Michigan Yip Student Athlete to Marine

Just a year ago, former Michigan linebacker, Noah Furbush was accepting the 2018 Dr. Arthur D. Robinson Scholarship Award; an award given to the top UM football student-athlete. This past Saturday, he traded in his football jersey to join the Few, the Proud, and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the United States Marine Corps.

While a Michigan Wolverine from 2014-2018, Furbush was a student-athlete mentor for the inception and first year of the Michigan YIP program. His mentorship helped stage the groundwork for trust and respect and set an example of leadership for the youth of Detroit.  Furbush’s exemplary leadership qualities during his training is characterized by Gunnery Sgt. Ryan Allen, Furbush’s platoon commander.

“Furbush is an outstanding team player. He definitely possesses that exemplary character. He’s got the attitude of always putting the team first and then making sure he takes care of himself as a secondary measure,” Allen said. “From the very beginning of training, he was willing to step forward and despite small setbacks or failures in his own performance, he continued to push hard and drive and work himself to ensure that he was able to bring the team up to the same passing standards.” These are the qualities our YIP mentors strive to instill in our youth during the two-week program.

“Furbush was very quick to adopt the team mentality. He’s very quick to take the things that he was learning and things that he was picking up on quicker than some of the other candidates to help out that team mentality and pull them in. Furbush was very quick to be able to fit himself in any role assigned through some of the different training venues that are conducted whether requires him to practice a little humility and be about performing the role of a subordinate to make the mission successful or be that firm and stern leader to make sure all tasks are being accomplished he was very comfortable and willing to take on any role necessary.” That team mentality is the essence for establishing the YIP ethos, to lead by actions. Every day the youth would recite:

I will always place the team first
I will never quit or accept defeat
I will always treat ALL people with respect
I will always set an example for others to follow.

We are creating change and impact that is altering the future for not only our youth but the student-athletes as well. Congratulations to Noah Furbush! His leadership continues to inspire from a student-athlete to now a Marine.