The imagination of Devonne Piccaver, an eight-year-old girl who sought nothing less than becoming something, settled on earning the title of Olympian. As she claims, she would gladly suffer through “living in a crack house” just to achieve her goal, and demonstrated this tenacity during the summer she attended a rowing camp in Reading, UK. Devonne mustered through the visible, physical challenges of training, her hands blistered and torn, while she dealt with the invisible, emotional turmoil of isolation. She would return home to find the walls of her accommodations damp with mold, while her teammates had their laundry done for them. Devonne shared her teammates athletic privilege, but not their pedigree. For years, Devonne endured the enormous physical tax athletes pay, supported by people who encouraged her pursuits. Yet, after years of training toward that goal, Piccaver decided she didn’t want it anymore.
Ellie, her older sister and close confidant, remembers Devonne as someone who organized all aspects of her life around getting what she wanted. When Piccaver desired to attend college in the United States, she structured her life around that goal. She sought out American rowing coaches at regattas and exchanged emails with them while studying for her A-level examinations. “No one else in our family had attempted anything quite like it [Princeton].” Devonne’s ambitions eventually settled on Princeton; however, regardless of any diligent effort put forth, matriculation failed to offer her the satisfaction she was yearning for. For someone already accustomed to effort yielding success, Princeton resurfaced a familiar feeling of being separated from her peers. This was heightened through, as a result of the technical differences of American rowing, left her moving between higher and lower boats. Devonne arrived at Princeton afraid she would not meet its standard and spent part of her freshman year considering whether she would return at all. Congruent with her personality, Devonne did not quit and, by senior year, continued rowing.
Devonne’ tenacity proved her to become a leader on campus. She had manicured herself into someone approachable by becoming a community living adviser in Dod Hall. Her sister, Ellie, sees beyond this face. “I think she definitely puts on a face a lot of the time, to make everything seem great and okay, but a lot of the time she’s hiding things that are whirring round in her head.” Ellie wonders if the training, rigorous coursework and responsibilities that keep her sister constantly engaged provide a distraction from possible internal struggles. She does so by continuously striving to help others in need, show up for herself in daily discipline, and look for meaning in challenging situations.
Piccaver has shaped herself into someone deeply searching for meaning and depth. During the 2026 summer reporting migration in Greece, Devonne encountered the tangible discards of displaced people. She witnessed the torn rubber boats in the sand, wet clothes, and life jackets left along the coastline. This reinvigorated her pursuit for depth and meaning, and through Journalism, found became a vessel to channel her ambition. That eight-year-old who needed to become something now has the tools to become anything.
