Academics
Sean Rapelyea '08
Accepted to Washington College as a high school senior, Sean Rapelyea '08 enrolled at Roanoke College instead. But Chestertown turned out to be the right fit for him after all; Sean transferred to WC in 2004 and found his place on campus—in the newspaper office and on the lacrosse field.
An English major, Sean joined The Elm staff after meeting the former editor-in-chief in class. "She called and asked if I wanted to be a copy editor. I asked what I had to do and she said, 'Just read.' I thought, 'I read for class, why can't I read for The Elm?'"
Sports editor during his senior year, Sean brought more creativity to the section.
"When you're an editor, you get to come up with your own ideas, and they've given me a lot of leeway to try new things. We've been doing some pretty interesting things to make the pieces more about the stories than just the stats," he said.
Sean knows first-hand there's more to sports than statistics; the senior was a captain on the men's lacrosse team.
"Just being a member of the lacrosse team is great because you spend so much time with those guys and they become your best friends. You don't get that kind of tight close relationship with that many people," he said. "As a captain, I can help the team and try to lead the team into the best possible direction."
One of Sean's favorite college memories is from the annual War on the Shore game between Salisbury University and WC in his freshman year. "We played a really tough game and, even though we didn't win, seeing that many people at the game, and having to rope off the field so they didn't come onto the field, was insane," he said.
Between lacrosse, the school paper, classes and studying for the LSATs, Sean hopes his hard work pays off with a job in law or journalism. And, he said, "I definitely plan on traveling after I graduate."
Where?
"Anywhere," he said. Then, always the athlete, he added: "I want to see a soccer game in Barcelona."
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