Grand Valley State University’s rowing team is staying busy during the winter months by removing snow on campus.

Supplemental maintenance of campus during the winter months is completed by rowing team members, and has been for over 20 years. While student-athletes don’t plow the roads, they help clear walkways across campus.

The maintenance is just one aspect of the Rent-a-Rower program, a way for athletes to cover the cost of their club dues by working in the community. Rowers may be asked to participate in yard work and landscaping, painting, moving, cleaning, or housework in return for $15 per hour for their membership dues.

“When rowers help shovel snow, they are utilizing our Rent-a-Rower program, which essentially allows them to work simple freelance jobs where the money earned goes straight to the athletes’ rowing dues,” said Rowing Club President Reece Thurston. “This program makes our club accessible for any GVSU student, not just those with a bunch of extra money sitting around.”

While there is much snow-related work to be done throughout winter, not all athletes are not required to participate.

“Snow removal is totally optional when you’re a part of the rowing team,” Thurston said. “Our snow removal coordinator sends out a weekly message to our group chat, which allows him to procure a list of the individuals who are available that week for snow removal.”

Rowers are able to pick up snow removal shifts at will, making it convenient for those who want extra shoveling duties.

“If someone has a super busy school week, they aren’t required to do snow removal, but it’s always an option,” Thurston said. “This process also allows our snow removal coordinator to track the number of times each rower participates in snow removal and how much money they’ve earned in order to make it fair for all rowers and everyone has an equal opportunity to pay off their dues.”

The economic gain to student-athletes is one of the main benefits to completing snow removal tasks. The rowing team faces some of the highest fees of any club sports due to travel expenses and equipment costs. Rent-a-Rower Coordinator James Hollister attested the boats themselves are often upwards of $100,000, and insurance policies are equally exorbitant.

“(This is) due to a lot of traveling, (the cost of) multiple properties used for training and storing boats, buying and insuring equipment and paying coaching staff,” said Hollister.

The Rowing Team hopes to prevent slip-and-fall accidents, making the trek across campus a little easier for students and staff. Hollister believes this system is productive not just for the team, but the campus as a whole.

“I absolutely think athletes shoveling snow makes a huge difference,” Hollister said. “We shovel a lot of the smaller paths leading directly to the entrances of buildings that can only be reached by hand, and not the plows. This includes a ton of common buildings people use every day.”

The attention to ease of pedestrian traffic has not gone unnoticed by the GVSU community. 

“While shoveling and salting the paths, professors using the same paths will often thank us for our work and emphasize how nice it is to have everything shoveled and salted,” Hollister said.