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A goalie with goals

Wilmington (Del.) student-athlete Eveler always planned to graduate in three years

By Andrew Crum
NCAA.org

Brooke Eveler not only sets goals for herself, she achieves them.

So when Eveler decided that she wanted to graduate in three years from Wilmington University (Del.), that’s exactly what she did.

So the natural question is why.

“I am a diligent student and I took some college courses my senior year in high school,” Eveler said, “I have a competitive nature, so I knew I could do it.”

So for an aspiring student to accomplish this feat, one must take Eveler’s focused path to heart. She took six classes a semester (18 hours) every semester, with two online courses in both summers between her freshman and sophomore year.

All this with balancing soccer (she is a goalkeeper) and an a full-time job (she has been an intern for the past year for the Philadelphia Union Major League Soccer team and continued to work with it after her internship was completed).

The studio production student has played soccer since the age of eight, but it wasn’t until the 10th grade while taking an editing class that she became interested in production.  

When she started the program, Eveler was initially interested in a focus of the production on TV shows. She didn’t even think about sports production until one day when she realized that although wasn’t going to be playing professionally, she still wanted to be around sports.

Eveler is as accomplished on the field as she is in the classroom.

“Brooke is the most naturally gifted goalie I have coached,” coach Joshua Ruggiero said. “But to say she is a blue-collar player is an understatement.”

“She made my life a living hell to pick a starter (early on between Brooks and another quality goalkeeper),” Ruggiero said, “Now it’s my problem, but what a good problem to have.”

Given her commitment to academics and sports, both coach and student-athlete must work to establish priorities. But there’s never a question about the ultimate goal.

“Academics come first,” Ruggiero said. “That is the reason we have practice at 7 a.m. – so they will not miss class. And for most of our games, we come back the same day.”

Eveler has a 3.98 GPA, having received an A- just once. “I was only 1% (she had a 94 percent and needed a 95 percent) from being perfect,” she said.

She has been taught by professor Scott Shaw and adjunct professor Calvin Hill in several classes and has impressed both of them, not only with her hard work but also with her ability to get things done, usually before anyone else.

“She pushes herself and is usually the first to submit her work,” Shaw said. “She does what needs to be done to be at the top.”

Adjunct professor Calvin Hill has been impressed with Eveler since her first class.

“She stood out in the first class, intro to video,” Hill said. “She was always a go-getter, participated in class and just got things done.”

Neither Hill nor Shaw knew that Eveler had always planned to graduate early.

“She’s a go-getter, but wow!” Shaw said. “It makes sense why she works like she does, dedicating herself to her work.”

Hill said, “That’s her personality. She doesn’t need the fanfare; she sets goals and she accomplishes them.”

Eveler’s work ethic came from her parents. They had a reward system for receiving an A. For every A she got, she was rewarded with something of her choice.

The reward system led to straight A’s all through elementary, junior high and high school.

With so much success and knowledge of how to make it work, she treats herself these days. She allows her self one night a week to go out with friends.

But when it comes to her priorities for classes, she has to get things done.

“It’s like an OCD thing,” Eveler said. “If I know I have a project to do, I just have to get it done.”  

“She did a documentary with her teammates and coaches about their undefeated season (her sophomore season) and she finished it early, she was the only who had it done on time,” Hill said. “That’s just Brooke, though.”

As Eveler prepares to graduate a year early, she is ready to start her career. The Philadelphia Phillies hired her to do work similar to what she was for doing for the Philadelphia Union. 

In the future, she would like to return to the Major League Soccer as a video coordinator and perhaps be in charge of video for an MLS team one day.

Hill knows that Eveler will succeed no matter where she goes or what she does.

“You’re never going to be good cookie with a crummy attitude,” Hill said. “Brooke has both a good attitude and passion, she conducts herself professionally and is always smiling, and she’s going to do very well in this industry.”