“All in, what happens when you commit to being uncomfortable? 
Growth. And wins.
Berkner had a solid plan: He would go to the University of Minnesota and become a dentist. Then one day in high school, in his hometown of Sleepy Eye, a Gustavus football coach approached him after a game and asked him to consider Gustavus. “I was always one of those guys where my favorite sport was the one I was in,” Berkner says, but he hadn’t considered college sports, or Gustavus. Maybe it would be fun.
As a Gustie two-sport athlete (football and baseball), “It was a grind that first year,” Berkner says. He almost didn’t return. But baseball coach Brad Baker called him during the summer. “He said, ‘Let’s have a lot of fun the next three years and get you a great job afterwards.’” Berkner decided to switch his major to accounting—a better fit. He went all in on Gustavus, and suddenly he couldn’t wait to get back.
Since then, it’s been a journey of great growth. He’s a senior football and baseball captain and has started in both the past three years. Berkner has led the football team in tackles every game this season with a total of 57 (as of Oct. 22). He also started 28 games on the baseball team last season. He’s a member of the finance club and the investment club, on the Hill Crew executive board and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and vice president of the Tau Psi Omega fraternity. As a leader, “I’m seeing
things from a different and bigger perspective. When you’re a first-year, you’re just floating around. As a senior, you want to have influence, to help people set themselves up to grow,” he says. “You need to encourage them, influence them to be smart off the field, and ask them to go all in.” His biggest take away from senior year so far: “I’ve learned is how to lead people that come from
all parts of the world. Being able to establish common ground, that’s definitely going to help me in the future.”
So will his time management skills. “Yeah,” he says. “I learned that right away freshman year.”
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