8/7/24 C & G Special Edition — Oakland by C & G Newspapers

NEWSPAPERS Special Edition

Road Commission, LTU launch new road safety tech

BY KATHRYN PENTIUK kpentiuk@candgnews.com

OAKLAND COUNTY — On July 16, the city of Southfield sponsored a public demonstration of the latest road safety technology being piloted in Southfield and Oakland County, conducted by P3Mobility and the Road Commission for Oakland County at Lawrence Technological University.

The public open house showcased a simulation of the technology, which will be installed at five intersections throughout Oakland County and in 10 vehicles to be studied for a year. The intersections include:

• Church Street and 10 Mile Road in Oak Park.

• 12 Mile Road at Northwood Elementary School in Royal Oak.

• Greenfield at 10 Mile in Southfield.

• 12 Mile and Main St. in Royal Oak.

• Greenfield and Lincoln in Southfield.

“This is what we call connected vehicle technology,” Craig Bryson, the senior communications manager for the Road Commission, said. “So, the long-term goal is that cars will be equipped with this, the infrastructure will be equipped with this so that all of this stuff is talking to each other. The cars and the infrastructure are all talking to each other. There are sensors that detect pedestrians so that when you’re driving down the street, if there’s a car about to pull out in front of you, for example, but it’s not within your line of sight — say, it’s behind a building, but it’s ac-

See SAFETY on page 4A

Parking rates increase, new system to be implemented in Ferndale

BY MIKE KOURY mkoury@candgnews.com

FERNDALE — New parking rates have been implemented in the city of Ferndale as of July 1.

The new parking rates are $1.60 per hour for on-street parking spaces, $1.35 for surface lots and $1.25 for The dot parking structure. Previously, the parking rates were $1.50 per hour for on-street parking spaces, $1.25 for surface lots and $1.15 for The dot.

Parking will remain free on Sundays and 14 holidays throughout the year.

City Manager Joe Gacioch said there are three drivers for the rate increase, the

city’s first since 2021.

The first driver, he said, was the cost of business and keeping up with the increase in the unit costs for the system. The second driver was to improve customer service and streamline the system, and the third is the “annual debt service requirements for the term of the repayment period, and that’s about $1.1 million per year.”

“You project your costs. Through the budget process, we look at our cost structures,” Gacioch stated. “For example, concrete, the cost of concrete, which we use for resurfacing, that’s increased by about 50% since 2021. As we understand, we have a capital plan. We project out our

Attendees of the open house try out a demonstration of the new road technology simulator at Lawrence Technological University.

Photo by Erin Sanchez

Photo by Mike Koury

Ferndale recently increased its rates for parking, and motorists also will see a change after Labor Day involving how they pay for parking. The new system will use license plates instead of a numbered-space system.

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Royal Oak man places first in Michigan bodybuilding championship

BY JONATHAN SZCZEPANIAK jszczepaniak@candgnews.com

METRO DETROIT — He needed something to light his competitive fire, and bodybuilding was the answer.

Throughout his years at Sterling Heights Stevenson High School and Hope College, Royal Oak resident David Clark’s sole focus was being an athlete.

A two-sport athlete in football and track, Clark, a 2017 Stevenson graduate, revolved his life around two things — sports and the gym.

SKATING EVENT GETS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ON THE ICE

BY SARAH WRIGHT swright@candgnews.com

TROY — The Buffalo Wild Wings Sports Center in Troy hosted the Hockey Mentors for Special Players’ third annual hockey tournament and provided opportunities for disabled attendees to play hockey or learn to skate July 27.

Hockey Mentors For Special Players was started by Troy High School graduate Wyatt Lucas as a part of his Eagle Scout project in 2019 to host a hockey event for people with disabilities. Lucas himself has been playing hockey since he was 4 years old, and he is now a junior at Lawrence Technological University studying mechanical manufacturer engineering technology.

“I’ve played hockey since I was 4. I wanted to share this love with people that might not have the opportunity,” Lucas said in an email. “Money for the event was raised, things were in motion, then COVID hit. Everything shut down. I had to pivot to meet a deadline, so with the help of military vets that use hockey to cope with injuries sustained in service, I made a hockey parody video for my project and gifted Special Olympics of Michigan all the money that I had raised,” which, after ice rental costs, came to $1,750, he said.

See SKATING on page 8A

Royal Oak resident and Sterling Heights Stevenson graduate David Clark is all smiles after winning the NPC Natural Michigan State Championships June 15 in Ypsilanti.

Photo provided by NPC Natural Michigan State Championship

The Hockey Mentors for Special Players’ annual hockey tournament and skating event July 27 allowed disabled attendees the chance to learn to skate or play hockey.

Photo by Erin Sanchez

celerating to pull out right in front of you — that car will tell your car that that’s about to happen. Ultimately, someday, your car will automatically break. In the near term, that’ll probably just give you a warning that, ‘Hey, there’s a car. Warning, there’s a car about to pull out in front view.’”

The connected vehicle technology will alert drivers to potential hazards such as vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians, deer, etc., regardless of whether they are in view.

