CSU Channel Islands 2016 Biology graduate and Presidential Scholar Olivia Springfield added another credit to her name last spring by becoming the first female captain to ever compete in America’s Schooner Cup race.
The 10-foot, two-masted schooner Springfield skippered also won the Class D Division of the 29th annual race, which took place in San Diego in April 2017.
“Somebody just walked into my office and asked me if I would be willing to sail a boat in the Schooner Cup,” Springfield said. “I didn’t know I would be the first woman to skipper in it. I hope I can pave the way for other women.”
Springfield grew up in San Diego with a tiller in her hand and wind in her sails.
“My dad knew how to sail so he put me in sailing lessons when I was really young,” she said. “When I was four or five, he taught me on a little boat. He would tie a line to it, let me sail out, then pull me back in.”
When the time came to go to college, Springfield had her choice of many.
“I had a lot of people pushing me to go to UCLA,” she said. “But I loved the CI community. It felt like home. I could do undergraduate research, and I wouldn’t have had as many opportunities if I had enrolled in a larger institution.”
When Springfield enrolled in CSUCI, she joined the CI Sailing Club, which held practices out of the CI Boating Center twice a week.
“The thing I remember most is her smile and the dedication she put forth every single time she went on the water,” said Josh Wade, Assistant Director of Waterfront and Outdoor Activities. “When she stepped out on the water, the mood of the crew changed.”
The skills she uses while sailing are not unlike the skills needed for her study of cellular molecular biology.
“Sailing is a very logical sport,” she said. “It takes a lot of strategy, like chess. You have to think, ‘How can I get the best start?’ And you’re trying to give your opponents a disadvantage by blocking their wind for example.”
Her stellar grades qualified Springfield for the prestigious CSUCI President’s Scholar program.
Fellow Presidential Scholar Madison Guynn, 20, an Early Childhood Studies major, got to know Springfield, who in turn introduced the high desert native to sailing. Guynn is still a member of the CI Sailing Club.
“She’s so talented. She knows what she’s doing both on and off of the water,” Guynn said. “We would hang out, go to her apartment and have pizza. She’s very caring and very invested in what she’s doing.”
Springfield’s passion for cellular molecular biology deepened during a service learning trip she and other students took to India under the guidance of Associate Professor of Biology Nitika Parmar, Ph.D.
The group toured a self-sustaining green community in the mountains and cutting-edge biotechnology firms while getting a taste for a country on the other.
After graduating in 2016, she began managing a San Diego company that restores wooden boats, always keeping her eye on the horizon.
“I am applying to medical school,” she said. “In the meantime, I like being able to do what I love. After I transition into medicine, I would also like to transition from racing to cruising to world cruising.”