Student-Athlete of the Week: Sydney Rothstein

When Sydney Rothstein was six years old, her father started taking her to the late lamented Haystack Mountain golf course where, through a series of outrageous bets and parental indulgence, he didn't just teach his daughter how to play the game, but made her fall in love with it. More than a decade later, Rothstein has turned that love for golf into a successful high school career at Niwot High that has included two state tournament appearances, and a lot of fun with friends along the way. But those times with her dad will always be the source of her favorite golf memories, and are what comes to mind first when she thinks about her time in the sport.

"He taught me my swing, and I always love it when he says that my swing is his greatest accomplishment-it makes me smile," she said. "It's something that he always intended to teach me so that we could do it together as we grow old because it's the kind of lifelong sport you can play whenever. And I think that at its heart, my love of golf has always been tied to that. It's something that he and I share."

Though golf ended up being the sport she pursued in high school, Rothstein has always had athletics in her life, and calls it one of her "passions." In middle school, she also played basketball and volleyball, which she also briefly played at Niwot before making the difficult decision to turn her focus elsewhere. Indeed, her passion for sports is equally balanced by a passion for intellectual and academic pursuits, making it a decision she would face many times as a student in the school's challenging IB diploma programme.

"So it was more a choice of how I want to spend my time," she said of her decision to leave the volleyball program before her junior season. "What are my true passions, and a lot of my true passions, just fell into that academic area more so, with just a little love of sports, so I knew I wanted to continue with golf."

Even coming to Niwot in the first place was a difficult decision for Rothstein, who spent her middle school years at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Boulder, and, after eighth grade, faced a choice between continuing on to Holy Family, where most of her friends would be going, and her hometown high school. Four years later, she's pleased to report that she made the right decision.

"It was really scary to go without people that I knew," she said. "But I really wanted to branch out and get some new experiences and meet some new friends, and so I went to Niwot. I'm really, really glad I did because I accomplished all those things."

Since junior year, Rothstein's focus has been primarily on three areas: golf, her IB course work, and the Green + Black, Niwot's monthly school newspaper. She and a partner launched it in 2021 as part of her IB CAS project, and it has gone on to become a full-fledged student activity. Rothstein officially oversaw her final issue as editor-in-chief earlier this month, and, though it is "really, really hard to say goodbye," she is eager to see where the next generation of student journalists takes it.

"It just grew into this big, beautiful thing that had so many students that were involved," she said. "My greatest privilege in my time at Niwot is getting the opportunity to present all of my classmates' work to the world because they're just truly so talented. And I'm so glad that it's grown into what I intended it to be, just that place for everyone to put their work and put their passions and put their ideas... I'm hoping that grows from here, and that I've given the people staying behind enough tools to be able to do that. But I truly don't know what form it will take after me."

In the classroom, Rothstein said that English and psychology have been her favorite classes at Niwot, especially in the form of the teaching duo of Yazzie and Roberts. As a senior, she is also taking an EMT training course at St. Vrain Valley's Career Development Center that is "super fun," and has taught her "things you never thought you would know," she said.

What has not been so much fun is balancing her IB workload with the many other pursuits and interests that demand her attention, reading and creative writing among them. However, it has shown her the value of managing her time, and which of those pursuits can actually be considered a "passion."

"IB is a big undertaking, and you have to sell your soul a little bit in order to get everything done," Rothstein said. "Especially with Covid, it's been this war between doing what I love and doing what I have to do."

The senior has faced a similar dilemma in mapping out her future, but plans to spend at least the next four years pursuing an undergraduate degree in some combination of journalism, psychology, and English. She is weeks away from making a final decision about where she will be doing that, but has narrowed down the field to Syracuse University, the University of Washington, and the University of Oregon. As for what happens after that, Rothstein isn't sure, but post-graduate or professional degrees are probably in the mix. Whatever happens, she likes having the freedom to see where her passions will lead.

"I'm going to get out there and find out there are a lot of things I don't know," she said. "Sometimes I think I know everything, but I don't, and I'm really excited to go and find out just how much I don't know."