Shannon Rowbury ‘02, a three Olympian and the American record holder in the 1500 m, was recently nominated by to receive a special commendation by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The board declared October the eighteenth “Shannon Rowbury Day.” I recently had the great pleasure to speak to this outstanding alum at a recent cross country practice, where she spoke with the team.

During her years at SHC, she was the national champ for the 800 m, a two time state champ in the 800 and 1600, and a seven time Central Coast Champ in cross country, the 800, and the 1600.

I asked her how SHC influenced her actions.

“Sacred Heart encouraged us to become good citizens of the world,” she told me  humbly, “Enter to learn leave to serve. That is something I carry forward with me into life now. I feel like it’s the duty of each person to leave the world a bit better than when they came into it.” She went on to describe how the nonprofit organization she started, Imagine More, had strong roots in the lessons and ethics learned from SHC. Imagine More is an organization that encourages sports and creativity in young women.  Truly, Rowbury is an shining example of humility and dedication to serve others.

I followed up about one of her greatest achievements, to have a day named after her.  “I was so honored to have a Shannon Rowbury Day,” she said. “As a fifth generation San Franciscan, to have my name in the history books and to have the opportunity to be honored at City Hall, was such something I was so touched and honored by. I’m really proud.”

And Shannon was not about to stop being ambitious for the future after running. “When I’m done with running, I would like to work in the entertainment industry. I studied English, theater, and film in [at Duke] so I would love to be on camera if I could find a position,” she said. Rowbury stated that she wanted a position that is “exciting”, allows her to travel, and lets her to unleash her creativity.

The biggest question right now is if she is going to continue running and compete at the Olympics in 2020. “I am still coming off of this [Rio] Olympics now and I’m renegotiating my contract so hopefully I can sign a new contract and that will give me the opportunity to keep running,” she stated. “I still have some records I’d like to go after and some metals I’d like to get so I still have some goals in running.”

Shannon, we wish you luck with your goals and hope to see you out there racing again!