Friday, May 8, 2015

Student Body President Molly Anne Marcotte Running on All Cylinders


Sophomore Molly Anne Marcotte is one of the best distance runners on Guilford College’s track and field team. This year she decided to run for the Community Senate presidency. Marcotte won the race, and now seeks to help usher Guilford through difficult times. She is believed to be Guilford’s first active varsity student-athlete to preside over the student body in at least 25 years. Marcotte hopes her experience as a ballet dancer and identity as a feminist, student-athlete and fitness guru will help her be a successful president. 

As president, one of Marcotte’s goals is to provide equal representation to all Guilford students, which will likely require a bit of a balancing act. Marcotte knows the drill well after being offered a chance to pursue a professional ballet dancing career by Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. The demands of ballet were too high for Marcotte to accept the offer. She wanted to apply her energy elsewhere—namely, humanitarian endeavors and track and field. As an NCAA Division III school, Guilford supports her ambitions and affords her the opportunity to be a proactive member of the community.

Once Marcotte arrived at Guilford she immediately became involved in campus activities aimed at helping others. She is passionate in her roles with the Community Aids Awareness Project, the Sexual Assault Awareness Support group and Community Senate. Marcotte also holds prominent positions as a judicial affairs chair member and a peer health and wellness intern for the Wellness Education Department. These activities reveal her first love: public health. “I’m very passionate about that because when your health isn’t up to par, you won’t function efficiently.” Functioning efficiently is how Marcotte is able to excel as a student, athlete and leader simultaneously.

“If anyone is going to balance athletics and academics [as president], it’s [Molly],” says Guilford assistant track and field coach Kimberly Cash. In her short time at Guilford, Marcotte has taken on increasing burdens without ever losing a step. She was a sprinter at first, but moved into middle distance during the 2014 outdoor season. Marcotte extended her distance as a sophomore, adding the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs to her repertoire. Next year, Marcotte may take on the most grueling task by running the 10k. Head track and field coach Danny Cash says she has grown from her freshman to sophomore year by absorbing information about athletics and academics and translating it into the person she is today.

A huge part of the person Marcotte is today is her intersectional feminist philosophy. Her beliefs speak for themselves when discussing how her feminist identity might help her as president. “Feminism isn’t feminism unless we are inclusive of all races, genders, sexual orientations, bodies, income levels, ages, occupations, regions, ethnicities—we need to include it all.” Marcotte wants to bring this all-encompassing approach to Guilford’s student politics.

Marcotte’s role as a Guilford student-athlete is also very important to her. “Molly is very dedicated, very goal oriented and one of her best things is she’s very good with time management,” says head track and field coach Danny Cash. He says these skills, as well as working well in a team environment, will transfer to the presidency. As a student-athlete who paces herself on the track and in the classroom, it is not hard to imagine Marcotte adding student-body president to the mix and approaching the responsibility with equal poise.

“Once she [becomes president], it won’t take her long to figure out everything and know what’s going on,” says Danny. With two full years left in her undergraduate experience to affect Guilford’s future, Marcotte’s past experiences have prepared her for the times ahead. “Molly won the presidential race due to her never dying perseverance, intuition, dedication, and her firm beliefs in making sure that Guilford's seven core values are evident in the student body and Guilford community,” says friend Ava Nadel. This description alone reveals a wealth of character.

"Nothing is holding me back from trying to be one of the people on an executive team trying to affect change in the community,” Marcotte says. The desire to change Guilford will come to bear next year. At the top of her list are issues such as administrative and budget transparency, community activism, student representation, the issue of retention and multicultural educational programming. As a former ballet dancer, current student-athlete, feminist and workout warrior, Marcotte is ready to be the change Guilford requires.

- by Jacob Kapp ‘15

1 comment:

  1. There is more talk than ever before at our school about playing at the next level, which usually means playing collegiately. Some of our students even dream of playing at the prestigious NCAA Division I level. I am glad that more athletes from North Shore are playing or want to play collegiately.110Athletics- Healthy Snack Ideas for Kids

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