As graduation approached, I started looking into graduate schools to continue my college education. My logic for not trying to get a job right after graduation was simple. First, if I was a trained practitioner in Athletic Training I could work longer term with athletes and help them improve their performance and maybe even achieve great things. Second, I felt that further education would enable me to help more people better as a researcher. Finally, I had worked on the ambulance for too many years and must admit that I didn’t really want to get a real job yet because the college lifestyle was pretty relaxed.

Because my reasons for applying to graduate school were fairly eclectic, my possible fields of further study were equally diverse. I applied to graduate schools in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Exercise physiology, Sports medicine and Athletic training. Quite frankly, as a 22-year-old approaching graduation, I really had little idea what I wanted to do with my life other than “help people.” Each of these educational choices could lead to careers focused on that, which was fine with me.

I visited Brown University to interview for a position in the Chemistry Graduate program. There I would have an opportunity to learn how to make drugs that might be used to treat myriad diseases. Greg (Dingle) Barry would have loved the place because of the extensive facilities for pharmaceutical synthesis. Greg wanted to make recreational pharmaceuticals as opposed to therapeutics, however. I went to the University of New Hampshire to look at the biochemistry program. There I caught up with a friend from high school who told me of all the wonderful educational opportunities that were available there. She also told me about the brutal winters but with great skiing. Michigan State University invited me to Michigan to interview for a position in the Exercise Physiology program as an Athletic Trainer Graduate Assistant. I was reticent at the prospect of spending several years in an icebox, but since this was a Big 10 school with over 40,000 students, I felt I had to visit the place. So I started making plans for another road trip.

I planned on driving from New York to Michigan State via Canada. After traveling to Omaha on Route 80, I really wanted to try a different route this time, so the northern route seemed logical. It also looked shorter on a map and I would be going in early spring, so winter snows shouldn’t be a problem. Michigan State University is in East Lansing, Michigan, pretty much in the center of the state’s southern peninsula. Lansing is the state capital, so it is a fairly well populated region that is easy to get to. The university is a land grant institution situated on a huge plot of land measuring 15 miles by 15 miles. It was founded as an agricultural college focusing on farming, farming methods research and animal husbandry, which is why its colors are green and white. On campus there are many fields where world record harvests are common. It is hard to drive or walk around the sprawling campus and not find signs or placards that say things like, “On this spot in 1962 was recorded the world record beet harvest.” Many agricultural records were set on campus and a whole litany of farming methods were first developed and or tested at Michigan State.

I read the material the athletic training program people sent me on the university and thought about the prospects of a career in Athletic Training. It truly fit with what I felt were my overall goals in life, and Michigan State University had experienced certified athletic trainers. The graduate athletic (GA) trainers worked to obtain a master’s and certification in athletic training and the GA trainers were often assigned sports teams to cover and could do research in their disciplines. Michigan State University researchers had a long history in studying exercise performance and advanced human physiology. There were many great opportunities for an athletic trainer at Michigan State.