Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/67454
Championship training With nearly 40 internship sites and having the title of the nation's first accredited Athletic Training program, CMU has educated many accomplished athletic trainers. Retired professor Ron Sendre meets with CMU athletic training graduates who now work in Major League Baseball – from left, Mark Grusbeck (San Francisco Giants), Doug Teter (Detroit Tigers) and Kevin Harmon (Texas Rangers). Help support students during their internship semester by donating to the Ron Sendre Athletic Training Education Award. For information, contact Jodi Robinette at jodi.robinette@cmich.edu or 989-774-1731. Earlier this year, four CMU alumni from the athletic training program were ATs in the Auburn vs. Oregon BCS National Championship game. They were Auburn staff members Kirk Nielson, '04, and John Walters, '05; graduate assistant Bryan Schmidt, '09; and intern Sean Tilley, '10. Assistant Professor Christina Eyers, CMU's clinical education coordinator, worked with each of the four alumni as undergraduate students, and she facilitated the Auburn relationship. She says CMU prepares students by having educational and clinical learning for the majority of the college career, with a required 15-week full-time internship during the last semester. "We work with professional teams, university sites, industrial organizations and with other various opportunities, " she says. "These connections that our program has with internship sites allow students to fine tune their skills and create relationships. This gives our students leverage to land those great athletic training positions. " In late 2010, CMU graduates Kevin Harmon, '85, and Mark Gruesbeck, '93, worked behind the scenes in Major League Baseball's World Series. Harmon is in his third year as an assistant athletic trainer with the Texas Rangers, and Gruesbeck is an assistant CMU Athletic Training graduates who worked in the 2011 BCS National Championship game were John Walters, '05, Kirk Nielson, '04, Bryan Schmidt, '09, and Sean Tilley, '10. athletic trainer in his fifth season with the San Francisco Giants. "It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and persistence to reach the major leagues as an athletic trainer, and we're excited to see CMU alumni achieve this level of success, " says John Mason, CMU's head athletic trainer. • There is 100-percent job placement of athletic training students upon graduation.