Cam Bentley, EcoAthletes newest Champion, has committed to imbue her life with the following five core values: Integrity, Honesty, Passion, Thoughtfulness and Responsibility. “I believe in leading a value-driven life,” asserted the University of Virginia junior. “My morality guides me in every action, leading me to be both a better individual and a better teammate.”

She has plenty of chances to lead these days — as an environmental thought and practice major, as a member of UVA’s highly ranked rowing team, and as leader of the school’s growing Green Athletics group.

Rowing is a relatively recent pursuit for Bentley: “Prior to high school, I played lacrosse. However, when I arrived at Blair Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey, the rowing coach was quick to spot me and encourage me to try rowing. At the time, I was already tall, around 5’10”. The coach told me my height made me perfect for rowing. Despite her suggestions, I wasn’t interested so, I said, ‘no thank you’ and let it go.”

But the coach was persistent and by the winter of her freshman year, she found herself training on an indoor rowing machine (aka the ERG) and liking it.

“A few months into training, I did a 2-kilometer fitness test on the ERG and was the second or third fastest on the team,” Bentley recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘I’ve never rowed before; I must be good at this. As the spring season approached, despite never having been on the water, I decided to ditch lacrosse and pursue rowing instead.”

Once out on the lake and in a boat, Bentley was like a fish out of water.

“Oh, I was a complete mess, an absolute novice when I started on the water,” she admitted somewhat sheepishly. “Rowing on the water didn’t come as easily to me as ERGing. Rowing felt alien, not intuitive at all. Sure, I was frustrated but I had the wattage on the ERG; all I needed to learn was the technique. As my movements became more fluid and in sync with my teammates, my power increased. I raced in the novice class that first year against other beginners, won a couple of medals and gained confidence. A Type A personality, I loved that hard work was core to rowing success and that it’s more of a ‘we’ than a ‘me’ sport. There are no real stars; you must gel as a team — really, you have to love the misery together.”

Bentley showed major improvement at the end of her first year of high school, shaving an impressive 20 seconds off her 2K test. Over the next three seasons, her performance, hard work and passion helped her become Blair Academy’s fastest rower.

Despite being a team leader, she chose not to pursue the captaincy. Instead, she devoted the extra bandwidth to an English capstone project centered on climate change.

“I had become more interested in climate change throughout middle and high school,” reported Bentley. “Growing up, I spent a lot of time outdoors and learned to love the environment. As I grew older, I began reading articles that painted really scary pictures of our climate futures. My curiosity and interest increased- I remember asking my dad a lot of questions. Questions led to more questions and ultimately a desire to make a positive impact. As a senior, under the guidance of my English capstone teacher, I decided to take action. Troubled by the lack of environmental education I received in my formal schooling, I decided to craft a proposal for Blair Academy to establish environmental literacy as a core value in the curriculum.”

She dove into the technical aspects of climate change, watched “An Inconvenient Truth,” read “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking 1962 environmental tome, and talked to academics about what environmental education is and could and should become. And then she presented her recommendations to the Blair Academy administration.

“My presentation drew mixed reactions,” Bentley acknowledged. “They asked questions like ‘Do kids really care?’ and ‘Won’t this overwhelm them?’ In some respects, it was the panel that seemed overwhelmed. Ultimately, my experience with the project led me to pursue environmental studies in college.”

When it came time to decide where to go, she locked on to the University of Virginia for two reasons: 1. its sterling academics and, 2. The rowing team’s culture reflected her core values.

“I’ll never forget visiting UVA during my junior year in high school,” Bentley shared. “During the morning erg practice, the team was singing and dancing, smiling and cheering for each other. When I asked the head coach about it, he said it was good for the team and good for cardio. Later, during the afternoon water practice, the team demonstrated the same energy and spirit. I loved that these women could work hard and have fun. I decided then that I wanted to be a part of it.”

Bentley joined a powerhouse; the Cavaliers have won 21 of the last 22 ACC Championships and finished in the NCAA Top Ten for each of the last 20 years. During Bentley’s first and second years, the team had great performances, winning the ACC Championship in 2021 and 2022. She and the rest of the team are setting even loftier goals for 2022-23 as their sights are set squarely on a national championship.

Academically and ultimately career-wise, Bentley’s goals are just as big: To make a positive impact on climate change. To do so, she chose a small yet meaty interdisciplinary major: “The climate crisis is so multi-layered, both in terms of the problems and the solutions. That’s why I love that the ‘Environmental Thought and Practice’ major involves so many different disciplines: Environmental science, economics, anthropology, sociology, American studies, climate policy, data analysis and statistics.”

Her on-campus climate work is not limited to academics as Bentley has become a key player in Green Athletics, the UVA student-athlete-run environmental and climate action group.

“I heard about Green Athletics and soon found out that its leader, Sadey Rodriguez, was looking for a mentee; she invited me to be an executive fellow and gave me a chance to lead,” Bentley reported. “My first project was an environmental literacy survey to assess student athlete knowledge, values and behavior in the realm of sustainability. We got over 50 responses. Our findings indicated that while students demonstrated a strong interest in sustainability and a basic understanding of its definition, they were generally unsure about specifics and unaware of UVA sustainability initiatives. With Sadey having graduated, I’m taking the leadership baton for 2022-23. I’m excited to continue the great work of Green Athletics and hopeful that the group will continue to expand its impact.”

EcoAthletes founder Lew Blaustein expects that Bentley’s leadership skills and core values will translate well from UVA Green Athletics to the Champions roster. 

“I can already tell that Cam’s work ethic, curiosity and desire to lead climate action yesterday will serve EcoAthletes, the Champions and the climate fight well,” observed Blaustein. “This is no surprise given the strong #ClimateComeback track record of EcoAthletes Champions Sadey Rodriguez and her fellow UVA Green Athletics co-founder Zoe Morse. Cam Bentley will add to their legacy for sure.”

From Bentley’s perspective, becoming an EcoAthletes Champion gives her another important venue through which to make a difference on climate.

“Size and scale matter,” Bentley declared. “The global nature of the Champions roster and its broader reach gives us the potential to accelerate the pace of progress. I am excited to be a part of the team and to get started!”

You can follow Cam on Instagram