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Strongman is a sport that tests an athlete\u2019s strength and endurance in a variety of ways, from doing dead lifts and squats to pulling a vehicle.<\/p>\n
Echeverria made her way to the sport through CrossFit. \u201cI fell in love with CrossFit in 2014,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt like I didn\u2019t know how to make friends, but in the shared suffering of CrossFit, I discovered a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training at a CrossFit gym in Atlanta, Echeverria met Strongman coach Andrew Hanus. \u201cI had heard Strongman was a sport that women could do, and he encouraged me to start competing.\u201d At her first \u201cin-house\u201d competition, meaning it was not sanctioned by an official Strongman organization, she won the novice division and started attending Hanus\u2019s weekly classes. That was in 2018, and Echeverria has been at it ever since. On February 8, she competed in the Limit Breaker Invitational in Alabama, where she achieved three personal bests and came in fourth place.<\/p>\n
Echeverria, diagnosed with ADHD as a young adult, says her Strongman training calms her \u201cspicy brain.\u201d She works out two to five days a week, combining Strongman exercises, such as heaving heavy sandbags over a high bar, with cable workouts and cardio. \u201cI am not my best, glittery self if I don\u2019t exercise regularly,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
And being at her best is important for her job. Echeverria, a registered dietitian who holds an M.S. in nutrition from Georgia State University, is a pediatric oncology hematology dietitian at Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta.<\/p>\n
In addition to her athletic training and work helping children, the unstoppable Echeverria runs her own company, EatonBroshar.com<\/a>, where she designs and markets planners for other \u201cspicy brain\u201d women. She also maintains a popular Instagram account, @inshapeoutofmind<\/a>.<\/p>\n A sociology and writing and rhetoric major at Trinity, she credits her first-year seminar instructor, Robert Peltier, principal lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, emeritus, with her career success. As a first-year, she says, she \u201cjust didn\u2019t value myself as someone who could positively contribute.\u201d But Peltier \u201ctreated me with respect and listened to me,\u201d says Echeverria, who later served as a teaching assistant for Peltier\u2019s \u201cWriting 101\u201d course. She notes, \u201cI am where I am today\u2014changing children\u2019s lives\u2014because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Kim Thacker \u201983<\/strong> was a serious student, deciding at an early age that she wanted a career in medicine. \u201cI was the geeky girl at Trinity,\u201d says the biology major. \u201cI was either studying or working in the lab.\u201d There was no time for pursuing hobbies\u2014\u201cI just didn\u2019t have the bandwidth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n As a transfer from the University of Virginia, she felt \u201cwell supported\u201d at Trinity, where she was a teaching assistant in biochemistry. After graduating third in her class, she earned an M.D. from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, and began a successful 20-year career as a biotech executive working in pharmaceutical research.<\/p>\n Though she was excelling in her professional life, she wanted to meet other young people in New York City, so she signed up for ballroom dance lessons. \u201cAlthough I always loved to dance, I was not someone who took endless lessons as a child,\u201d she says. She found a great practice partner, and the two spent many hours perfecting their steps on the dance floor.<\/p>\n But then her partner met the love of his life and \u201cspun right out of our dancing duo,\u201d she says. Searching for a style of dance that didn\u2019t require a partner, she discovered tap.<\/p>\n \u201cTap dancing entered my life like an all-encompassing whirlwind of percussion and possibility,\u201d she says. \u201cWith every shuffle, flap, and brush, we tell stories without uttering a word. It\u2019s a conversation between our bodies and rhythm, where improvisation meets discipline in perfect harmony.\u201d<\/p>\n That was in the early \u201990s, and Thacker\u2014a former president of the board of the American Tap Dance Foundation\u2014remains smitten. She takes two or three 90-minute classes a week and finds that the practice and close-knit community help her navigate life\u2019s challenges, specifically the loss of her parents, brother, and uncle.<\/p>\n In 2018, she went back to the classroom to earn a master\u2019s in bioethics from Columbia University and now combines her 20-plus years in pharmacology with her newer interest in biotechnology and bioethics. She is a fellow at the New York Academy of Medicine, where she is vice chair of the academy\u2019s Section on Healthy Aging, and recently was elected to the board of the Empire State Bioethics Consortium. She also is a member of the working group of an IEEE Brain initiative, helping to develop an ethics framework for the use of neurotechnology.<\/p>\n Through it all, tap has been her constant. \u201cTap dancing is my refuge, my playground, and my reminder that joy is indeed the very best dance partner of all,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n James \u201cJamie\u201d Evans \u201997<\/strong> is a corporate lawyer with Orrick Technology Capital Markets in Seattle. He also is a single dad to his daughter, Katy, 17, and a person who admits to having \u201ca high-risk appetite.\u201d<\/p>\n At Trinity, it wasn\u2019t apparent that Evans would develop a penchant for motorsports. A philosophy major, he had an affinity for public policy and had his mind set on a career in law. He says his four years at the College were some of his favorites. \u201cI met some of my best friends there,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n After graduation, he spent some time in New York City before moving to the West Coast to earn a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law.