Spartan Bus Tour celebrates spirit of UP, northern Michigan

Over three days and more than 1,100 miles, 60 Michigan State University administrators and faculty members traded lecture halls and laboratories for a classroom on wheels, journeying to 15 different communities in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula as part of the Spartan Bus Tour.

“We have 17,000 alumni and 1,400 current students at Michigan State who hail from the Upper Peninsula,” said MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D. “It was an honor to meet some of those alumni and students; to witness the impact of our longstanding partnerships in health, education and sustainability; and to imagine what new opportunities might look like.”

“Michigan State maintains partnerships across the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan that, in some cases, span generations,” said Guskiewicz. “We’re working together to address health, education, sustainability and prosperity as we build a better future for all.”

From Oct. 19-21, this group of Spartans met with partners, explored new opportunities to collaborate and learned more about the places MSU students and alumni call home.

“The Spartan Bus Tour ignited my Spartan pride and reaffirmed my commitment to serve Michigan’s communities with research, education and outreach,” said Emily Silver, bus tour participant and associate chair of the Department of Forestry in the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“As a forestry and policy scholar, and a former UP resident, I appreciated the opportunity to connect my fellow Spartans with places and people that support, cherish and steward Michigan’s beautiful forests,” she said. “From maple syrup to sports flooring to healthy manoomin (wild rice) beds, these ecosystems provide countless services to Michigan communities. Over the course of the trip, we dreamed up new ideas, new partnerships and made new friendships that will inspire my work at MSU for years to come.”

Day 1: Big dreams in action

The first stop on the tour was a visit to downtown Cadillac, where participants learned about MSU Extension’s partnership with the city to create public art through the Michigan ArtShare project, which supports community growth through investments in arts and culture-focused projects. Gabby Hanson, a local artist, discussed her mural honoring Marion Nye, a longtime typesetter at the Cadillac Printing Company.

“I love that the main person featured in the mural was not anyone of major public importance. He was a worker who helped keep a 100-plus-year-old company going,” said Hanson. “I think that really speaks to the community because Cadillac is a community of workers.”

Heath Urbaniak is the director of a grant project through Michigan ArtShare aiming to bring more murals to Cadillac. He also leads the local nonprofit Up North Arts, an organization dedicated to furthering arts-related educational opportunities in the greater Cadillac area.

“It’s not every day that we’re given the opportunity to show off a little bit of what we’ve been doing here, especially bright, colorful public artwork,” he said.

Cadillac Mayor Tiyi Schippers said the partnership with MSU Extension is important to growing the community.

“Little towns like Cadillac are on the bus for public art. We want to continue to partner with MSU on projects like this,” she said. “Public art is one of the main things that creates a sense of a good quality of life. A community that has art for everybody is a community that's thriving.”

At the next stop, participants learned about another sign of a thriving town: health care driven by community needs.

Kalkaska Memorial Health Center, or KMHC, is a community nonprofit hospital. It is one of eight community hospitals in the Munson Healthcare system, the largest health care provider in northern Michigan.

The bus tour group learned about the different programs and services at the hospital, including community paramedicine; primary care, specialty care and the walk-in clinic; hemotherapy and infusion services; diabetes management; opioid response; and the simulation lab used for training.

“Rural communities deserve the same care as their urban counterparts without having to travel,” said Andrew Raymond, CEO of KMHC.

KMHC has a unique community paramedicine program that literally meets patients where they are. This initiative helps people in Kalkaska, Green Lake and Missaukee counties get care before it becomes an emergency. Instead of only responding to 911 calls, paramedics visit people in their homes for checkups, follow-up care after hospital stays and other support — especially for those with ongoing health issues or who have trouble getting out during the winter. By doing this, the program helps keep people healthier, reduces trips to the emergency room, and makes health care easier to reach for everyone in the community.

“If we’re going to truly improve the lives of the people in this community, it needs to be beyond the walls of the hospital,” said Jeremy Cannon, vice president and chief nursing officer at KMHC.

Participants also heard from Joyce Fetrow, project director of the Northern Michigan Opioid Response Consortium, or NMORC, through the Michigan Center for Rural Health, an MSU partner organization through the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Participants learned about NMORC’s focus on prevention, treatment, recovery and workforce integration in 25 counties in northern Michigan, including Kalkaska County.

