When Ava Smith graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in late May, she’d never traveled outside of the country. That was soon to change.

For four days in early August, Smith competed in the U.S. women’s eight at the World Rowing Under-19 Championships in Bulgaria. After barely a week back at home, she jetted off to the West Coast, where she plans to row and study nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

After officially being named to the U-19 national team in mid-July, Smith and her boatmates had only about three weeks to train together before heading over to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The Americans would face rowers from the four rival nations who do not compete for their schools, as Smith did at the Mount. They are identified as national team prospects at a young age and spend much more time working together than their U.S. counterparts.

The Romanian team, winners of the European championships earlier in the summer, also prevailed at Plovdiv. The U.S. finished in fifth place, behind (in second through fourth) Germany, Great Britain and Italy.

Knowing the daunting competition they were facing, Smith said, “We just wanted to go out and give everything, and I felt like we accomplished that. We had the best race we could have had.”

Smith first earned a place in Mount St. Joseph’s varsity eight as a sophomore, joining her sister Addy, who was then a junior. The Magic won the gold medal at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta that year, and would secure silver in 2025 and 2026. At the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships, the Mount reached the “A” final twice during her tenure.

Smith comes from a family of athletes and, more specifically, of rowers. Her mother, Denise Cattie, played basketball at Germantown Academy and New York University, and her father, Don Smith, rowed for the United States in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Her brother, Luke, was a crew standout at St. Joseph’s Prep and is now a rising senior at Stanford University, where he rows in the premiere eight for the Cardinal. Her older sister Addy rows for NCAA National Champion University of Texas, and younger sister Arden is a 6’1” basketball player who is entering Mount St. Joseph this fall.

Ava says that her father was happy when she became interested in the sport, but never pushed her to pursue it. She attended a summer rowing camp just before she started school at the Mount.

“I wanted to see if I liked it, and I loved it,” she recalled. “It’s so unique. I really like the feeling of just letting go of everything you’re thinking about and sync up with the girl in front of you, follow what she’s doing and listen to the coxswain. You’re feeling the water beneath you as well. It’s very therapeutic.”

Off the water, she excelled on the ergometer, eventually setting a new 4,000-meter school record. Relatively late in her high school career, she altered her technique, partly in an attempt to avoid back trouble that seems to run in the family. At the forward extension of her stroke, she learned to avoid the inclination to bend her upper body forward.

“When you drop your upper body, you then have to bring it back up, and that’s extra work and strain,” she explained.

Her rapid progress in the sport led to an interest in the junior national team program. She attended summer camps, then was invited to a U.S. selection camp last winter at the national Elite Athletic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Continuing to advance, she returned to California early in the summer and eventually was picked for the U-19 eight. Positioned in the seven seat, she’s right ahead of an old high school rival in the stroke seat, Caitlin Cecere from Montclair (N.J.) High School.

Heading to Bulgaria in the first week of August, the U.S. rowers flew into the capitol city of Sofia, then made the 90-mile drive to Plovdiv.

“It was interesting to see the different culture, experience the architecture and the languages,” Smith said. “When we drove to Plovdiv we went by some small villages, and you could see the mountains.”

The racing was done on a modern, manmade course, while the welcoming ceremony was held in the ruins of a stadium dating from the Roman Empire. The Americans were lodged in the same hotel as the rowers in the German eight, who spoke English well.

“People exchanged uniforms and caps and things like that,” noted Smith.

After returning home, she was soon traveling again, leaving Aug. 9 for freshman orientation at Cal Berkeley.

She recalled that during her recruiting visit, “I liked the whole atmosphere around the team, and everyone seemed very genuine. I felt a sense of community there.”

Given her interest in a career in mechanical and nuclear engineering, Cal was also a great fit. At Mount St. Joseph, she had loaded up on advanced-placement math courses, and studied physics and chemistry.

“I look forward to working with nuclear energy, and learning about making nuclear power plants and nuclear fusion,” she explained. “It all seems really fascinating to me.”

In talking with Smith, one notices an unusual combination of high energy and drive blended with a modest, gentle disposition. It seems she’ll be capable of reaching for the stars while remaining grounded, as she changes her world, and ours.