Blue Hills’ Michael Glick has designs on success
By GuestBy Judy Bass
Michael Glick certainly stands out, due to his buoyant, can-do attitude, altruism, high-caliber professional abilities, and exceedingly lofty goals for the future — goals that he is very likely to attain.
Michael Glick in his SkillsUSA red blazer. (Photo by Joann Murphy)
At the age of 17, this Blue Hills Regional Technical School senior from Canton who studies graphic communications is already a successful entrepreneur who, along with fellow Blue Hills student Brad Slocum, runs a thriving business called Three Guys Printing (the third person is no longer involved in the enterprise, but they kept the name). Headquartered in Slocum’s Canton home, Three Guys, which began operating in the summer of 2012 with equipment purchased on craigslist, tackles jobs as diverse as printing on sweatpants, sweatshirts, drawstring bags, mugs, and a wide variety of other items.
In fact, even though the company does not formally advertise except for being on Facebook (www.facebook.com/threeguysprinting), they are swamped with orders due to positive word of mouth that has spread like wildfire.
“It’s going excellent,” Glick said. “We’re almost overwhelmed with the amount of business we’re getting.”
Student organizations from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, including the paintball team, the scuba dive team, and the Korean-American Relationship Seminar, have all come to Three Guys for their printing needs. The connection is through Glick’s older brother, Bryan, who is currently a West Point “plebe” (the term for a freshman at a military or naval academy).
Glick cherishes his own dream of being accepted at the prestigious military academy, which was founded in 1802 and counts among its storied alumni President Dwight Eisenhower, General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur, and General Omar Bradley.
Glick first visited the campus when he was only 5 and his brother was 7.
“Both of us fell in love with it,” confirmed Glick, whose affinity with the school has only deepened with time.
He envisions himself following his family’s strong tradition of distinguished military service. For five generations, men in his family have served in the U.S. Army — among them, Glick’s great-grandfather, who was a World War I veteran; his grandfather, a member of the 8th Air Corps who flew B-24s in 35 missions over Germany in World War II and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; and Glick’s father, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Glick himself is already preparing for a military career in the leadership role he seeks as an officer. He’s in the junior ROTC program called the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, where he was a squad leader in boot camp at Camp Pendleton, Virginia, has served in the honor guard since 2009, and received the Academic Achievement and Unit Accommodation ribbon.
Glick also volunteers with Operation American Soldier, an organization that sends “care packages” of letters, toiletries, snacks, and other welcome essentials to our men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces. The motto of OAS is “No soldier walks away from mail call empty-handed.”
At Blue Hills, Glick also excels. He is vice president of the school’s chapter of SkillsUSA, a national organization for vocational students that encourages the development of professionalism, good citizenship, teamwork, and a strong work ethic through various activities, such as competitions in dozens of technical areas at the local, district, state and national levels. This year, Glick placed first at the state championship in screen printing technology, and a commendable 11th at the national level in that category.
“Mike is a very diligent, intelligent young man who has a strong drive and focus for future success,” attests one of his graphic communications teachers, Daniel Jordan.
As if all that weren’t enough for this high achiever, he’s a John and Abigail Adams Scholar thanks to his exceptional MCAS scores, a graduate of the Neponset Valley Leadership Institute, and is captain of the varsity golf and lacrosse teams.
Despite his impressive background, Glick is refreshingly modest, compassionate and attuned to others. When he speaks of his relatives’ longtime commitment to serving this nation in uniform, he beams with quiet pride, and it’s clear that Glick eschews cynicism, preferring to see what Abraham Lincoln referred to as “the better angels of our nature.”
“I like to believe that everyone’s good on the inside,” he said. “If you keep the peace in yourself, you can spread peace in others.”
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=17725
Posted by 