“Our motto is nothing about us, without us,” said Fetrow, emphasizing NMORC’s mission to integrate people with lived experience in addiction — like herself — back into the workforce as peer educators.

John Barnas, the executive director of the Michigan Center for Rural Health, said partnering with MSU has helped the organization’s efforts grow.

“We flash that name badge of Michigan State, and people are so welcoming. Many MSU medical graduates practice in rural Michigan, and as a land-grant institution, MSU has a focus of going out and working in rural communities,” said Barnas.

Daniel Conklin, vice president and chief operating officer at KMHC, said they hope MSU medical students from northern Michigan will return home to practice.

“We love MSU. We want our local students to go there and get their education, and then we want them to come home and help rural communities,” Conklin said. “We need great health care people to come home.”

The next stop on the journey was over to Central Lake, a town on the shores of Torch Lake, to learn about how Mammoth Distilling collaborated with MSU to bring a rye variety back to life.

Chad Munger is the owner and co-founder of Mammoth Distilling, along with his wife, Tracy Hickman. He talked about how the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and MSU AgBioResearch have been instrumental in his entrepreneurial journey.

“Mammoth Distilling wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Michigan State,” Munger said. “We actually learned how to distill in East Lansing 13 years ago, when Michigan State still ran a distilling program. Since then, we’ve built relationships with a number of different departments. We actually grow grain and breed grain, and AgBioResearch has helped us operate farms around the state and help train people that work for us.”

An alumnus of the College of Arts and Letters, Munger is a fourth-generation Spartan; Hickman is also an MSU alum.

Munger discussed the importance of just asking for help in pursuing an idea, project or supporting students and researchers.

“Being a Spartan means connection. It’s being part of a community of people from the state of Michigan who are wed to higher education and giving everybody in the state an opportunity to thrive,” he said.

From Mammoth, the bus made its way to the Mackinac Bridge. For some on the bus, this was their first time crossing the Mighty Mac, which has long been tied to Spartan engineers.

The final stop of Day 1 was the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse in Gulliver, which is considered to be one of the most haunted places in the state – and is also the last working lighthouse on the northern shore of Lake Michigan, according to Gulliver Historical Society President Marilyn Fischer.

Participants learned about the five spirits rumored to haunt the lighthouse, climbed to the top of the lighthouse tower and took in views of the lake during golden hour.

“Lighthouses are the castles of America,” said Fischer. “People from all over the world come to visit this lighthouse. I hope the bus tour takes away an appreciation of what this lighthouse does and what is history is.”

Day 2: Trust the process

As the bus departed on Day 2 of the tour from the Terrace Bay Hotel in Gladstone, participants took in a beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan before heading west to MSU’s Forestry Innovation Center, a 1,745-acre AgBioResearch center in Escanaba.

Among the many areas of focus at the Forestry Innovation Center, or FIC, are sustainable forest management, long-term genetics trials, Christmas tree production, logger training and the development of new forest-based products. During their visit, participants experienced one of the center’s ‘sweetest’ pursuits — the art and science of maple syrup production.

The group toured the FIC’s boiler, tank room and confections kitchen and took in a maple tree tapping demonstration led by the center’s director, Jesse Randall. While tasting the FIC’s signature “Yooper Gold” maple syrup, they learned about the many ways that maple sap is being used in agritourism, the food and beverage industry and in medicine.

“There is a lot that we still do not know about maple syrup,” said Tyler Tankersley, a forest technician at the center. “It doesn’t spike blood sugar in the same way that other sweeteners do, so a lot of people are considering new products in the beverage category. There’s also a lot of neat medical research happening with it as well; they are testing it as an aid to patients undergoing chemotherapy, as an example.”

Tankersley’s insights reflected the scientific curiosity that drives much of the center’s work. But at its heart, the center is also a place rooted deeply in community, where research meets real-world impact and where the next generation of foresters are growing alongside the trees they help steward.

“I love this job because I like to be active and to work with my hands,” said Cole Reese, a forestry technician who grew up in Escanaba and started working at the center after school before turning it into full-time work after graduation. “I’ve learned a lot, and I like that we do a lot of good things here for the community and for Michigan.”

At the next stop, MSU men’s head basketball coach and Iron Mountain native Tom Izzo surprised tour guests with a firm handshake and a big smile as they filed off the bus in his hometown.

