ROOM NURSE
SHANNON E CARROLL
MERGENCY US A
“The biggest skill I was able to take from kayaking and apply to my job is staying calm under pressure,” says Shannon Car- roll. “I’m basically paid not to get excited when shit hits the fan. Instead, I have to perform.” As an ER nurse in Grass Valley, California,
she deals with everything from heart at- tacks to gunshot wounds. Carroll had been kayaking professionally
for eight years when she realized she was tired of being broke every fall. Since becoming a nurse, Carroll has
found “more financial freedom to focus my kayak energies on the specific type of kayaking that is my passion, creek boat- ing,” she says. The shift work that comes with the job al-
lows Carroll chunks of time off to paddle— she’s currently training for an all-female paddling expedition to Brazil—and working in healthcare has helped her appreciate those opportunities more than ever. “You can’t put a price on your health,”
she says. “I see people everyday, young and old, being diagnosed with life altering diseases and I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to lead the life that I’ve lived.”
WISDOM FROM THE WORKFORCE
CARROLL Whatever you do, put your happiness and health first. Work and school will always be there—travel and live life to its fullest.
SCHOOL TEACHER
MARIANN SAETHER
N O R W AY
Well-established in the whitewater world, who knew Mariann Saether is equally pro- ficient in her professional life? With a Mas- ters degree in Medieval History, Saether teaches history, social science, English, Norwegian and math at a secondary school in Norway. “It is an amazing feeling to be able to
guide the youngsters through a pretty im- portant phase of their lives,” she says. She acts as a mentor for many of her students who compete in skiing at a high level, help- ing them balance training with academics— a feeling she’s familiar with. “I hope to make it to the Grand Prix in
Quebec, but it is the same period as 60 of my students have their exams so it is not likely,” she says. With an already-lengthy list of paddling
accomplishments from freestyle to first de- scents, Saether is feeling the pull towards competitive paddling. “The challenge,” she admits, “is to get
enough time to paddle, which has left me pretty close to showing up to some of my classes still in my kayaking gear.”
This article first appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of Rapid.
WISDOM FROM THE WORKFORCE
SAETHER Have an end goal but break everyday life down to smaller goals. Do not be too hard on yourself if you cannot do it all every day.
www.rapidmedia.com 55
PHOTO: COURTESY SHANNON CARROLL
PHOTO: MARTINA WEGMAN
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