KENMORE, N.Y. — Students at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute congratulate their classmate, Ethan Kaniya.
Who would have thought? Ethan Kaniya signs his commitment letter to Syracuse University. It certainly wasn't Ethan.
"I was never a great athlete in middle school and you see with a lot of sports nowadays, you have to start when you're three, 4, 5 years old," Kaniya says. "I kind of wanted to try something new in high school, and rowing is one of those sports where you didn't need any experience."
Let alone the college he chooses to sign up for.
Ethan: I had no idea I even wanted to go to Syracuse.
2 On Your Side: So, where did you want to go to originally?
Ethan: Well, my dream school was Columbia.
Fueled by curiosity, Ethan quickly fell in love with rowing. He even made it a personal goal to take it further than high school.
"I kind of quickly fell in love with the hard work aspect of it. It's a pretty simple sport. It's just you put the work in. You get better," he said.
He along with 19 other seniors accomplished the same goal. They all signed up for a school furthering their high school sports career, and all 20 are playing nine different sports and going to 14 different schools.
However, before he leaves, he's trying to accomplish another.
"Take our pair to youth nationals, which is a big regatta in Florida. To get there we have to get the top three in states. That will be the first time in our school to take a boat to youth nationals," Ethan said.
When that's over, it's off to rowing practice and study sessions. Ethan wants to major in international relations and minor in the Chinese language.