Stroke of Dawn

Louisa Demmitte ’09 took this photograph on Lake Auburn on Oct. 3, 2008, at 6:54 a.m., about 15 minutes after sunrise during an Outing Club “sunrise paddle.” The 10 or so students who joined the paddle found a slightly roiled lake, thanks to a southerly breeze, and a misty scene, thanks to the 40-degree air against the warmer water. In this canoe are Rob Friedman ’11 (bow) of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Hannah Porst ’11 (middle) of Madison, Wis., and Naima Murphy ’10 (stern) of Chicago. Watching the day begin from a canoe on a lake, says Demmit, of Columbia, Md., helps center her. “Everything starts fresh when the sun first hits the water,” she says. “What happened yesterday doesn’t matter.”