I grew up in Jenison, Michigan, a western suburb of Grand Rapids, and graduated from Jenison High School in 1995. It was there that I first discovered the profession of athletic training. As an athlete, I was a frequent visitor to the athletic training room with a variety of aches and pains. The time to choose a college quickly approached; I was already quite interested in Hope College by this time, and even more so once I began to research the athletic training education program and got to know Dr. Richard Ray. I enrolled at Hope College in the fall of 1995, and was immersed into the world of athletic training before I even attended my first class. By the time I graduated in 1999, I had worked with football, men's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, men's tennis, and baseball. I also completed internships at Zeeland High School, Lakewood Family Medicine, and at one of the Holland Community Hospital Outpatient Physical Therapy Clinics. In addition, I served as an intern at the University of Notre Dame during their summer program in 1998.

After leaving Hope, I attended Indiana University - from which I earned a Master's degree in June of 2000. While in graduate school, I was the Head Athletic Trainer at Bloomington High School South and was an instructor in the CAAHEP approved undergraduate curriculum. Immediately after writing my last exam at IU, I packed up the car and headed back to Michigan to get married. Shortly thereafter, I moved to Chicago to join my wife, Shanna, as she completes her studies at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In August of 2000, I went to work for AthletiCo Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy in Chicago. I saw patients in the clinic, but the majority of my role was to assist the athletic training staff at nearby Concordia University. In July of 2001, I left AthletiCo in order to join the staff at Concordia. Since that time I have been the head athletic trainer for football, assistant athletic trainer, and Instructor in the Department of Human Performance.

Every day of my professional life I am thankful for Hope College, its people, and the education I received there. It is truly a unique liberal arts institution. Dr. Rich Ray and the athletic training program are a significant factor in Hope's reputation for excellence. As a student, I was confident that there was no better place to be; as a young professional, I am now convinced that there is no better place to be from.

(Editor's Note: In July 2004 Andy left Chicago to assume a new position as an assistant athletic trainer at Duke University.)

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