PURCHASE, N.Y - Lorena Peralta '18 was a leader throughout her entire Purchase College career.

Whether it was in the pool with the women's swim team or outside of it with her actions, leadership was just a part of who she was. 

During her four years at Purchase, she achieved so many highlights that its hard to know where to begin. For much of her college life, Peralta (Bronx, NY) volunteered on Tuesdays to teach kids from the White Plains Youth Bureau how to swim.

She also served as President of the Latinos Unidos club at Purchase College for over a year. Latinos Unidos is a student-run organization that represents the Latinx-identifying student body at Purchase. 

During the summer before her senior season, Lorena did some of the most fulfilling work of her career, working as a mentor to incoming freshman and helping them prepare for the upcoming school year.

The Bronx native also handled a double major of Arts Management/Theater and worked as a lifeguard/swim instructor during all four years of her Purchase tenure. 

All of those accomplishments are impressive enough on their own for most college students, and they didn't even include her performances as a member of the Purchase College women's swim team.

Peralta arrived on campus in the fall of 2014, before jumping in the pool for the first time in October of that year. Immediately, her impact on the Panthers was felt. 

In the first meet of her career, Lorena swam solely in team relays, helping the team earn one first-place finish, one second-place finish and two third-place finishes on the day.

Just five days later, she got her chance to shine individually against Adelphi University, as she collected two second-place results in the 100-back and 200-IM. From then on, Peralta was a staple of the Panthers' swim team in individual and team races for the next four seasons.

Not only was she a staple, she was arguably the team's best swimmer. As a freshman, Peralta was awarded multiple weekly honors from the Skyline Conference and was named team MVP by her peers at the end of the campaign.

A year later, she helped lead the squad to a second-place finish at the Skyline Conference Championships, earning the bronze medal in the 100-free with a time of 59.25.

However, the crowing achievement of the meet and season for Peralta and the Panthers was their win in 400-free relay. With the time of 3:50.93, Purchase managed to edge Mount Saint Mary College by less than half a second and set a then-Skyline Conference record for the best time ever at the Championships.

She followed that up by being named co-captain as a junior and the sole captain of the women's swim team for her senior season. 

Throughout her four years, Lorena individually finished in first place 44 times, second place 26 times and third place eight times. She also collected 19 first-place finishes with her teammates in relay events. All four of those totals rank among the best in Purchase College history.

After graduating in May 2018, Peralta returned to campus the following season as the assistant coach for the men's and women's swim teams and swim-program coordinator under her former head coach J. Brian Hansbury. In the position, Lorena continues to teach student-athletes and local youth valuable lessons, in and out of the pool. 

Clearly, Lorena Peralta was always meant to be a leader. Whether it came in the pool, in the Purchase community or somewhere else entirely, she always provided leadership to those around her.

And that's not shocking at all. After all, leadership is just a part of who she is.