2022 Member Spotlight – Mijal Altmann

Home town, and anything about it: Caracas, Venezuela. My family moved when I was 4 and I started Kindergarten here.

When you moved to DC and why; Where you currently live: My family moved to the DMV from Venezuela because of rising political tension and crime in Caracas. My parents looked at jobs within a radius of 4 hours out of NYC, and stumbled upon Montgomery County. I couldn’t wait to leave the area when I was growing up here, but as I’ve gotten older I have seen how unique and special this area truly is, and so I feel a lot of pride to be from the DMV, particularly the M.

I currently live in Arlington, VA. I am proud to say I have lived in the D, the M, and the V. So, I am qualified to say that Virginia drivers are by far the worst. I’ll take a MD driver with their blinker on for 5 miles down 495 over a VA driver’s road rage on 66 any day.

What you did for sport/leisure before triathlon: I love to cook! I worked at a Recreational Culinary School last year and entertained the idea of going to culinary school for a little while. My favorite thing to cook is lentil bolognese.

What do you like best about triathlon/the club: I loved the sense of community that I felt within NTP and the club as a whole. I got to know some people pretty well just from showing up to the same workouts week after week, and I now consider them good friends! Going into this experience, I knew I needed a group of people to keep me accountable, and I am so glad I found this community, particularly the weekly NOVA track workout by Kyoko and the Hains “Gains” Point Rides.

I hear you just got a new job. Yes! I just started a new job at Alexandria City High School in their International Academy! It is a very special program dedicated to ensuring that English Language Learners get the tools they need to graduate. Typically, when immigrants arrive, they are students in regular classes and are expected to catch up to their peers and pass their classes regardless of what background they have, but IA is a different approach in the sense that they are in an environment with other English Language Learners and receive support classes in tandem with their general courses to fill any gaps that they need in order to be successful. The idea is that this will allow them to get up to speed and succeed in their courses. I am teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) World History.

How do you see your involvement in the club? I would love to continue to meet more members of the club and get involved in more recurring activities. Eventually I want to be a mentor to other emerging triathletes.

Anything else? If anyone needs to exchange words with me over my comments about VA drivers, meet me at Hains Point at 6pm on Wednesday. Try not to cut too many people off on the GW Parkway on your way there 🙂