Chris Maurice

Last year, Latin School lost the beloved Sam Cohen and her “Starbucks with Sam” articles where she met a new person, took them to Starbucks, and then wrote about it. Though I have only known Sam for a year, I felt that maybe, just maybe, I could do what she did. So this year I decided to take Sam’s place. This is Starbucks with Chris. Different name, same idea.

At Latin we like to say we know everyone, but, when you think about it, there are a lot of people that we just never get to meet. While roaming the halls looking for a person to interview, I ran across Charlotte Rosenberg. She politely agreed to go to Starbucks, and so my journey began.

Charlotte came to Latin in sixth grade, lived in Rome for a year, came back to Chicago the next, and has been here ever since. As I sat down with the dedicated swimmer Charlotte, who was drinking her (limited ice!) chocolate chai latte, I got to know what she was like outside the pool.

Starting at the age of 7, Charlotte has been a competitive swimmer. She has competed abroad twice; first in Italy and most recently this past summer in Israel at the 19th World Maccabiah Games.  Without overstating the obvious, this is something very few people get the chance to do. While in Israel, she got to meet many international swimmers and make lifetime memories. Charlotte hopes to compete in next year’s games and also wants continue swimming throughout college. This said, all great athletes like Charlotte still have their struggles. Charlotte’s? Morning practice. Getting up at 6 A.M is never fun, but when you have to then go jump into a pool and swim for an hour it’s always tough.

As we kept talking more about life and not just about swimming, found out that Charlotte’s favorite movies are Finding Nemo and Bridesmaids. Childhood classics (at least Finding Nemo is) no one can argue with! She also enjoys watching Arrested Development in her free time. As for music, Charlotte listens to Lil Wayne to get ready for a race—it seems to be working pretty well.

One of Charlotte’s favorite memories at Latin was during freshman year when she swam in the 200-meter freestyle relay at sectionals, breaking the school record. “When we got the record it felt I was finally being rewarded for all the work I put into swimming,” she remarked.

As we wrapped up our conversation, Charlotte told me she wants to get more involved in clubs and is excited for some of the surprises that Latin’s 125th anniversary will bring. She also wants the Latin community to know that she likes to “keep things real,” and I can testify that Charlotte definitely kept it real with me! Maybe next time I can get Starbucks with you!

Yours truly,