“This is a special place to me and my family, and I didn’t want to miss it,” said Izzo, who donned a yellow jacket and hard hat, gear synonymous with the region’s storied mining history.

He joined the group on an underground tour through Iron Mountain Iron Mine to learn more about the mining techniques and tools used during its operation from 1870 to 1945.

“This place represents my heritage and the heritage of this region,” said Karen Secinaro, general manager. “My father, Eugene Carollo rediscovered this place in 1956 and reopened it as a tourist attraction in 1958. Next year, we’ll celebrate 68 years. We’ll finally be open as long as the mine was originally in operation.”

After a Q&A session on the bus with Coach Izzo on the way to Amasa, participants toured Connor Sports, a global leader in portable and permanent hardwood sports flooring systems.

“We make a lot of the floors that you see on TV. Our work is featured on pro and college courts across the country, namely the NCAA Final Four,” said Hans Hoffman, quality control manager. “It is an honor to share our story of sustainability, innovation, and community impact right here in Michigan’s UP.”

Hoffman and his colleagues guided participants through the facility, demonstrating how each court begins as carefully selected wood grain before being cut, sanded, coated and pieced together with precision to create the surfaces athletes compete on at the highest levels.

The company has worked on several projects over the years on MSU’s East Lansing campus, including a current project within the soon-to-be-open Student Recreation and Wellness Center on the west side of the university's campus.

Next, the bus moved on to the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, or KBOCC. Located on the L’Anse Reservation. It serves as both an academic institution and cultural hub for Ojibwa and non-Ojibwa learners alike.

“We’re proud to welcome you to Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College,” said Megan Haataja, interim president and dean of academic affairs at KBOCC. “Today, you will experience a project and a success story that KBOCC has been a part of for many years. It represents our students, our faculty, our college and the true value we bring to our region.”

The focus of the visit was on the Anishinaabe tradition of growing, harvesting and preparing wild rice, or manoomin. The visit offered a glimpse into a practice that connects people to the region in both spiritual and ecological ways.

Kathleen Smith, whose Anishinaabe title, genawendang manoomin, translates to “she who takes care of the wild rice,” addressed the group. As part of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, or GLIFWC, Smith helps guide wild rice stewardship efforts for 11 member tribes across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. She shared how the progress of reviving manoomin reflects years of collaboration among tribal communities, scientists and conservation partners, including research on water levels, climate impacts and habitat restoration.

“Manoomin is more than a plant, it’s a way of being in relationship with the land, the water and one another,” Smith told participants as they stood on the lawn outside of the college. “I’m hoping manoomin brings us together, that Michigan State can be part of that connection today and into the future.”

From L’Anse, the bus continued east to Marquette, where participants explored the intersection of medicine, education and community health. At the UP Health System – Marquette, where many faculty and students from MSU’s College of Human Medicine teach and train, participants walked through the journey of a medical student, from the excitement of receiving a white coat and taking their professional oath to exploring rotations in different medical specialties.

They rotated in groups through hands-on demonstrations led by medical students, residents and faculty members, including administering CPR and delivering a baby. They also learned about programs like the MIDOCs psychiatry residency, a state- and federally funded program aimed at recruiting and retaining physicians in underserved areas of the state, as well as MSU’s COMPASS elective, which teaches students how to manage medical conditions in nonclinical environments by teaching core principles of wilderness and sports-related injuries.

"I love this program because it has taught me a lot about what happens to patients before they get to the emergency room; it offers a fuller picture of how I might approach treatment in the hospital,” said Norma Mertz-Bynum, a fourth-year medical student in the College of Human Medicine who is currently in the COMPASS program. “The way of life here includes being outdoors and being active, and that comes with some risk, so you’re going to see certain kinds of injuries here that you may not see elsewhere.”

Mertz-Bynum and Abby Prentice, who is the director of the COMPASS elective, showed participants how to pack a wound, apply a tourniquet, and create a makeshift stretcher using coats and skis to transport injured people or animals.

Prentice and her students attend popular races and winter events in the area and said that that this immersive experience highlights MSU’s deep commitment to “training the next generation of physicians to meet the unique health care needs of Michigan’s northern communities.”

