Elizabeth Brownell: A Place of Belonging

“You belong here.”

Coach Schochler reminded the cross country freshmen of this during the team's training camp in the Pacific Northwest in August 2018. This has become true for me in a number of ways since I joined the cross country and track team. In this letter, I’ll share several experiences and lessons learned from the XCTF program at John Brown University that have enriched my life as an athlete, student, and follower of Christ.

One memorable experience was during a 10-mile long run along Siloam Springs’ City Lake on a sunny Monday afternoon with one of my teammates. With two miles left, we decided - almost wordlessly - to push our paces for the final stretch of our run. We bounded happily, steadily accelerating with a push-and-pull dynamic, until we arrived at the JBU campus, where we waded into the Dogwood Springs stream and reflected with thankfulness for such a romp.

I felt content, happy, and humbled to realize that I was designed by my Creator to enjoy this experience of working hard alongside my teammate and friend.

“You belong here” also means that you have a team that supports you when you fail to perform how you want to. In a track meet in 2021, I ran one leg of a 4x800 meter relay, and my time was significantly slower than I expected it to be. Since this impacted our team relay time, and my leg was the slowest, I felt disappointed that I had not contributed to the team’s performance as I desired to.

My teammates who were in the relay noticed that I was disappointed with myself and encouraged me:

“You belong on our team, on our relay today, and we trust that you will keep training and performing with diligence and effort.”

This instilled confidence in my trajectory of training, and in my belonging with my teammates. Since then, I’ve had some great days, when I’ve run new personal records, and some disappointing days, but all have happened in the context of a team in which we actively encourage and support each other. This makes all the difference in training and in living with purpose and joy. After JBU, I hope to extend this culture of belonging to the people that I spend time with.

My experiences as part of XCTF at JBU have illuminated my life and shaped my character. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share them with you and for your ongoing support of JBU athletics to impact the lives of many more student-athletes.

Elizabeth will graduate this spring with an electrical engineering degree, with minors in biomedical engineering, kinesiology and chemistry. She plans on beginning her medical school journey at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas.