Editor’s note: Sonya Baumstein, who recently rowed across the Atlantic with three companions, is a University of Central Florida alumna. The 26-year-old graduated in 2009 with a master’s in nonprofit management. Below is an excerpt of a Feb. 28 story from the Orlando Sentinel:

Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, it occurred to Sonya Baumstein that trying to row across an ocean wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done.

But by that time, Baumstein was too far into the voyage to quit. With three companions, she rowed from Spain to Barbados in 56 days, 9 hours and 20 minutes, finishing the journey Jan. 30. The group became the first American mixed-gender, four-person group to complete the race.

“It is a difficult thing to wrap your mind around,” Baumstein, 26, said in Orlando, where she’s preparing to begin another trip, a bike ride from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.

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