Ariana Shokoohi

Growing up as a competitive swimmer and varsity tennis player, senior Ariana Shokoohi of the University of Michigan rowing team found stability through playing sports. Her high school routine was one of a typical star athlete: early mornings, two daily practices and little sleep, all while balancing academics and a social life. To some, this restless lifestyle sounds like an insane way to live your teen years, but for Shokoohi, it gave her purpose.

Now as a leader in Michigan's first varsity eight (1V8) boat, Shokoohi still has not slowed down. The engaging pace of being a student-athlete has her moving at full speed while she pursues a career in medicine. Shokoohi has always valued being a teammate to help others, but through personal experience, she has also found it to be her calling.

As Shokoohi left high school and prepared to continue her studies at Michigan, she felt wary to leave athletics behind. She excelled in the pool and on the court and was nervous she would miss the structure and motivation those activities brought to her life.

That all changed when she received an email heading into her first-year at Michigan, informing her of U-M's novice rowing program. Intrigued by the opportunity, Shokoohi decided to attend the open house and try out. She caught on quickly, and after team training trips to Florida and Tennessee, she connected with her teammates and never looked back.

"I started to really like the team aspect in rowing. The fact that in rowing, you have to work together with seven other girls to make the boat fast, was crazy to me," said Shokoohi. "I really liked that."

Rowing fulfilled Shokoohi's desire to continue competing, and she felt she had finally found a new purpose. COVID-19 ended her freshman season before it began, but Shokoohi stayed determined during the lockdown and pushed herself like never before.

"I was on the erg every single day," she said. "(Our team had) a training plan which is supposed to be tentative, but I took it literally. I did two workouts a day and even if I was with my family and I couldn't work out in the afternoon, I would erg at 10 o'clock at night. My commitment was so real and it kept me sane during COVID. It gave me something to work for."

The promise of the 2021 season kept Shokoohi motivated, and she and her teammates were rewarded with a Big Ten Championship later that spring. She rowed in the second seat of the 1V8 as it won gold and sealed U-M's first conference title as a team since the 2012 season.

It was a sweet payoff for a challenge that Shokoohi and her teammates met head-on. Of course, being a student-athlete at Michigan means you will not only be challenged in your arena of competition. Shokoohi is a Biology, Health, and Society major who has twice been a CRCA Scholar-Athlete and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. To be eligible to earn CRCA Scholar-Athlete honors, an individual must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or above. As a BHS major, Shokoohi encounters -- and overcomes -- the same kinds of challenges that she loves attacking through sport.

"If I don't have something pushing me or creating a goal for me to work towards, I'm missing something in my life," said Shokoohi.

A career path in medicine is the next challenge for Shokoohi when her rowing career ends. Her father and uncle are ophthalmologists, so she has medicine in the family, but she did not expect the field would pique her professional interest until a family trip to New York City in 2012 took an unexpected turn.

With her mom and sister by her side, an 11-year-old Ariana witnessed her grandmother experience a medical emergency in the streets of New York. The episode was so severe that her grandmother had to be hospitalized temporarily. The experience, while traumatic and difficult, led Shokoohi to a life-changing realization.

As she witnessed the nurses and doctors help her grandma through the ordeal and bring her family comfort, Shokoohi thought to herself, "I want to be like that. I don't ever want to feel useless again and not be able to help my loved one."

It was this feeling that led her to think more deeply about a career in medicine.

"If I can try to give other people (a sense of) comfort that I'm taking care of their loved ones in the best way, that would just give me such joy and purpose," said Shokoohi. "(I'd want) people to have comfort knowing their loved ones are taken care of -- that way they have a little less worry."

Looking ahead, Shokoohi hopes to continue her education and also use her experiences as a student-athlete to gain a better understanding of physiology and best practices for athletes. She plans to pursue a master's of movement science through U-M when her undergrad studies end. She also has an eye on another run at a Big Ten Championship with the Wolverines.

After earning her M.S., Shokoohi has her sights set on medical school. She is keeping her options open as to which specific career in medicine she will pursue. She loves working with children, so pediatrics is a possibility, but she would also love to use her first-hand experience as an athlete to help her patients.

"If I have patients who are athletes and they are doing intense workouts, I can give them advice on measures they can take outside of my care so that they can prevent those injuries," said Shokoohi.

The future is still being written for Ariana Shokoohi, but she knows whatever challenges the future holds, she will be well-prepared thanks to the mindset and work ethic she has fostered as a Wolverine rower and student.

"If you have a strong mindset and the commitment to tell yourself, 'This is what I truly want to do in life,' these challenges are just going to seem like more steps in your journey to becoming what you want to become,' she said. "If medicine is truly what you want to do, then you will find a way to make it work because it's your dream."