Discipline

I was blessed to be part of Glacier High School’s first football and basketball state championship teams. I grew up around many incredibly talented and hardworking young men, and early on I learned the importance of focusing on the things I could control like my attitude, effort, and character. A lot of my friends hit growth spurts in high school that never really happened for me, so I had to learn quickly that success wasn’t going to come from my natural ability alone. Many people close to me also know that I got into trouble with the law early on as an adolescent. Looking back, many of my sinful actions were driven by deep insecurities about who I was as a young man. But, I truly believe God used people in the Wolfpack Football program, especially Coaches Bennett and Rigler, to redirect the path I was on. They didn’t give up on me. Instead, they loved me enough to correct me, challenge me, and teach me accountability. More importantly, they showed me grace and taught me how to extend that same unmerited love to other people. One verse that has always stayed close to my heart is Hebrews 12:11: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” That verse perfectly describes what I experienced through the Wolfpack Football program. That doesn’t mean I’ve lived a perfect life since high school, far from it. But the principles that were instilled in me during those years protected me from making many more destructive decisions as I entered adulthood. Since 2017, I have gone on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Montana State University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a minor in statistics. After that, I moved across the country to the University of Florida, where I just completed a five-year graduate program, earning a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree, a master’s degree in transportation leadership, and a PhD in civil engineering. I’ve been blessed to receive national recognition in my field, and I was able to finish all of my schooling debt-free. Coach Rigler has even taken me under his wing and mentored me financially since high school, which helped make it possible for my wife, Giuly, and me to afford two wedding ceremonies because she immigrated to the United States on a finance visa after we met overseas working in international missions together. I don’t share any of this to make myself sound impressive. Honestly, left to my own devices, I would likely be in a very different place today. I share it because I want to testify to the fact that God often chooses imperfect and unqualified people like me to bring Himself glory. I believe He uses programs and mentors like Coaches Bennett and Rigler to wake up young men from destructive paths and instill principles of wisdom and discipline in them, leading them towards honorable living. I’m deeply thankful for everyone involved in the Wolfpack Football program who has impacted my life, and my prayer is that God continues to bless the program as a place where strong, grounded young men are raised up, young men who can honestly say: “I’ll tell you in 20 years.”

Bryce Grame - 2017