One of a Kind
Westminster musician/diver juggles one hellacious schedule

By Mike Caputo

By day, she’s a melodious pianist. By nightfall, she’s a prospective Olympic diver. In between, she’s preparing for those dreams. Sometimes she sleeps — but only when she’s lucky.

No, it’s not the life of a female superhero, although some may put up a good argument for her. It’s a quick glance at an average day in the life of the multi-talented Shannen Kahler, a Rider diver who is finishing up her last year of competitive eligibility in the pool, and is also a junior music education major with a piano primary concentration on the Princeton campus.

She is currently the only varsity athlete at Rider who attends Westminster Choir College.

“I love being busy,” Kahler said. “If I’m not busy, I don’t do anything. I gotta really feel like I have no time for anything to get anything done.”

Apparently, Kahler’s system works for her. The diving musician from Ojai, Calif., maintains a 3.88 GPA in her classes, which are all held on the Princeton Campus. In the pool just last weekend, Kahler attained her lifetime best score at the MAAC championships in Baltimore, and finished in a close second place in the three-meter dive.

In 2005, Kahler made the decision to transfer cross-country from her junior college in sunny Ventura County, Calif., when she found a place that had two important qualities: a renowned music program and a competitive diving program.

To her surprise, that place was a small college located in Princeton – Westminster Choir College of Rider University. On the Princeton campus, she said she had the unique opportunity to obtain a world-class music education, while also having the chance to dive competitively with a good coaching staff on the Lawrenceville campus.

“They have the best program at Westminster for music education — that was the biggest determining factor,” said Kahler. “And I had a good tip from somebody I trusted that the diving coach here was a good coach, so I came here for the coach and the music school.”
Kahler also cherishes the opportunity to live on the other side of the country, especially a place that has a change of seasons.

“I wanted to get a new perspective, a new atmosphere to see what the east coast is like,” Kahler said. “I’ve been on the west coast my whole life.”

Going into her tenure at Rider, Kahler knew what type of schedule she was in for. During the fall semester, Kahler, who lives in an apartment about a block from the Princeton campus, woke up daily at 4:30 a.m.

She quickly fixed herself up, threw on clothes and made the 10-to-15 minute commute to the Lawrenceville campus for 5 a.m. diving practice at Maurer Gym. After team practice from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., Kahler joined the team in the weight room from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Then, after a quick bite to eat, it was back to the Princeton campus for class, which was virtually non-stop from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Kahler said she had a 30-minute lunch break and short breaks here and there, but any free time was used for either finishing up homework or for biking home to switch instruments for her next course.

When her last class finally ended at 5:30, Kahler had to quickly get ready to teach a private piano lesson. Her lessons were part of a volunteer effort for a non-profit organization known as Small Miracles, based out of Princeton, which provides music instruction for under-privileged children.

Upon conclusion of her private lesson, Kahler hopped in the car again and headed back to the Lawrenceville campus for night practice with the swimming and diving team, which takes place daily from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

At 9:30 p.m., her long day was seemingly over, but according to Kahler, it really wasn’t because she then had to drive back to her apartment in Princeton and begin a long night of homework.

“I was taking 17 credits and waking up at ungodly hours and going to sleep pretty late,” she said. “Some nights I couldn’t sleep because I had 17 credits and I get pretty good grades.”

Those good grades earned Kahler back-to-back MAAC All-Academic honors. But beyond her crazy weekday schedule, there were days where choir and diving would conflict. Yes, Kahler sings too; on the Princeton campus, students are required to sing for at least two semesters and pass a proficiency exam.

Whenever team road trips forced her to miss class, Kahler found it difficult to convince the professors on the Princeton campus to give her leeway because of her athletic commitments.

“I am the only athlete [on the Princeton campus] and I actually have to fight for a lot of things there,” said Kahler. “They [Westminster professors] don’t really understand. They have never dealt with it.”

Kahler pointed out that it’s more of a struggle for an athlete to be a piano student rather than a vocal student. She said vocal students always have their voices to practice with, but since a piano is “like a ton,” she said she’s unable to practice on the road.

But even if she had a piano during Rider’s road swimming and diving meets, she asserts that her mind is focused solely on competing her best during that particular meet.

“When I am in a diving competition, I’m not thinking about schoolwork,” said Kahler. “I am focusing on doing the best that I can. So it’s hard coming back and having all this homework due. I manage it, but it’s pretty tough to manage.”

Although Kahler misses class for her diving meets, she utilizes the time well. During a January invitational at Bucknell, Kahler gained first place in the one-meter dive. It was the first time she won a competition at the Division I level.

Furthermore, her second-place finish in the three-meter dive this past weekend at the MAACs came down to the final dive, in which Marist’s Melissa Mangona emerged as the champion. Earlier in the weekend, Kahler finished first in the three-meter dive preliminaries with her lifetime best score of 421.50.

Beyond MAAC competition, Kahler dives for other reasons. Over the summer, Kahler performed various tower and springboard dives involving major twists and turns for a theme park in Santa Claus, Ind., known as Holiday World. There, she completed dives from as high up as 50 feet.

“You have to have no inhibitions,” Kahler said in reference to trying such extraordinary dives.

More importantly to Kahler though is her year-round training for the Olympics, which is just one of her goals. Kahler would compete at the senior level instead of the junior level. The senior level is for competitors over the age of 18.

Her other goal is to finish up her Master’s on the Princeton campus, then teach at a Junior College while earning her doctorate at the same time.

Until then, Kahler’s schedule will be slightly easier since the grueling part of the swimming and diving season is over, but it will still be tough. Although she won’t be diving competitively next year, she will still be training for the Olympics, starting her student-teaching semester and preparing for her senior recital.
Instead of waking up at 4:30 a.m., like she did in the fall, Kahler can wake up at 7 a.m., which is something she is definitely not used to. And whenever she gets an extra moment, she is practicing for something.

“You are never done with your homework,” Kahler said. “If you are, you better be in practicing piano. I actually slept too much today.”