Fifteen years after its founding, Row New York has grown into one of New York City’s most effective programs for teens from under-resourced communities. Less than 15 months from breaking ground at what will become Manhattan’s first-ever combined boathouse and academic learning center, they show no signs of slowing down.

We woke up. We were supposed to be going out at 7 in the morning but there was a weather hold,” says Mitch Kieffer of a morning that at first sounds like a typical one