The day drew to a close for dinner at Beam and Barrel, where MSU Provost Laura Lee McIntyre moderated a panel discussion with Guskiewicz, MSU Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, James Luyendyk and Vice President of Research at Michigan Technological University Andrew Barnard. Michigan Tech is the latest university in the state to join Research Universities for Michigan, or RU4M, an alliance of Michigan’s leading research universities.

They discussed past, present and potential future collaborations between the two institutions, including one area of research they both have in common and excel at: water.

“About a mile away from us is three quadrillion gallons of fresh water — that's a national strategic reserve. We need to protect that, and we need to work together to do it,” said Barnard, who invited MSU faculty to submit proposals to RU4M’s Livable Futures Initiative. “We also need to make sure that all of our citizens have access to clean drinking water. If anyone is going to do freshwater research, it should be the universities right here in Michigan.”

After the discussion, several faculty members, including Morgan Vigil-Hayes, a professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, offered some reflections for the group.

“I noticed a theme today and that was ‘process,’” she said. “The process of creating maple syrup; the process of making wood flooring for various sporting venues; the process of making wild rice; the process of becoming a medical student. The people that we’ve met today take a lot of pride in the care and hard work that they put into everything they do. All of the outcomes were the result of a community coming together to make something amazing — and that spirit is what I’ll remember most about the people and places in the UP.”

Day 3: "We’re built for this”

The final morning of the Spartan Bus Tour brought dark clouds and chilly rain, but the group persevered to find beautiful fall colors, berries and wetlands at Sand Point Marsh Trail, a half-mile wheelchair-accessible boardwalk along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Although it’s changed hands many times, the property is now owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

With Lake Superior in view from the trailhead, this area is home to birds, frogs, turtles, beavers and a wide variety of plant life. In the past, it was a dense forest that was cleared for lumber that became buildings, boats and charcoal. Michigan was the nation’s leading lumber producer between 1869 and 1900. Logging was one of the two area industries, the other being iron mining.

Anna Ellis, from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is a forestry and natural resources educator with MSU Extension in Alger County. She guided the group through the trail and shared insights about the area, its current inhabitants and its history.

“My favorite part of this job is being the connection point where I can help people understand their environment and its history,” Ellis said. “I like to help people learn about the natural resources around them in a different way. There’s often this lightbulb moment when I share facts with people who haven’t spent much time outdoors.

“It’s great to have the Spartan Bus Tour stop here,” she said. “It helps everyone feel better connected to the university and each other.”

The next stop was at the MSU Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center, or UPREC, where a curious herd of Red Angus cattle was an active part of the scenery. Established in 1899, this MSU AgBioResearch facility in Chatham supports the next generation of farmers and eaters, according to Abbey Palmer, a community food systems educator at MSU Extension.

“We do research and take risks so our UP farmers don’t have to,” she said. “We help lots of small, diversified farms in the area. Our certified organic operation conducts specialized research to help us all plan for the next 100 years of growing vegetables above the 45th parallel.”

As UP farmers have transitioned from raising dairy cows to beef cattle, the UPREC team is studying different food sources for the cows. The team also maintains a barley breeding program for the local brewers and distillers and even cross-pollinates corn to help tortilla makers get the starch and flavor they need.

“We also host outreach programs,” Palmer said. “For example, in some schools in the Upper Peninsula, we have students in kindergarten through 12th grade in the same building. School gardens really contribute to their school lunch programs. We also offer fun education programs for students, a Seed-to-Kitchen initiative that involve local chefs sharing their taste preferences, ideas about extending the growing season, and a Farm-to-School Institute for teachers.”

Land for this research center was donated in 1899 by Munising Railroad, and the property includes 830 owned acres and another 350 acres that are rented. Research and education programs focus on four core areas that reflect the current and future needs of people in the Upper Peninsula: beef cattle, field crops, organic specialty crops and land-based learning. Researchers track changing demographics, land use, aging infrastructure and increased costs so they can align with the people and farms they serve.

Matt Daum, dean and associate provost for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, who was part of the Spartan Bus Tour, explained that work done at the UPREC helps farmers achieve higher value and anticipate the needs of the end producers.

“We work behind the scenes to help farmers improve value, profitability and sustainability,” Daum said. “It’s amazing how much science is involved.”

The third stop of the day was a fun look at the history of a very specific form of winter transportation. Located at the northernmost point of Lake Michigan, Top-of-the-Lake Snowmobile Museum in Naubinway features 200 antique, vintage and prototype snowmobiles and memorabilia.

