"Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love." – Unknown

DAYTON – When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to a standstill and most of us into quarantine, people picked up new skills out of necessity and/or boredom and/or curiosity. Whether it was becoming an expert on Zoom, to baking homemade bread or watching YouTube video tutorials on how to cut your own hair.

University of Dayton rower Grace Yingling utilized her "extra time" crocheting hats, head bands, and mittens. Her rough, calloused hands from gripping the oar and powering through the water, hours practicing on the erg, and many strength and conditioning sessions lifting weights, are also delicate enough to craft intricate items with the most detailed stitches. However, crocheting was a skill she picked up long before COVID from her grandmother, Helen Kaczmarek.

"My grandma taught me how to crochet when I was nine or 10 when she would come visit us in Columbus. It was something that she wanted me to do with her and it made her happy," said Yingling. "She, unfortunately, passed away in 2015 so it's nice when I work on projects and I think of her."

Yingling also has a much cherished possession her grandma created more than 20 years ago when Grace, an only child, was born to her parents Ed and Joy Yingling – a yarn scrap blanket (which includes leftover yarn from several other different projects to create a vibrant blanket of many colors).

"I have that blanket that she made me on my bed, so I feel like she's with me," said Yingling. "When she was older she was doing just one type of stitch due to her arthritis. It's cool to see her work from when she was younger. It's just so beautiful."

In addition to all of the hats and headbands she crocheted, Yingling spent 45 hours making a Chevron blanket and her favorite item to create so far has been a stocking for her dog's first Christmas this year.

This skill she picked up so long ago helped Yingling during a time when everyone was trying to figure out a different way of living due to the pandemic. And in the process, helped others too.

"I really had been crocheting off and on and then, like most people during quarantine, everyone was like 'Well, what do I do now?' I really got back into it this past year. I just like to try different things; challenge myself and learn new stuff and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

She had lovingly created so many handmade pieces for her friends and family that they started to politely decline her offers for more crocheted items to don during the cold winter months. That did not deter her from designing and creating more, because she had a plan for them.

"I like to crochet as a pastime and I always create with an intention," said Yingling. "I like to have somebody in the back of my mind when I'm making something. I know I'm going to give this project to them."

One of the Marianist Catholic charisms is mission - always called to make our world a better place. As one of the rowing representatives of the UD Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Yingling connected with the Fitz Center on University of Dayton's campus. They will deliver her 25+ handmade donations to neighborhood school centers through Dayton Public Schools and partner local agencies such as the YMCA and Children's Hospital.

"I'm working on a baby sweater next, but I'll get back into the hats at some point so I'd love to make another donation to the Fitz Center at the start of fall or winter next year."

Something Yingling learned even before crocheting was sailing. She was three years old the first time her dad put her in a boat.

"I grew up in with sailing. Last year, I completed my 13th summer with a learn-to-sail program," said Yingling. "I started as a camper, then I was an instructor, then I was head instructor, and then this past year I was the safety officer."

Yingling graduated from Westerville South High School, located on the north side of Columbus, in 2018. She was a founder, three-year member and team captain (2016-18) of varsity sailing team that was runner-up at the Ohio State Championships in 2018.

She was also a competitive Irish dancer earning a spot in the Mid-American Championships as a junior. Yingling, along with fellow rowers Elli Ertl and Colleen McDonnell placed third at last year's SAAC talent show.

Yingling, an up-and-coming senior operations and supply chain management with a minor in business analytics, joined the Flyer rowing team her freshman year. She said rowing and sailing are two different worlds, with just two things in common: they're both on the water and you want to finish first.

"I just like the water. That's what keeps me going is that I like getting up every morning and going to the water. Sailing is definitely an extended period of time, and it's a lot more mentally demanding because you're taking in the conditions you're trying to make a race plan. In rowing the coxswain has to make a race plan, but I row so I'm not even thinking. I'm just rowing."

She earned medals at the Bald Eagle Collegiate and SIRA as part of the Novice 8+ and advanced to the Grand Final at the 2019 Atlantic 10 Championship with the Second Varsity 8+.

"My favorite race was at SIRA our freshman year," said Yingling. "I think that was the first time that boat really came together and we finished third. It was the most amazing course to race on, the Smoky Mountains were beautiful, and we were really able to come together and come away with a medal."

Yingling went on to earn a 4.0 academic award at the 2020 OASSA annual scholar-athlete awards reception.

Then the 2020 spring rowing season was canceled due to COVID. And it hit close to home for Yingling for more than just the season being canceled. Her study abroad trip to Bejing and an internship was canceled as a result of COVID. Then to top it off, she tested positive for COVID in September and still experiences some breathing issues.

"Everything was clicking into place for the team, and then unfortunately we didn't get to see that manifest for anyone," she said. "It was tough to have an offseason of training and then have COVID and try and come back from it, because fitness just isn't the same after that. It's been a hard year but adversity is what makes you better."

In addition to her coursework, rowing training and travel schedule, and taking the time to create handmade items to donate, she also works at the IT department for the UD School of Business Administration. And because of her work schedule her lift time is with the football team, instead of with her teammates.

"It is a little bit (intimidating) just because, I put whatever weight I'm going to put on the bar and then they're over there, lifting double my body weight. I just get in my zone. I've gotten so much stronger and bigger and I'm happy."

The 2021 Dayton rowing team competed in five events this spring, culminating with the A-10 Championship in Pennsauken, N.J. on May 15. Yingling was part of the 2V8+ that won the petite final.

"Grace is a steady, reliable, member of the rowing team and has been over the last three years," said UD Head Rowing Coach Mike Wenker. "I look forward to what she and the team can do next year."

"I've always liked being on a team and being part of a team sport. But I also like that there's a focus on you as the individual – but it's you as the individual working for the greater good," said Yingling. "That also ties into the Dayton Community aspect."

Being part of the team has helped Yingling with her vocation as well. She attributes 'field trips" and her former UD teammate Isabelle Blanchard with helping her on her career path.

"This summer I'm interning for DHL supply chain in Columbus. I want to start with warehouse management and then eventually move into more logistics planning," said Yingling. "I came in as discover business, so I didn't really know, but then the school of business has these 'field trip classes', and we were able to go and visit different sites to get an idea of what that profession would look like and in the OPS class, we were able to visit a DHL facility.

"It was a P&G warehouse distribution in Cincinnati. I was just like 'wow this is incredible' and then one of the seniors who graduated last year Isabelle Blanchard. She was an ops major too, and being able to ask her questions and then my own experiences led me to where I am."

Maybe one of the most important lessons she's learned from rowing is:

"Rowing has definitely taught me that whatever you thought your limits were they don't exist," Yingling said. "Whenever you think you have nothing left to give, you probably have more."

And Yingling is a great example to us all on what it means to give.