All in the Ivy League Family: Kaela and Mandy Brenner
10/4/2022
Why these talented sisters decided to go East for their student-athlete experience
By Kim Goss
For the Brenner sisters Kaela and Mandy, it was not a question of “if” to attend an Ivy League university but “which one,” because all of them had so much to offer these talented student-athletes. For example, Harvard had vintage dorms that looked like Hogwarts, but Emma Watson graduated from Brown! They found the perfect compromise – go to both!
Mandy decided on Harvard (Class of 2025), majoring in history and literature. In high school, she qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials in swimming and this year added valuable team points to help the Crimson capture the Ivy League Championships. Kaela chose Brown (Class of 2026), majoring in economics and statistics. Despite the challenge of COVID in high school, Kaela excelled in multiple running events, from the 200m to 1500m, and the 300m hurdles.
What the Brenner sisters are doing is not unprecedented. Lindsay Taylor graduated from Brown in 2001 while her twin sister Brenda accepted her diploma from Harvard that same year. Lindsay competed in the 2004 Olympic Trials in the pole vault and is still ranked first in the record books at Brown in the pentathlon and second in the heptathlon and outdoor high jump. Brenda made it to the finals of the 2004 Olympics in the 400m hurdles, finishing seventh.
Lindsay majored in mechanical engineering with a sub-option of Biomedical Engineering. She wanted to pursue a career in prosthetic design and said that if she accepted an athletic scholarship from another university, she would be forced to focus too much on track. “Engineering is a very difficult major, so my first thought was to find an engineering program that suited me, and then make my final choice based on the school’s athletic program,” says Lindsay. “Another important consideration was that my parents have always encouraged Brenda and me to pursue an academic career above all else, so when the opportunity to attend an Ivy League school presented itself, I couldn’t even consider another alternative.”
"During my visit to Brown, I fell in love with the campus and the people I met,” says Lindsay. “It was the most wonderful environment I had ever been in – I felt so at home there. On my recruiting trip a student said, ‘Brown is a microcosm of what the world could be like if we could all just get along. Harvard students may lead the world, but Brown students will change it.’ The profundity of that statement astonished me, and it has been with me ever since.”
Brenda wanted to pursue a degree in cognitive neuroscience and attend a university where the textbooks would be written by her professors. “On my visit to Harvard, I was asking questions of persons who were on the cutting edge of the research they were doing - I was really drawn to that,” says Brenda. “When I visited, the thing that people kept telling me was, “You’ll have new roommates, and every day you’ll learn something amazing that they’ve done. And I just thought that would be one of the greatest things I could get out of college – the interaction with so many incredible people. You can be inspired so much by their energy.”
Lindsay currently works in Santa Clara, California as a director of a company involved in vitro diagnostic device regulation. Brenda is the executive director at Alameda Health Partners in San Francisco. [Read more about the twins and their Ivy League experience at http://office.biggerfasterstronger.com/home/MagDetails.asp?id=304&previd=14&MagCat=_Fall
The Brenner Gene
Fans of track and field will recognize the name of Kaela’s and Mandy’s father, John Brenner. Brenner competed for UCLA in the throwing events, breaking school and NCAA records. He won two national titles, put the shot an American record 73 feet 10-1/2 inches, and earned a bronze medal in the 1987 World Championships. But for most of their lives, Kaela and Mandy didn’t know that John was a track and field legend – they just knew him as “Dad.” Oh, and as for Hoby Brenner, the versatile tight end for the New Orleans Saints from 1981 to 1993 who played in the 1987 Pro Bowl, he was just “Uncle Hoby.”
Kaela’s and Mandy’s mother Tammy also excelled in track, representing California State University, Northridge. She says John tried to get her daughters interested in the field events, but they decided on different athletic paths that didn’t involve throwing metal sticks, balls, or plates. The sisters had a need, a need for speed – Kaela on land and Mandy in the water.
“When she was in the third grade, Mandy began swimming because her friends swam,” says Tammy. “She also developed a benign cyst that made running painful, and even though it was eventually surgically removed, she loved swimming with her friends.” Tammy says Mandy’s original group of friends continued swimming throughout high school and that they still stay in touch. Kaela...well, Kaela just liked to run.
The Brenner sisters attended Crean Lutheran High School, a co-ed private Christian school in Irvine, California. Crean has a 9:1 student-to-teacher ratio (compared to the national average of 15:1) and offers 23 advanced placement courses, 15 sports, and 21 extracurricular programs. “I loved Crean Lutheran for the girls,” says Tammy. “The teachers and coaches are super supportive and want to help the students any way they can. When no one was holding cross-country events during COVID, their coaches held several races so their athletes could get in their times – that’s how amazing Crean Lutheran is!”
The Ivy League Solution
Although the Brenners live on the West Coast and Mandy loves the ocean, she always wanted to go to college on the East Coast. Harvard became Mandy's first choice after being introduced to their swim program by her friend and swimming teammate, Samantha Shelton, now a senior at Harvard. “Mandy really wanted to go to Harvard from the moment she thought it might be possible,” says Tammy. As a bonus, Mandy is a Harry Potter fan – seriously, just Google photos of Annenberg Hall!
During Kaela’s college visits in high school, Kaela was sold on Brown’s challenging academic programs, its rich culture in art – Kaela is a talented artist and would like to eventually take art classes at Brown – and its beautiful campus. Kaela said when she was in high school and imagined her perfect college, “it pretty much looked like Brown’s.” Attending Brown would also enable Kaela to be closer to her sister, but what sealed the deal was the people, especially those she met on the cross-country team.
“I instantly felt a sense of community at Brown with the teachers, coaches, and students I met,” says Kaela. “All the girls on the cross-country team were welcoming and kind. In high school, I developed strong bonds with my teammates, and I felt that at Brown I could have similar relationships.” [Fun Fact: Amy Willig is a senior at Brown who competes in the middle distance events. Her mother Sarah competed in the 1984 Olympic Trials (as Sarah Andersen) in the 400m hurdles, alongside John Brenner.]
Kaela and Mandy reunited at this year’s Brown-Harvard football game, embracing the many traditions of this popular Ivy League rivalry. "Tammy and I are so proud, excited, and blessed to have our two daughters attending Brown and Harvard,” says John. “We look forward to many East Coast trips to see them compete!"
Tammy said that although her daughters spent most of their lives together, they have much different personalities. To put her theory to the test, I gave them a “word association” test of their favorite things:
Vacation
Kaela: Italy
Mandy: Hawaii
Car
Kaela: Any Ferrari
Mandy: 1967 Chevy Impala (well, it looks like someone’s been watching the A-Team!)
Song
Kaela: Open Season by High Highs (a song about flying kites?)
Mandy: Falling by Surfaces (something about suffering a back injury after slipping on ice?)
[Note: The correct answer is “Anything by the Beatles!”]
Actress
Kaela: Emma Watson (Hah – too easy!)
Mandy: Jenna Fisher (a muggle on the TV show The Office)
Food
Both at Once: Macaroni and Cheese!
When asked what was the most important advice their parents gave them about pursuing their education and future careers, Tammy and John Brenner told their daughters “to have fun, enjoy whatever they are doing, and be happy.” For the Brenner sisters, Brown and Harvard enable them to do just that!
