Scholar Stories: Borchers Ready to Parlay U-M Experience into Real-World Change
11/7/2018 10:28:00 AM | Women's Cross Country, Features
Continuing the popular series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Brad Rudner
Last week, Claire Borchers ran her last hill workout at the Arb. It was a perfect late October day and also a perfect time to reflect on four-and-a-half years of running an insane amount for the University of Michigan women's cross country and track squads.
The reality is this: Borchers has only days left in her competitive career. After helping captain the cross country squad to its third consecutive Big Ten title, she has only one guaranteed race left: the NCAA Regional Championships this Friday in Terre Haute, Indiana. Should Michigan advance, she'll get one more at the NCAA Championships next weekend in Madison. That's it.
At the top of the last big hill, between catching her breath and checking her heart rate, Borchers glanced at freshman Anne Forsyth, who just completed the workout for the first time. It was some serious déjà vu, as if Borchers was watching herself.
The day after that workout, Borchers was asked what the whole student-athlete experience has been like. Before answering, she sat silent for a few seconds.
"It's been something that's made me grow more than anything in my life," she said.
She paused again, contemplating the vastness of the question.
"The amount of work that stands between what I'm at the end of and what Anne is at the beginning of is just immense," she continued. "When it's all stacked together, I've put in so much time, energy and devotion to something, and I don't know that I'll reach that ever again."
Borchers is in the midst of writing her own story. She'll graduate in December with degrees in International Studies and Spanish, along with a minor from the Ross School of Business.
She came to Michigan knowing she would study a language. That much was a given. Spanish was a natural fit because she studied it in high school and spent a month during the summer before her sophomore year living with a family in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. The community there and her own in Grand Haven, Michigan, essentially had their own exchange program, but without the school component. Using Spanish every minute of every day was educational in itself.
The International Studies major has a built-in language component, too, making it a natural fit. There are four sub-plans from which to choose: International Security, Norms & Cooperation; Political Economy & Development; Comparative Culture & Identity; and Global Environment & Health. Borchers went with the last one.
"I chose that because of my initial interest to global health initiatives," she explained. "I didn't want to be a doctor or get into the nitty-gritty science. The more I learned, the more I became interested in the environment and how it impacts behavior and decision-making."
"Where you live is a huge factor in your health. Whether you live in Flint or rural Peru, it's going to be different. The biggest thing we can do -- outside of reducing consumption -- is changing the world around you to help promote that. What we do is often just out of convenience. I've taken phenomenal classes on cities and environment, and how it effects climate change."
As a freshman, Borchers was one of 13 students who spent five weeks studying abroad in Peru. They spent time in Chinchero, a small village in the Andes Mountains outside Cusco, immersing themselves in the culture and learning about the problems the native people struggle with. She took classes in Quechua, a predominant language in the region.
Borchers is in the process of applying to different post-graduate fellowships overseas, mainly in South America and Europe. They typically last from as little as six months to as long as a year. After that, it is off to graduate school.
"The reason I'm so passionate about going abroad is because my Spanish isn't where I want it to be," she explained. "I want that organic rhythm, the accent. You can get close to that in a classroom, but the day-to-day is different. I'm really interested in perfecting that authentic, organic way of speaking the language.
"What I've done is authentic to what I care about and what's interested me. My undergraduate experience won't be something that I bounce out of and go right into a job. I feel a moral imperative to save the Earth, and that's so hilariously dramatic, but you can do that and make people's lives better. It's something I'm going to pursue in the best way I can."
Running has been the sport of her life. She ran cross country and played soccer at Grand Haven High School, but didn't run track until she got to Michigan. When she applied and later enrolled, she wasn't committed to being a student-athlete. Studies came first.
But she ended up walking on and having a magnificent career she never thought she'd have. Borchers has been a member of those aforementioned Big Ten Cross Country Championship-winning teams, and was both a Big Ten champion and U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USFTCCCA) All-American in the 3,000-meter steeplechase last season. In four years, she went from never having run a steeplechase to being the second-fastest woman in school history.
"Our culture is something that makes us work as hard as we do and is something that makes us as respectful of each other as we are. The expectations are that you conduct yourself in a professional way, work hard and be a good person. We may lose a race, but if we do everything we can out there and are honest to each other, that's all you can do.
"Most people don't wake up on a Saturday morning and run 12 miles, or wake up at 6:30 a.m. and go lift weights. Those build-in parts are what I'm going to miss most. For me, the value of it was doing it with those people."
Two weeks from now, Borchers' competitive career will be over. One chapter will be done and another will begin, one that will likely see her live in another country on another continent.
How do you say, "Wherever you go, Go Blue!" in Spanish?
"There's something about the Michigan Difference," she said. "When I put on the uniform and step to the line, there's never a doubt that I'm going to finish the race in the best fashion both physically and mentally. Putting on the jersey is putting on that expectation.
"This has been an amazing opportunity. I get to represent one of the best universities out there with some of the best people, and become a well-rounded person doing it."
Players Mentioned