<\/p>\n As a young professional, he started hanging around a garage after becoming interested in classic cars. \u201cI got to know the guys and learned how to work on engines,\u201d he says. He also became friends with one of the mechanics, who happened to race motorcycles.<\/p>\n His friend took him to the racetrack one day, and Evans rode a motorcycle on the track. Motorcycle racing is not for the faint of heart. Racers can reach speeds of 200 mph, and there isn\u2019t much to protect them from being hit by another driver in the event of a fall. \u201cThat was it,\u201d he says. \u201cI was immediately hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans started competing in 2017, but his racing was interrupted in 2021, when his daughter\u2019s mother experienced a cardiac event that left her seriously disabled. \u201cOvernight, I became a single parent.\u201d<\/p>\n Katy, 13 at the time, asked her father to give up racing. \u201cShe had lost one parent; she didn\u2019t want to lose the other. It was a fair thing to ask,\u201d says Evans, who immediately stopped racing. But he missed the fun and adrenaline rush that came from his motorsports activities. After searching for a safer alternative, he invested in a full-motion e-racing simulator that takes up a good portion of his garage. \u201cThe physics are like live racing, and the immersion is very real,\u201d he says. Evans focuses primarily on NASCAR-style racing and regularly competes against other drivers, \u201cthough my results are average at best.\u201d<\/p>\n What does Katy think of her dad\u2019s e-racing? \u201cShe was interested at first,\u201d he says, \u201cbut now we find other things to do together.\u201d Last year, in what could be construed as another hobby, Evans accompanied his daughter to three Taylor Swift concerts. \u201cShe\u2019s a big fan,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n At Trinity\u2019s Raether Library and Information Technology Center, students and other members of the College community have many avenues to foster and support hobbies\u2014from a fully stocked craft library to 3D printers.<\/p>\n Located in the library\u2019s Center for Digital Learning and Scholarship, Trinity\u2019s Arts and Crafts Supply Library is open 24 hours a day. Students may check out items including sewing machines, paints, yarn, paint-by-number kits, hot-glue guns, and more. \u201cA lot of students wanted to experiment with different media but didn\u2019t have the available resources,\u201d says Christina Bleyer, College librarian, associate vice president of libraries and digital learning, and director of special collections and archives at the Watkinson Library.\u00a0This treasure trove of donated items makes it easier for students to explore their creativity.<\/p>\n In addition to providing materials, the Arts and Crafts Supply Library gives students a place to gather, socialize, and learn from one another. It also provides resources for a popular student crochet club and a student book-discussion group, with librarians serving as sponsors.<\/p>\n Creatively displayed in a vintage card catalog, Trinity\u2019s Seed Library offers a wide variety of vegetable, herb, flower, and fruit seeds, most donated to the College from The Chas. C. Hart Seed Company in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Launched in 2024, the seed library is popular with students, faculty, and Hartford residents, says Bleyer. Patrons may take seeds and borrow books about urban gardening. Some donate seeds they harvested from their own crops. The seed library also hosts an open-to-the-public yearly planting event for Earth Day in April.<\/p>\n For more technology-focused patrons, the library offers five 3D printers. Unless the project is overly large or complicated, printer usage is free, though patrons must contact student technology assistants for help in getting their model ready to print.<\/p>\n In addition, the library offers a bookable virtual reality room and audio recording studios and also loans out drones, which can be used to shoot aerial photos and video footage.<\/p>\n In the last 20 years, with the growth of digital resources, libraries have become dynamic community hubs where patrons have access to various services, materials, and experiences, explains Bleyer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like to think of libraries as a third space, after work and home, a space where people can connect, learn, and engage.\u201d<\/p>\n Bleyer notes that libraries are focused on lifelong learning, offering workshops, exhibitions, and even opportunities to engage in hobbies.<\/p>\n \u201cHobbies are more than just pastimes,\u201d says Bleyer. \u201cThey are pathways to creativity, connection, and well-being. They can even develop skills that translate into career opportunities or side businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Bleyer notes the library\u2019s hobby offerings are an important addition to campus. \u201cAmid academic pressures,\u201d she says, \u201chobbies can provide a vital balance, offering a chance to recharge, explore creativity, and develop skills that enrich both personal and professional growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Mary Howard For those with demanding careers, hobbies can seem like a luxury at best, or, at worst, a waste of time. But the following three Trinity College graduates find that pursuing their interests enriches their lives and helps them navigate personal and professional challenges. Alessandra \u201cAllie\u201d Echeverria \u201908 is a \u201cstrongwoman\u201d athlete. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":4149,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4239","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/143\/2025\/05\/Kim-Thacker-by-Jessie-Festa-e1746801005927-137x300.jpg\")
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\n\u2018Pathways to creativity\u2019<\/h3>\n
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