The Husky in the Boat: Software Engineer Steers Toward Bright Horizon

To keep the Rowing Club at Michigan Tech afloat, junior software engineering major Elise Buzzell became a student coach — an experience that's helping her prepare for a career as a software development director.

She'd rather have her oars in the water. But with the future of the Rowing Club at Michigan Tech adrift, Elise Buzzell spent much of her time this regatta season aboard the coach boat. Faced with a threat to the team's existence and committed to carrying on a proud 30-year legacy, Buzzell and her fellow team leaders did what Huskies do: They used a daunting challenge to expand the possibilities.

With 55 novice and experienced Huskies suited up this year, the MTU Rowing Club, which was founded in 1995, has the largest membership in its history. About 59% are engineering students, while 18% hail from sciences and arts, and 5% from forestry. The remaining 18% are computing students like Buzzell '27, who majors in software engineering.

The St. Paul, Minnesota, native isn't sure why so many students turned out for the team this year. Maybe it was the release of the film "Boys in the Boat" on streaming platforms. Maybe it's because rowing is growing in popularity among high school-aged youth. Or maybe it's because Michigan Tech attracts the kind of student who's drawn to "perhaps the toughest of sports," as described by author Daniel James Brown, who wrote the book that inspired the movie.

Buzzell has never minded rising early to be ready for 5 a.m. practice. The team retrieves the club boats at their donated base on the Houghton sands just off US-41, a short distance from east campus. Crews slice through the canal waters as the day dawns, sculling (two oars) or sweeping (one oar, two hands) — sometimes under the northern lights — as they make their way to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge and back.

"I don't know where I would be if I hadn't been rowing my first year at Tech," says Buzzell. "Going from high school to college left me with a lot of free time I didn't know what to do with. College is a hard transition for everybody. Waking up at four in the morning every day in the dorms with somewhere to go somehow made it easier."

Buzzell came to rowing late in her high school career thanks to her younger sister. "I went to one of her regattas to cheer her on and happened to see the MTU team there. I hadn't officially decided on Tech yet, but when I quit soccer before my senior year and still wanted to stay active, I decided to join her practices instead of just driving her there," she said.

She's grateful to be able to row — and now coach — for Tech. But rowing isn't the reason Buzzell chose to enroll at the University. That decision was data-based.

"I'm a very big numbers person. I had a huge spreadsheet with things like ROI (return on investment), sticker price and average merit, distance away, job placement and average starting salary, among many other things. Tech came on top for a lot of things, including finances, which is kind of a crazy thought, since it's out of state for me. It still ended up being similar pricing to a lot of the other schools," said Buzzell.

"Through my list of 35 colleges, Tech consistently placed on the top of all of the categories. So the logical choice was Tech — it just happened to also be a school with a rowing club, a distance away where I can still drive but my parents won't come up and surprise me on a weekend, and offered enough scholarships."Elise Buzzell '27, software engineering

At the end of her first year on the rowing club, Buzzell joined its 10-member executive board, or e-board. She continues that role as the club's Tech influencer, running social media and other publicity. This year, she took on an additional position as the team's coach — a role that she said she didn't want but knew was necessary for the sake of the club she loves.

Huskies Keep the Rowing Club Afloat

In 2025, the team's continued existence strayed into dangerous waters. Several longtime members graduated. The team coach also moved on, and it became clear that tough decisions were required for the club's 2025 season.

There have only been a few coaches since the late Terry Smythe, who founded the club and coached it for 25 years. Smythe is legendary among those who knew her for her athleticism, energy, community spirit and determination to involve everyone in rowing. She valiantly battled melanoma for five years before her death in 2018 at age 61. An elite competitive rower and spokesperson for the sport, Smythe's influence extended far beyond Tech.

"Terry had a huge impact on the Minnesota Boat Club — and I started rowing through MBC," said Buzzell. "So I knew about Terry before I even came up to Tech. Meters for Melanoma is still a big thing in the Twin Cities. The Head of the Mississippi regatta also dedicates a race to Terry."

One of the club's boats is named for Smythe.

Carrying on the commitment of Smythe and other members who came before them was very much on the minds of club members. With no coach, the easiest step would have been to limit membership to varsity-level competitors. But that wouldn't have been true to the club's founding principles.

