By Louise Schultze, Marketing and Outreach Specialist
From the age of 4, Stanford OHS alum and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Evita Griskenas knew exactly what she wanted to be. After seeing a rhythmic gymnastics event on TV, she fell in love with the sport and told her parents to sign her up for classes. However Evita’s first class was in artistic gymnastics (think Simone Biles), to which she exclaimed, “This is not the right kind of gymnastics!”
Evita was hooked, and from then on spent 3-6 hours a day, six days a week, in the gym training for events including rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon. As a high school student keeping these rigorous hours in the gym, she needed a school with a more flexible schedule.
“It was kind of an accident how I found Stanford Online High School,” Evita said. “During my freshman year, my friend’s mom suggested I apply, and then literally sat me down and made me fill out an application to the school at the last minute. I got in, took one class, and loved it so much that I took more and more classes each semester. Stanford OHS gave me the freedom to travel abroad for tournaments without missing anything. I could take classes from an airplane! I traveled to over 11 countries during high school including Japan, Israel, Bulgaria, Russia, Spain, and Peru. The teachers were super understanding of my gym schedule, the curriculum was superior to my local high school, and I was able to transfer so much of my learning to college.”
Now in her second year at Columbia University in New York, Evita travels back and forth from the city to her hometown of Orland Park, outside Chicago, where she trains several days a week. Evita is a member of the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team and has won multiple medals in international competitions. In August 2019, she was recognized for having won the most medals by any single athlete in any sport at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, after winning four gold medals (including the All-Around gold) and one bronze medal. But her eyes were always focused on the Olympics.
“When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to go to the Olympics,” Evita said. “Once I made the National Team, the events grew more and more competitive, and it fueled me to work towards the games.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, Evita was at the Lisbon International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament in Portugal. The tournament was canceled, all athletes were sent home, Evita’s Olympic dreams were put on hold, but she stayed determined. Evita trained for events on the grass in her backyard, and in her basement, “I broke a few light bulbs!” and a year later, was able to begin competing in international tournaments again.
“There were more protocols, restrictions, and safety measures, and it was so awkward that there was no audience to watch our tournaments,” Evita said. “You tell a story in rhythmic gymnastics, and you try to connect with the audience, which was hard when there were only judges and media watching.”
Despite these setbacks, Evita qualified for the Team USA Rhythmic Gymnastics team and competed in Tokyo, Japan this past summer. She placed 12th overall, and was pleased to have maintained her focus even with no audience present.
“First was my ball routine, which I was very pleased with in terms of how I controlled the ball. My hoop routine told a story, my ribbon routine had a great flow, and I really nailed my clubs, that was a really strong routine,” said Evita. “But I didn’t let myself feel anything until end when I sat down, hugged my coach and thought, ‘I just did that!’”
Evita attended the Closing Ceremonies and grew emotional watching the Olympic flame being extinguished. She plans to keep training and qualify for the next Summer Olympics in Paris 2024.
Though her first year at Columbia University was all online due to the pandemic, she proudly wore her Stanford OHS Alumni t-shirt during classes that read, I did online school before it was cool! This year’s classes are a hybrid of recorded and in-person lectures so she’s able to still train and learn on the go.
“Stanford OHS is a really unique community, and I’m really grateful for my experience,” said Evita. “The school really prepared me for taking university classes online while many people struggled. I learned study methods for working in a remote environment, how to set up study groups with others, and I learned time management, which is a lifelong skill! If you put the effort in, you can do anything!”