Kansas State University Athletics
SE: Former K-State Rower Samantha McCloud Earns 30Under30 Recognition, Credits Time with Wildcats
Nov 27, 2017 | Rowing
By Corbin McGuire
A year in the Philippines changed Samantha McCloud's perspective on life. Five years with K-State rowing gave her the skills she needed to change the lives of others.
Together, those experiences spurred McCloud — now a licensed architect and associate at GastingerWalker& in Kansas City, Missouri — to become actively involved in as many non-profit organizations, educational programs and community service efforts as possible.
"Really seeing the stark contrast of standard of life from what it's like (in the Philippines) to what I was accustomed to over here really instilled a sense of gratitude and thankfulness for the privileges and opportunities that I have," McCloud said. "After that I was, like, 'Wow. I really need to give back and help others that don't have it as easy.'"
Which is exactly what McCloud has done. Her work even earned her a spot on Ink KC's 30 Under 30, which annually recognizes Kansas City's "Top 30 individuals under 30 who are making a difference."
"My parents, Norma McCloud and Joseph McCloud, always instilled this sense in me of giving back to the community. Also the church taught me that if you're given resources and blessings and good fortune, it is kind of your duty and privilege, really, to give back and share the success that you've been able to experience so that others can continue to do the same," she said. "But I wasn't always that way."
She started to become that way at K-State. From serving in student government and on various committees to creating a club in the College of Architecture called, "Women in Design," McCloud was an actively involved student even before her commitment to the rowing team entered the picture.
When she left K-State, McCloud said she was so much more equipped to handle leadership roles and responsibilities.
Currently, she serves on several boards in her area, including the Kansas City chapter of American Institutes of Architects; 20/20 Leadership, which takes high school students out of the classroom and into real world leadership training opportunities; and the Children's Feeding Program, founded by her family to distribute free food to impoverished communities in the Philippines, where her mother grew up.
McCloud is also actively involved in promoting inclusion, diversity and equity in architecture locally as well as globally.
She took the lead on creating a distributed journal called Rise, which is comprised of articles from female designers at various stages of their careers. It has been sent out to countries in Europe and Asia, as well as throughout the United States. Additionally, she founded the Equity in Architecture committee and helped develop the PIERS Mentorship Program through the American Institute of Architects.
"We developed an education program that takes place at a few local schools here in Kansas City to educate middle schoolers on architecture and opportunities to become an architect," she said. "And a lot of these kids don't have any previous exposure to architecture, so it's something that is exciting to them and really rewarding."
All of McCloud's involvement can be traced back to that year she spent in the Philippines, which subsequently led her to K-State and, in turn, the rowing team.
In her year abroad, McCloud gained an acute interest in architecture. This led her to looking into K-State. When she started receiving materials from the university in the mail, she came upon a rowing recruiting flier. At 4-foot-8, McCloud fit the coxswain's physical criteria perfectly. Before long, she was on the team.
"It was just an opportunity that I never expected but it ended up really changing my life," she said. "Honestly, I didn't have the confidence that I needed until rowing. I had the heart after living abroad but I didn't necessarily have the skillset. Rowing was instrumental in helping me develop that confidence and the communication skills that it takes as a coxswain to lead a team of individuals."
As a coxswain, McCloud described her responsibilities as such: "You can't affect the boat but you have to control the boat. You have no physical ability to change the speed of the boat or the way the boat is performing down the course, but through communication and observation and encouragement you can really change a loss to a victory."
Ironically, one of the first memories McCloud can think of with K-State rowing was when she helped turn a potential win into a loss. With 11 strokes left to go in a race, McCloud said she was "overly optimistic" and only called out 10. Her boat lost by fractions of a second.
"That was a really hard blow for me. That's when I really learned that my role as coxswain, as a leader, is really critical and can determine a victory from a loss literally in a single stroke," she said. "That lesson has definitely made me take leadership more seriously and my role in any position more seriously when I'm directing others and motivating others. When you do have that responsibility, it can affect a lot of people."
On top of the leadership skills rowing helped cultivate, McCloud rattled off a long list of traits the program either instilled in her or vastly improved. These include time management and listening skills; confidence and adaptability; and valuing camaraderie, progressive thinking and shared success.
Even more, McCloud said she learned to fight for what she knew she was capable of achieving. While there were those during her career at K-State who doubted she could handle both architecture and rowing, not to mention her heavy load of extracurricular commitments, McCloud graduated with the highest GPA in her class.
"There will be naysayers throughout your life. Rowing's a tough sport and you're going to want to quit, likely more than once, but anything that you're passionate about, anything that you love, even if it's hard work for the majority of it, but those moments when it's the best thing ever, those are worth fighting for," said McCloud, in the process of writing a book about the effect rowing had on her life. "Rowing was something that had such a huge, tremendous impact on my life and really the lessons learned in the boat carry through so synonymously with lessons in life."