"We prioritized being inclusive and trying to grow our club instead of narrowing down and becoming super competitive," said Buzzell. "And with that being said, we had to figure out how to student-coach."

For the first time, the Rowing Club at Michigan Tech is now completely student-run. An anomaly among student organizations, the shift required the club to rewrite its constitution.

Team leaders worked through the process with help from the University's Student Leadership and Involvement office and other campus officials, as well as U.S. Rowing, the sport's national governing organization. The team did some benchmarking as part of the process. "Not many clubs do this," said Buzzell. "A lot are funded pretty well and have boathouses or are attached to a Division I team. We're really running it solo!"

The team also reworked student contracts, navigating numerous conversations about logistics so that every dues-paying team member understood the situation. With 55 members and 44 seats — counting every single craft in the club fleet — there aren't enough boats to go around.

"Our fleet can only hold so many people," Buzzell said. "We can't just be optimistic and say everyone can get on a boat for every regatta. The math doesn't add up."

To address the challenge, club members alternate their days on the water. As coach, Buzzell's non-rowing days are a little different.

"The days I'm not rowing, I'm on a coach boat with a megaphone. Off the water, I make lineups, coordinate workouts, register for regattas and maintain communication with the rowers on updates. I definitely prefer competing, but I'd be lying if I said coaching wasn't rewarding," Buzzell said.

"I take on the 'Tell me what you noticed' coaching style," said Buzzell. "I let them tell me what they thought of practice, what could be fixed, and rely on coxswains to add in technical details. From their feedback, I might mention what I saw or just nod my head and look for drills that might help fix the boat."

How Rowing Is Like Studying Computing

Rowing season is as short and intense as a Keweenaw summer. At its end, the pace of life in Buzzell's corner of Husky Nation slows.

"You know, you can do this thing for seven or eight weeks — you commit until mid-term. And then it's like you get a whole new life back," said Buzzell. "You have this group of friends that you still get to do things with, but you're not up at four in the morning."

There's still off-season erging on the indoor machines in the rowing studio at the Student Development Complex, but Buzzell has time for other activities, including reading, exploring the outdoors, and being involved in Michigan Tech Broomball. She plays goalie on the rowing club team and manages the broomball league's social media.

The much-needed breaks from academics are welcome, but Buzzell continues to work toward her software engineering degree, staying focused on her coursework in the College of Computing and diving deeper into application development through the Humane Interface Design Enterprise (HIDE) — part of Michigan Tech's Enterprise Program.

Buzzell sees the similarities between rowing and studying software engineering. "You're always learning. There is not a practice that goes by where the only feedback you get is 'That was great.' There's always a constant list of things to continue to improve and learn how to do," Buzzell said.

She draws more specific parallels between her coaching experience and the career she plans as a software development director.

"A lot of people think coxswains just yell 'Row!' but they're actually coaching the team and steering the boat," said Buzzell. "As software developers, we take in user feedback and apply it to give clients what they want. What developers think is best isn't always going to make the client or users happy, so you have to work with them on it."

"I like programming, but I love the developer and client relationship that happens when you're working together on an application," said Buzzell, who has experienced the full cycle of the development process through three internships, including her first with the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team, which began in high school.

"I was part of a program called Aspirations in Computing through the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), and after winning an award was given the opportunity to interview for several high school internships," said Buzzell. "One of those interviews was with the Minnesota Twins, and to my surprise, they offered me a position. I never imagined I could combine computing with baseball but here we are!"

Her first internship focused heavily on learning and exploration. "I was encouraged to ask questions, experiment, and grow my skills through hands-on work," said Buzzell. "By the end of the summer I'd completed a full web development project using React.js, Prisma, SQL, TypeScript and Tailwind, which taught me both technical skills and what it's like to collaborate in a professional work environment."

Between her first and second years at Tech, Buzzell's former internship manager with the Twins, whom she still regards as an important mentor, reached out about returning as a college intern.

