Freshman Rose Janowski of the Harvard women's basketball team knows how to spell "tenacity". That was the word that won her the 1988 spelling bee in her hometown of Glover, Vermont.

Eight years later, Janowski is still displaying that same strength.

After being on Harvard's campus only a week, she learned that she would have to undergo major invasive surgery. Because the doctors predicted a three-week recovery period, the Harvard administration suggested that she take a year off.

It is an affirmation of Janowski's personality that her community wrote letters pleading her case to the Dean's office. Finally, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans relented and gave her a week to rest. Janowski incredibly resumed training for the basketball season in only seven days.

"Obviously, it's a testimony to how bad she wanted to be on the team," junior Jessica Gelman says. "It's been an inspiration to the rest of us."

The 6'2" Janowski was heavily recruited by Harvard coach Kathy Delaney Smith, who hoped that her height would strengthen the team.

"I was hoping that Rose would help us with a little bit of size," Delaney Smith said.

Initially, it was Janowski's impressive stature that prompted her to play basketball in the fourth grade. Although she sometimes felt awkward about her height, she decided to use it to her advantage in the sports arena.

"I was always taller than the guys--still am," Janowski says.

Her junior high history teacher doubled as her first coach in the Junior Hoops League. The coach instilled Janowski with a love of basketball.

She continued with basketball although she recognized upsetting differences between the junior high and Lake Region High School programs.

"On junior high teams, you say at least I got to play," Janowski says. "There's not any discontent like on high school teams."

Janowski admits that she found her high school team's success pleasing, both for herself and the implications it has for women's sports.

"It was great to have people recognize that women's basketball is not just a club sport," Janowski says.

Janowski did not go unnoticed and was recruited, with the promise of full scholarships, by both Syracuse and St. Joseph's. Instead, she chose to go to Harvard.