For champion gymnast, hospitality maven and A student Brianna Springer, life truly is a balancing act.
The junior attends DU on a full athletic scholarship. She’s won dozens of event titles and awards and was one of 12 individual gymnasts in the nation to compete in the NCAA women’s gymnastics championship in April.
Springer has been a gymnast since she was 8 years old.
“I was always climbing on things,” she says. “My mom put me in gymnastics and I’ve been doing it very intensely ever since.”
The Denver native also loves to cook and chose DU’s Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management because of its prestige and proximity to home.
“I love what they have to offer here — how it’s a mixture of business classes and classes in the hospitality school,” she says.
Springer taught herself to cook by watching the Food Network on TV. Her favorite food to eat is sushi, but she cooks whatever’s in the pantry.
“I like to be inventive with what I have; otherwise it seems too complicated,” she says. “I go to the grocery store and pick up ingredients that are healthy and then I just get innovative and come up with something.”
The athlete started cooking to have more control over her nutrition — crucial for success in gymnastics — and now cooks for her teammates, friends and family.
On top of training almost five hours a day, Springer is a devoted student. Knoebel school faculty selected Springer as one of two DU students to accompany Knoebel Director David Corsun on the Banfi Vintners Scholastic Tour of Italy—an all-expenses-paid, eight-day educational culinary tour—this summer. She also works as a student manager and bartender at the hospitality school’s event center.
“Brianna is a complete package — she is super-bright and motivated, has terrific interpersonal skills and loves service,” Corsun says. “That she manages to perform so well academically while training and performing at such a high level as a gymnast is incredible.”
Springer’s goals include graduating with a 3.9 GPA and leading the DU gymnastics team to a national championship. After that, she wants to pursue a career as a food and beverage manager at a hotel or resort.
“You can work planning parties, having fun and meeting new people,” she says. “I like that.”
Springer also dreams about appearing on the Food Network and hasn’t ruled out competitive gymnastics — or the Olympics — in her future.
“I’ll just see where life takes me.”