Talia Toland ('17)

I was able to catch Talia between classes at Tufts, and she was kind enough to give this interview.

Christian Fulghum ‘77: Thank you for making time today. I know you are super-busy! Tell me what you're doing right now.

Talia Toland ‘17: Right now I'm a junior at Tufts University. I am currently on the sailing team. I am a major in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Engineering Management.

Christian: What made you pick Mechanical Engineering?

Talia: That's a great question. I was looking through classes and requirements of an Arts and Science major, and nothing really sparked my interest. Whereas with Mechanical Engineering, I'm really interested in how things work and how things go together to make different objects and items function properly.

Christian: And, do you have any engineers in your family?

Talia: I do. My dad's father was an engineer. He worked for Boeing for a long time, and my brother is an aerospace engineer. He is currently getting his master’s in Aerospace Engineering.

Christian: So, definitely it runs in the family. And how are you liking Tufts culturally, compared with Overlake? What are some similarities or differences there?

Talia: I love it. With the group of people that I'm with in my degree there's a lot of teamwork - working on problems sets and studying for exams. It's similar to the experience I had at Overlake. People are very community-oriented, and love to work together and want everyone else to succeed as well as themselves.

Christian: And are you already in a degree program at this point?

Talia: I am, yes. I believe you have to declare freshman spring. I've been in the Mechanical Engineering degree track from the start.

Christian: So, what caused me to get in touch with you though, was actually a post about you being on the sailing team. Talk to me a little bit about the team you're on now.

Talia: I'm on the varsity sailing team. It's about 50 people, so it's quite a big team which can make some aspects tough. We get funding from the university and we have organized practices and a coach. It's a huge, huge, huge time commitment but something that I really love and that helps break up my school day. I am currently on the women's team, so that means every weekend I set out with one other person on my boat and then four people total and we travel around to many different regattas every weekend. Our scores in different regattas contribute to our total ranking at the end of the year, which helps to schedule for more regattas in the future.

Christian: Is the team at Tufts an old team? Has it been around a long time?

Talia: Yeah, it's been around for quite a while. Our coach has been at Tufts for a long time. I might have to double check this, but I believe 50 years or something crazy like that, 40 to 50 years.

Christian: So, there's men's and women's divisions? Is there also a coed version of it or is that not a varsity sport?

Talia: That’s an interesting point actually. So there's no men’s team, they just have coed and women's and a lot of schools have that women's team as part of title nine in order to offer the football team a new costume! [Laughing] And also you have some boats with a crew of two people which are quite small and so it can be hard to find a combination of men who are small enough in the boat.

Christian: What size boat are you guys racing?

Talia: Most of the time we're on 14-foot double-handed boats. There are some exceptions. This fall I sailed in the single-handed nationals. So that was just one person in the boat, about a 12-foot boat. And then there's also some keelboat sailing in the fall.

Christian: Were you an avid sailor growing up? Is that something you had a lot of experience with or was it brand new to you?

Talia: Yeah, I sailed all throughout high school and middle school. My parents actually met sailing, so it's been in the lifestyle and in the family for a while. When I was in high school, I actually trained with the Olympic Development Team and traveled pretty much every single weekend to go train and compete around the U.S. and in Canada and sometimes internationally.

Christian: Wow, that's really cool that you've been able to keep that up. I mean I've done a fair amount of sailing, but I'm not really capable of sailing by myself. I'm a decent crew member. For you, what's the appeal of sailing? Even outside the context of school, what do you like about it?

Talia: I think the biggest thing I like about it is just how many variables go into one race. Nothing's ever the same, moment to moment. There are so many things that are changing, which also can be the most frustrating thing about sailing and how you can't control the wind or the waves or the weather. You kind of have to work with what you have and make your boat go the fastest with what you're given. And that's a really cool aspect. Since coming to college I've gotten to work a lot more with a crew, with someone else in the boat and that's taught me so much about working with other people and what it's like to hand off some of the things that I'm used to doing by myself in a single handed boat. It was awesome.

Christian: It all sounds like stuff that has lots of applications in work and life generally, about team dynamics and very unpredictable conditions and how do you delegate authority and have that work out and making sure the right people are doing the right tasks.

Talia: And it's an interesting mix between teamwork and individual because while you're sailing, it's just one boat from your team in the race. So that's all individual, cause then in the end you are part of this bigger team and you want the team to go as far as possible.

Christian: I'm in the process of interviewing a number of women alumnus who are avid sailors from all the different generations of the school's history. And it suddenly occurred to me that there was a family that took an extended break from school, sailed all over the world. So, I think kids who have that experience, families that have that experience, it's really hard to replicate in any other situation. Do you have any ambitions with respect to sailing later on in life, whether recreationally or otherwise?

Talia: Yeah, I'm not actually really sure where it's going to take me yet. I decided to take the next year off of school actually. I'll be taking a leave of absence from Spring 2020 until Spring 2021 and proceed with my Captain's License, which I actually just got, my U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License. And then further down the road, my RYA Yachtmaster Offshore License, which is the British version of a Captain's License. I'm hoping to work on several charter boats next summer and into the fall. I'm still considering doing an Olympic campaign. The 2024 is local, so that could be fun to pursue, but I'm kind of seeing where it all takes me right now.

Christian: Yeah. And then as far as beyond this degree goes, do you see yourself going to grad school at this point or maybe working first? Setting aside the possibilities around sailing.

Talia: I don't think I'll go to grad school straight away. I think so much of what I've learned in Mechanical Engineering can be carried over to when I want to work with the America's Cup on their sailing boats or doing something with airplanes. And I think having that real-world job experience first would encourage me actually to go back later and get a master's degree.

Christian: I'll just say, speaking not in my official capacity, pacing yourself like that and mixing work experience with school, make school more valuable because you can come back to it with more purpose and more focus.

Talia: And I think you get a greater appreciation for the education that you're working towards and that you're getting in the moment.

Christian: Outstanding. Of course, as we know all of life is education if you're paying attention. Any advice for Overlake students with respect to life in general, or sailing, or any of the above?

Talia: Good question. I would say with respect to life in general is: follow your passions, and don't let this carved-out road of high school, university, grad school, work, get in your way of doing what you want to do and experiencing what you want to see. As far as going to school and applying to universities, look at as many schools as you can and if you're interested in a sport, use that and pursue that and that can be a really great way to meet people on campus. Even if you don't stay with that team all four years, it's just something you do for a year or two and then decide you want to move on with your life. Athletics are a way to be part of that community. I found it to be a really great experience.

Christian: Well, you sound like it's been a very empowering part of your life and something that gives you confidence and a sense of purpose. And it also sounds really exciting what you got in your plans and I hope you'll keep us up to date. I wish you happy and safe sailing.

Talia: Thank you so much. Just out of curiosity, I didn't know there were so many women from Overlake who had pursued sailing.

Christian: The ones I have spoken with recently or am planning to speak with include yourself, Tori Parrott ’80, Sue Ide ’77, and Kristin Pederson ’04. I’m sure there are more.

Talia: It’s fun to make those connections.

Christian: All right, ‘bye Talia.

Talia: Thank you, goodbye.