura has become so good at everything she does.

"Laura is not afraid to fail, and that is going to make her so valuable in whatever she decides to do, because failure is part of the lives of all great people. I see her being successful in the future no matter what she does."

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Completed Event: Women's Rowing versus Patriot League Championships on May 15, 2026 , , 8th of 9

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Completed Event: Women's Rowing at Drexel and George Washington on April 4, 2026 ,

Completed Event: Women's Rowing versus Mountain Hawk Invite on March 28, 2026 ,

Completed Event: Women's Rowing versus Class Day Regatta on November 1, 2025 ,

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