The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/432566
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS infant stage, but the idea behind its creation is an old issue that he wanted to fix. Glanda explains where the idea came from and his aspirations for its future. "It's still just a pilot program," Glanda explained. "It was just some of my friends on campus who I know through other organizations, we got together and started thinking about how we could bridge the gap between alumni and current student-athletes. We have such a big alumni base and it's hard to utilize all of them on an individual level. Essentially we just tried to pair up members of the current organizational team with alumni from that organizational team. From there, they can do with it what they wish. It al- lows current students to give knowledge to the alumni and keep them more involved, and it creates better communica- tion and networking. "It could lead to job opportunities and career advice, but the main idea is just to engage alumni and learn from them. There is so much we can learn from their stories and their experiences. The overall goal is to grow it because right now it's only in a few organizations around campus. We'd like to get it to a point where it can sustain itself." With the fall semester almost over, Glanda has just about five months left as an undergraduate student at Michigan. He admits that he's aware of the dwindling amount of time he has in Ann Arbor, but is living it up rather than counting it down. "It's hard to say how it feels," he said. "It's a little bittersweet, a little sad. We just had our midseason competition this past weekend in North Carolina and there aren't many more of these trips. The semester is wrapping up and I just have one more semester for going on trips with the team. I'm trying to enjoy it and enjoy the time I have left with the guys. "I'm trying to do everything I can to help them and teach them what I know and also I'm learning from them. I hope to still be around next year for training and stuff, but talking to post-graduates now there's a big difference between being on the team and just being around for training." So what does a decorated student-athlete like Justin Glanda hang his hat on when he looks back at his time at Michigan? "It's got to be the 2013 national title team without question," he said. "Being on deck for that and being a part of the squad that went down to Indianapolis for that was amazing. Having classmates like Bruno Ortiz and Richard Funk with me just made it great. "I still look at photos from that championship and relive those final moments. That has to be the proudest moment of my Michigan career." — Brandon Brown GLANDA