Reaching out a second time helps Schroder make it to Harvard

By Jeff Vorva

First, Grant Schroder was denied.

But then things changed.

The Downers Grove North track and cross country star is heading to Harvard in the fall. However, the process of getting there was not easy.

After the high school cross country season, he participated in the Nike Midwest Regional Championship and felt he did well enough to let the Harvard coaches know. “They said that all of the spots from my recruiting class were full,” Schroder said. “So I started looking for other options.”

In December, he ran in the Nike Nationals and thought another reach out to the Ivy League school wouldn’t hurt. “I had another solid race, so I reached out to them again, hoping for a Hail Mary,” Schroder said. “They called back, and I had an official visit in January. I went through their admissions process in mid-February. I was admitted on March 27, and here we are. We had to jump through some hoops, but it all worked out at the end.”

After the hoops were jumped through and everything was settled, Schroder went out and finished his high school career with a bang by finishing fifth in the state in the 800-meter run in 1 minute 54.61 second and joining Will Surratt, John Courtney, and Philip Cuprial in winning the 3200 relay in a state-record time of 7:36.40.

Schroder was a 5-foot-3 freshman at North and grew into a 6-0 senior. The growth helped his performance.

“You grow into your stride,” he said. “Being taller allows you to have a longer stride. The more you grow, the more experience you get, and the stronger you get – you get bigger.”

He figuratively grew over four years, thanks to his teammates.

“Having those guys teach me the ins and outs of running gave me insight into the community this sport has,” Schroder said. “I don’t think any other sport has that type of community. The team culture we had at Downers North is great. Everyone wants the best for each other. Obviously, we are competing against our teammates, but we always want the best for our teammates, too.”

At Harvard, Schroder is looking at majoring in economics. He is not sure what his future will be after college.“ I’m thinking of being an investment banker,” he said. “I like the idea of managing other people’s money, and I would like to work for a big corporation and do financial stuff behind the scenes. But I just turned 18, so I have a lot of time to think about it.”