"This time it was for an application development role," said Buzzell. "I led the end-to-end development of a custom staff apparel application, starting with UI/UX wireframing in Figma to design key user flows. From there, I built the application using React.js, Prisma, and SQL, implementing features like item browsing, quick-add functionality and a dynamic cart system. I delivered a fully functional first version of the app, streamlining apparel ordering and distribution within the Twins' front offices."

Buzzell's most recent co-op, with Sentry, which began last spring and is ongoing, placed Buzzell at the company's table at Michigan Tech's 2025 Fall Career Fair, helping other Huskies connect.

"In May I started remotely back home in Minnesota. In June I moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, completely alone. I spent my summer exploring the area, started my project at Sentry and took classes online. Since I'm still working part-time remotely, my manager asked if I wanted to help recruit for the co-op next year. I spoke to WiCS (Women in Computer Science) to try and get more women into the application pool and then shook hands and took resumes at the Career Fair," said Buzzell.

Through her internship experiences, she's met people in the roles she aspires to have someday.

"After being in conversations with them I know that I definitely want more than just a developer role. I want to be the manager or director with experience and understanding about the full process of development from both a business and IT perspective," said Buzzell. "I've heard horror stories about developers who are under managers who don't have technical experience. I plan to be a developer, get an MBA, and work my way up to an executive role."

Choosing a Future in Computing

From a young age, Buzzell knew she wanted to go into computing. Her dad is a computer scientist, and she often watched him work in his home office.

"I think he sees that I'm pursuing this career as my own passion now, but there was a time when he thought I was doing it just to make him happy. He just lit a fire under me when I was young and gave me the resources to try and fail early on," she said. "He showed me that there's a future in computing — and how influential computing can be."

Before enrolling at Tech, Buzzell attended two Summer Youth Programs at MTU: Women in Computer Science and Women in Engineering. After completing them, she still wasn't sold on Tech.

"Coming from the city, I told my mom, 'I don't think I see myself here. It's deserted.' Well, now I know," she said, laughing. "It's a lot quieter in the summer. But also, it's funny because I said I would never go here and now I'm here and I'm endlessly in love with it. I can't imagine being anywhere else."

"My biggest surprise at Tech is how academically driven everyone is here. They're actively studying, asking questions, sitting down and dedicating time to pass their classes, not just for the grade but to set themselves up for success."Elise Buzzell '27, software engineering

Her familiarity with computing's evolution, both past and present, helps explain why Buzzell isn't especially surprised or concerned about the rapid ascent of artificial intelligence or how AI might affect computing careers.

"I don't think AI is as dangerous as some people think. I mean, we were going to get to the stage of automation anyway. AI isn't new. It's new for people who aren't in computing," said Buzzell. "I'm in the industry. I'm actively working."

She remains a strong voice for helping young women pursue computing careers, mentoring others as she was mentored.

"I stay heavily involved in the programs I was in when I first started my journey, like mentoring a Technovation team and volunteering at events when I'm home," said Buzzell. "I also continue to share my story whenever I can. There's a lot of influence in seeing someone who looks like you, who's just a couple years older than you. I had someone like that back home. I share my story whenever I can with the hope that at least one girl will see it and know that she can also do it. I'm letting them know that I can do it — even if it's not perfectly done — and so can they."

Rowing Revitalized at Michigan Tech

Buzzell's can-do attitude has helped to propel the Rowing Club at Michigan Tech into a more stable future.

"Ever since I was a little kid — my mom says it's my, like, weakness — I gotta go fully into it. Otherwise, I'm not doing it at all. If I care about something and if I want to do it, then I'm going to put my all into it. I didn't really want to be a student coach because I love to row and I love to compete. I was like, 'I don't want to do it, but if that's the difference between this club running and this club not running, then I'll do it,'" said Buzzell.

As the club gathers for their traditional Rowsgiving, Buzzell and her teammates are grateful to carry forward the founding traditions that make their organization a haven of strength and support for all Huskies willing to take up the oars.

"Terry worked really hard to keep this going. She obviously had a huge impact — people still talk about her to this day. She's unforgettable. Once you've been exposed to her life, you just can't forget it. And the club has had a huge impact on me," said Buzzell. "My best friends are from rowing. And a lot of people share the same sentiment — rowing brought their closest friends together. So I couldn't let it go away."

Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 185 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.