Pascale Delaunay.
Stunningly fit and glamorously beautiful is an understatement as it relates to Pascale Delaunay. Though she possesses the physical body of an athlete, a beautiful picture of Pascale Delaunay on the cover of Vogue may be more befitting. However, do not be fooled into thinking this stunner is anything but brains. A Systems Engineer at Cisco Systems in southern California by trade and a triple jumper through hard work and dedication, Pascale has always known her path in society would be forged through education and athletics. She was born on September 21, 1982 in Garenne Colombe, France, and raised in Haiti when her parents returned to their native country. During the civil unrest in Haiti in 1991, Pascale and her family immigrated to the United States for safety reasons. The third oldest of seven children, Pascale grew up in a loving family where her two-star general father, a member of the Haitian military, instilled a sense of pride, structure, competitive spirit and the kind of discipline that helped shape her attitude in life. Not to be outdone, her mother was the backbone of the family and taught her children to always put family first, no matter what. A close-knit family, the Delaunay family has moved around as a group across the world.
Traditionally, the Haitian athlete is not so traditional in a Haitian home, but for the Delaunay family athletics have always been a part of life. A gifted athlete in every sense of the word, Pascale developed an interest in sports as an adolescent, following in the footsteps of her older brother, Joseph, a great athlete in his own right. A member of the cross country, volleyball, basketball, and track & field teams in high school, Pascale was in the beginning stages of finding her niche. After wrestling with the idea of running track, due to the heavy influence by her track star older brother, Joseph, Pascale would discover her love for the jumping events. A better-than-average jumper, Pascale excelled in high school in the triple jump and would eventually go on to earn a scholarship from the University of Rhode Island, where she competed and earned athlete of the year honors at the University of Rhode Island and was a also a finalist for athlete of the year for the State of Rhode Island in 2004 for the NCAA, just to name a few.
Pascale’s family life is likened to America’s favorite show during the 80’s, The Brady Bunch. A house full of children and two loving parents determined to raise, socially functional and quality adults; there was no escaping success. Pascale started setting her sights on the Olympics after competing nationally and earning 5 Atlantic 10 individual championships in the triple jumping events and many other accolades and awards in competition. However, there’s something to be said about the Electrical Engineering and French double major who sees herself as an outsider. A Dean’s list and all academic conference member in college, Pascale’s intelligence cannot be underestimated. While pursuing a career in engineering at Cisco Systems for a couple of years, she couldn’t escape the grips of athletic competition and found herself back on the field, and a lot more determined with a hunger to surpass all past achievements. Pascale’s primary focus has always been academics and her family, but sport has also been a domineering factor in her life. Unfulfilled and driven to prove to herself she can be one of the best in the world, she started training towards the goal of making it to the Olympics to represent her Haitian heritage. She’s set on her goal and she will not be denied.
Pascale has always looked to her family for motivation and inspiration and they are a central part of her efforts to stay focused and undistracted from obtaining her goal of winning a medal at the Olympics. Family has always been at the forefront of Pascale’s mind. Her relentless pursuit of a medal in the triple jump is to help forge change, not just in her personal life, but also the lives of the less fortunate kids in Haiti that she hopes to assist with the many programs she plans on implementing on the island. Pascale’s nostalgia about the place where she grew up can only be described with one word, passion.
Pascale’s journey has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination, which is one of the reasons she hopes to establish different sports leagues and build an athletic complex in Haiti to give hope to all those Haitian children who aspire to be world class athletes. As training for the Olympics becomes nothing more than a lifestyle to her, she expects it will lessen the pressure of competition and afford her the ability to be stress free on her way to bringing the medal home. With strength, courage and the support she receives from her brothers and sisters and her mother, the hero who gave birth to her, Pascale sees no limit in her climb to the top of her sport and to use her good fortune as a humanitarian ambassador for all the suffering souls around the world, but most importantly the forgotten and hopeless children of Haiti.
This editorial is written by Richard Jeanty
nice written
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