Owner Charlie Vallier said he started collecting snowmobiles when he got out of the Army and talked his dad into becoming a Viking snowmobile dealer. He opened Michigan’s first and only classic snowmobile museum in 2007, expanded into the current building in 2013 and completed an addition in 2018. The museum received an operational grant from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts in 2023.

“To have the bus tour come here is just awesome,” Vallier said. “We get to showcase our community and the snowmobiles. Michigan has an awesome trail system, and we’re really proud to promote that. A lot of places in the UP would be closed in the wintertime if it wasn’t for the snowmobilers coming through. In Newberry, for instance, a lot of the large hotels that have opened in the last 20 or 30 years are there because they can stay open in the wintertime, too.”

The Spartan Bus Tour then headed downstate to visit a program designed to benefit the future. Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, or NMCAA, is offering Food-Body-Mind, a 16-week preschool classroom program that proactively addresses mental and physical health crises that can arise in early childhood. The program also helps reduce health disparities.

Led and created by MSU College of Nursing researcher and MSU Research Foundation Professor Jiying Ling, Food-Body-Mind helps increase behavioral well-being in preschool-age children. This program is supported by a $5.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Active in 35 Head Start preschool classrooms throughout Michigan, the program will support 13 classrooms in NMCAA during the 2025-26 academic year and aims to work with 50 Michigan classrooms in total.

“What I love about Food-Body-Mind is that it benefits children and families by giving our classrooms an established nutrition and mindfulness curriculum,” said Shannon Phelps, NMCAA child and family development director. “It’s a really nice fit with Head Start because it is a multigeneration program, extending time in the classroom into what happens at home. We’ve worked with Dr. Ling in the past, and we’re so happy her program is returning and expanding here at NMCAA.”

NMCAA serves 10 counties in northwest Michigan, with a team of 350 employees. Head Start preschool programs serve children who are 3 to 4 years old. Children who have participated in Head Start programs are often found to outperform their peers in cognitive ability and social-emotional competence. Head Start also provides prenatal services, programs to alleviate homelessness and help for those who need clean water.

Spartan Bus Tour participants toured the day care facility and participated in Food-Body-Mind classroom exercises. Students sampled kiwi and talked about how it felt “slippery,” sounded “quiet,” looked “fuzzy,” smelled “yummy” and tasted “good.” Teachers led students in mindfulness exercises that focused on deep breathing.

“The way Food-Body-Mind is structured, it could grow to include rural and urban child care programs across the country and offer long-term benefits to children and their families,” Ling said. “When people have good health, they tend to be happier and feel more socially connected and purposeful. Parents have told me that their children go from eating only Cheerios to eating vegetables.”

After seeing a rainbow above the colors of the changing trees, the group arrived at their final stop close to campus, a warm reception at Uncle John’s Cider Mill, a long-time MSU partner. Here, five generations come together on the family-run farm in St. Johns to offer memorable experiences to their guests. The cozy barn that hosted the Spartans was reminiscent of the past, while everyone talked about how this experience would impact their futures.

Lucía Cárdenas Curiel, associate professor of bilingual/multilingual education in the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education, shared her perspective on the trip.

“Throughout this trip, I saw so many connections to my own culture and story — cross-generational learning, family labor and perseverance,” Curiel said. “Sorting wild rice reminded me of sorting beans with my mom as a child on our kitchen table. Walking through the iron mines made me think of my great-grandfather, who fled the Mexican Revolution in 1910 to work in the U.S. and then returned to Mexico. At the lighthouse, the folk stories echoed La Llorona, and at UPREC, they found how to answer the need of tortillerías to find the right kind of masa by cross-pollinating corn from yellow corn and indigenous flint corn — finding a special hybrid corn that produces the starch needed to make tortillas. I never expected to find so many connections between the UP and my own roots.”

MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz asked everyone on the tour to describe their experience in one word. Among them were “connection,” “inspired,” “opportunity,” “heart,” “pride” and “Ubuntu.”

“After traveling so many miles to meet Michiganders in the places they call home, I am always drawn to the word ‘responsibility.’ We have a responsibility as Michigan’s state university to serve its people through the work that we do at MSU,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in the world right now and times are tough, but we are Spartans and we are built for this.”