The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Growing up in Rochester, Mich., Brook Handler said that her mother was a big influence on why she eventually decided to look into engineering as a major. Despite wanting to be a pharma- cist or a lawyer when she was younger, engineering grew on her. Since being at Michigan, she hasn't waivered from her original major declaration. "My mom did mechanical engineer- ing at Cornell and now does competi- tive intelligence at Chrysler," she said. "My mom and dad both encouraged me to look at engineering. "Chemistry was my favorite subject in high school, so I came to Michigan thinking maybe chemical engineer- ing. I've been lucky that I have never waivered from that. I am so lucky that a place like Michigan was right in my backyard and that I ended up here." Running cross country and studying engineering at Michigan both require an intense work ethic. Handler has han- dled both extremely well, and when asked which is more difficult, she had a hard time picking just one. "I think they are equally hard," she said. "I guess it just depends on what level you hold yourself to. I'm happy getting A's and B's, but I'm not happy not reach- ing certain cross country goals, so in that regard running is harder. If I was trying to get a 4.0 then maybe I could say that school is harder." Handler has been an Academic All-Big Ten athlete twice; she won the U-M Ath- letic Achievement Award twice; she was a member of the Big Ten cham- pionship team in 2012; she was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2012-13; and the list goes on and on. Choosing her proudest moment was difficult for her, but in true Michigan fashion she selected a collection of moments that added up to one special achievement. "I would say my proudest moment was probably being named captain last fall," she said. "It's not really like the specific moment, because I think I was named captain for what I had been do- ing the two years previous to that. It was a culmination of many moments. I was very proud that my coach recog- nized how much the team meant to me and how important it was to me to help lead the team." Once Handler graduates, she has sev- eral options to weigh out. She may look into a master's program in manage- ment at the Ross School of Business or she might continue along the engineer- ing path for a master's degree. Finding an engineering job in Ann Arbor is also a possibility, so she can continue to run with coach Mike Mc- Guire. Her ultimate goal is to run in the Olympic trials with hopes to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. — Brandon Brown Student-Athlete Of The Month Cross Country Senior Brook Handler HANDLER