As I enter my last semester here at Cal and start to look back on what my time in Berkeley has meant to me, there are a lot of things that stick out. The early morning practices, the classes I took, and the time on campus are all important, but the thing I will most cherish from my time here is my team. By "team" I am not just talking about the people who I competed with and saw at practice every day. Instead, it is the people who supported me when I needed help and who challenged me to be better. It is the study groups I was a part of, the friends who offered me support, and the people who were always available when I needed advice. These people are all a part of the greater Cal Team, even if they are not on an official roster. 
 
This summer I went with the DEIBJ office to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. This trip taught me a lot about the civil rights movement, but it also showed me the importance of having a community. We all need support from time to time and you can't always get it from the same people. You need a big community to grow bigger yourself. The civil rights movement was a broad coalition that banded together in the name of something bigger than themselves. All of the success they had would not have been possible without the team that they assembled. Coming back to Berkeley after this trip, I had a newfound focus on my community and making sure everyone around me knew I supported them. 
 
UC Berkeley is a massive school and can be overwhelming at times. It is during these moments that we need to look at the people we see every day and understand the impact that they have had on us. When I get lost in the Cal community, I always try to fall back onto my team. I know these people will have my back for the rest of my life and that is the biggest gift I have received from my time at Cal. 
 
A rhetoric major, Jameson McKenna was a member of the Cal women's rowing team from 2019-22.