A year in the Philippines changed Samantha McCloud's perspective on life. Five years with K-State rowing gave her the skills she needed to change the lives of others.
Together, those experiences spurred McCloud — now a licensed architect and associate at GastingerWalker& in Kansas City, Missouri — to become actively involved in as many non-profit organizations, educational programs and community service efforts as possible.
"Really seeing the stark contrast of standard of life from what it's like (in the Philippines) to what I was accustomed to over here really instilled a sense of gratitude and thankfulness for the privileges and opportunities that I have," McCloud said. "After that I was, like, 'Wow. I really need to give back and help others that don't have it as easy.'"
Which is exactly what McCloud has done. Her work even earned her a spot on Ink KC's 30 Under 30, which annually recognizes Kansas City's "Top 30 individuals under 30 who are making a difference."
"My parents, Norma McCloud and Joseph McCloud, always instilled this sense in me of giving back to the community. Also the church taught me that if you're given resources and blessings and good fortune, it is kind of your duty and privilege, really, to give back and share the success that you've been able to experience so that others can continue to do the same," she said. "But I wasn't always that way."
She started to become that way at K-State. From serving in student government and on various committees to creating a club in the College of Architecture called, "Women in Design," McCloud was an actively involved student even before her commitment to the rowing team entered the picture.
When she left K-State, McCloud said she was so much more equipped to handle leadership roles and responsibilities.
Currently, she serves on several boards in her area, including the Kansas City chapter of American Institutes of Architects; 20/20 Leadership, which takes high school students out of the classroom and into real world leadership training opportunities; and the Children's Feeding Program, founded by her family to distribute free food to impoverished communities in the Philippines, where her mother grew up.
McCloud is also actively involved in promoting inclusion, diversity and equity in architecture locally as well as globally.
She took the lead on creating a distributed journal called Rise, which is comprised of articles from female designers at various stages of their careers. It has been sent out to countries in Europe and Asia, as well as throughout the United States. Additionally, she founded the Equity in Architecture committee and helped develop the PIERS Mentorship Program through the American Institute of Architects.
"We developed an education program that takes place at a few local schools here in Kansas City to educate middle schoolers on architecture and opportunities to become an architect," she said. "And a lot of these kids don't have any previous exposure to architecture, so it's something that is exciting to them and really rewarding."
All of McCloud's involvement can be traced back to that year she spent in the Philippines, which subsequently led her to K-State and, in turn, the rowing team.
In her year abroad, McCloud gained an acute interest in architecture. This led her to looking into K-State. When she started receiving materials from the university in the mail, she came upon a rowing recruiting flier. At 4-foot-8, McCloud fit the coxswain's physical criteria perfectly. Before long, she was on the team.
"It was just an opportunity that I never expected but it ended up really changing my life," she said. "Honestly, I didn't have the confidence that I needed until rowing. I had the heart after living abroad but I didn't necessarily have the skillset. Rowing was instrumental in helping me develop that confidence and the communication skills that it takes as a coxswain to lead a team of individuals."
As a coxswain, McCloud described her responsibilities as such: "You can't affect the boat but you have to control the boat. You have no physical ability to change the speed of the boat or the way the boat is performing down the course, but through communication and observation and encouragement you can really change a loss to a victory."
Ironically, one of the first memories McCloud can think of with K-State rowing was when she helped turn a potential win into a loss. With 11 strokes left to go in a race, McCloud said she was "overly optimistic" and only called out 10. Her boat lost by fractions of a second.
"That was a really hard blow for me. That's when I really learned that my role as coxswain, as a leader, is really critical and can determine a victory from a loss literally in a single stroke," she said. "That lesson has definitely made me take leadership more seriously and my role in any position more seriously when I'm directing others and motivating others. When you do have that responsibility, it can affect a lot of people."
On top of the leadership skills rowing helped cultivate, McCloud rattled off a long list of traits the program either instilled in her or vastly improved. These include time management and listening skills; confidence and adaptability; and valuing camaraderie, progressive thinking and shared success.
Even more, McCloud said she learned to fight for what she knew she was capable of achieving. While there were those during her career at K-State who doubted she could handle both architecture and rowing, not to mention her heavy load of extracurricular commitments, McCloud graduated with the highest GPA in her class.
"There will be naysayers throughout your life. Rowing's a tough sport and you're going to want to quit, likely more than once, but anything that you're passionate about, anything that you love, even if it's hard work for the majority of it, but those moments when it's the best thing ever, those are worth fighting for," said McCloud, in the process of writing a book about the effect rowing had on her life. "Rowing was something that had such a huge, tremendous impact on my life and really the lessons learned in the boat carry through so synonymously with lessons in life."
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