Scholar Stories: How Shima Discovered His Career Path and Became a Leader
1/30/2019 8:25:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse, 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 Max Brill
Brandon Shima's time at the University of Michigan has been a story of adjustment and readjustment both on the lacrosse field and in the classroom.
"I had initially thought I was going to go to law school," Shima explained. "But the moment you step on campus and have 20-hour weeks for lacrosse on top of an academic schedule, you find out it's not that easy."
Instead, he intends to pursue a career in digital marketing. He tried out the sales and marketing track at the Ross School of Business during his sophomore year, and that's when he realized he could see himself pursuing digital marketing as a career.
"The main reason I'm interested in digital marketing is that it's an ever-changing industry," he said. "You might get a task one week and then an entirely new one the next. No two days are the same. You can do whatever you want as long as you put in the work, as corny as it sounds."
He noted that this past summer was a particularly transformative one for him in his career endeavors, inspiring him to want to lead others. Shima was an intern at MiQ, a marketing and advertising company in Washington, D.C.
"My boss, Chase Anderson, seemed light years ahead of me but was really only 27 years old," he said. "I looked up to him and thought that maybe one day, hopefully, I'd be able to be in his shoes."
Shima has transformed himself into a leader on the field, too, but not without first facing some adversity. As a freshman, Shima had the opportunity to start in some games but was eventually placed on the scout team.
"It was initially pretty tough," Shima explained. "As a sophomore, some guys came in that were, honestly, just better than I was."
Still, that did not shake his drive or focus to be the best teammate he could be.
"I didn't want to be complacent with not playing and not being in a starting role -- you have to play the cards you are dealt," he said. "If I was going to be on the scout team, I wanted to play it to the best of my ability because I could see that how I performed on the scout team genuinely affected how the team played in the ensuing weeks."
The coaches noticed Shima's work ethic and excellence on the scout team -- he was awarded the Scout Team Award in each of his first three seasons on the team.
"Losing my starting role taught me that there are going to be negative situations, but those situations are only as negative as how you perceive them," Shima said.
He mentioned that while facing adversity on the field or in the classroom, he always keeps the words of U-M Executive Associate Athletic Director and motivational speaker Greg Harden close at mind: "If you can work 100 percent at the things you don't enjoy, then imagine what will happen when you get to the things that you do enjoy."
Now, Shima leads by example both on and off the field.
"Being an older guy, you've been through it all before, just like the older guys when we were freshmen," he explained. "I've always kind of walked the walk but never talked the talk -- I was more of a silent leader -- but now, as a senior, I know that's simply not enough."
And despite the fact that Shima will be graduating with a B.A. in political science in May, he hopes that the freshmen on the team will be able to learn from his unique path.
"It's been fun to see the results of my work," he said. "When you're younger you don't think about it at all. I try to tell the younger guys, too -- following the lead of the upperclassmen is really important because even if you don't follow in their footsteps exactly, at least you have a blueprint."