This technology is part of a project called “Leading in Sustainable Safety with Technology,” funded through a $2 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build a model for deploying safety-critical communication technology nationwide. The grant was a Stage 1 Planning and Prototyping Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation grant.

The city of Southfield paid around $1,600 to bring the equipment to LTU for the demonstration.

“This technology makes so much sense,” Southfield City Administrator Fred Zorn said. “We make cars here. We got all this engineering talent. We’re doing so much in Southfield, particularly our businesses that are involved in the driverless technology, and that this is all of this stuff coming together. Lawrence Tech has faculty members on the committee. I think there are two LTU persons, myself, Erin from P3Mobility, and Craig Bryson from the Road Commission.”

Bryson explained that the grant proposal included a test implementation of the technology with the goal of proving that the technology works and looking into a funding model that could be used to expand nationwide to help speed up the implementation of this technology.

Bryson added that for the last 30 years, Oakland County has either had the lowest fatality rate in Michigan or tied for the lowest. He explained that this is because the Road Commission was one of the first road agencies in the country to start using crash data to identify projects and project design.

“We look at where the crashes are. We look at what’s causing them,” he said. “Is it something in the design of the road that can be corrected? For example, every year, we totally reconstruct a mile or two of road. We look at where the crashes are and the high crash locations. If we identify a road segment that has high crashes, and we can determine that those crashes are at least in part based on something in the design of

the road, that project will rise to the top of our list so that we can correct that when we redesign the project for the reconstruction.”

Bryson shared that according to 2023 data, Oakland County had a traffic fatality rate of 0.46, which is the number of fatalities per 100 million miles of vehicle travel. The national rate was 1.35, and Michigan’s rate was 1.15.

Erin Milligan is the founder and CEO of P3Mobility, a seven-year-old technology startup with the mission to “improve safety, mobility, and sustainability through Connected Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology.”

Milligan said that the average annual cost of crashes near intersections in Oakland County is $445,299,720. She said that they believe this technology will save residents money and also save lives.

“The problem is safety,” she said. “There’s 40,000 people who lose their lives in traffic crashes every year, and hundreds of thousands whose lives are changed forever by injuries that they experience. On this chart over here, we talk about the cost of crashes in Oakland County alone. Each year in Oakland County, the cost of crashes is almost half a billion dollars, and that’s just to cover the economic costs like the property damage or medical bills. It doesn’t take into account any of the emotional suffering that comes as a whole result of a car crash,” she said. “We can save lives. It’s really important that people experience it, understand what it could do, and be open to it, because it’s always hard to embrace change, but it’s important.”

According to Bryson, if funding is secured, the next phase of the project would include the expansion into other areas of Oakland County.

Bryson explained that the connected vehicle technology aligns with what the Road Commission is all about.

“We have long been on the cutting edge of traffic technology here in Oakland County,” he said. “We were the first road agency in the nation to use a smart traffic signal system, where the signal detects the traffic at the intersection, and computer algorithms determine the best traffic signal timing to most efficiently move that traffic. We’re still one of the largest systems of that kind in the nation and really in the world. We remain on the cutting edge in that we have been a test bed for all kinds of connected vehicles and smart vehicle smart infrastructure technology.”

For more information on P3Mobility, visit p3mobility.com. To learn more about the Road Commission for Oakland County, visit www.rcocweb.org.

Nowthere’shopefor hormonalhealthrecovery formenandwomen

formenandwomen

Dr. Rona Wadle, D.O., doesn’t hold back when talking about the life-changing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy that she received - and now offers to others at RenewMyWellness in downtown Birmingham.

“After suffering through severe menopausal symptoms myself, this therapy has given me my life back,” Dr. Wadle said.

Since the 1930’s patients throughout Europe, Japan and the United States have successfully used bio-identical hormones. Many studies show that when prescribed and administered correctly, bio-identical hormone pellets can help a variety of conditions and symptoms. They don’t present the potential hazards that many synthetic medications do.

“After suffering through severe menopausal symptoms myself, this therapy has given me my life back,” Dr. Wadle said.

As a registered nurse who later went to medical school and became board certiﬁed in emergency medicine, Dr. Wadle owned and operated an urgent care center in Birmingham. Based on her own medical journey and personal experience with hormone depletion, she founded RenewMyWellness.

“After suffering through severe menopausal symptoms myself, this therapy has given me my life back,” Dr. Wadle said.

As a registered nurse who later went to medical school and became board certified in emergency medicine, Dr. Wadle owned and operated an urgent care center in Birmingham. Based on her own medical journey and personal experience with hormone depletion, she founded Renew My Wellness.

For men and women dealing with fatigue, depression, apathy, anxiety, weight gain, decreased libido, decreased exercise endurance and muscle mass there is a bioidentical way to improve these symptoms. “What we’re offering is hormone replacement therapy in the form of testosterone and estradiol pellets for both women and men,” Dr. Wadle explains.“Pellets provide a delivery system that mimics the human body so that even improved physiologic levels can be achieved.”

For men and women dealing with fatigue, depression, apathy, anxiety, weight gain, decreased libido, decreased exercise endurance and muscle mass there is a bioidentical way to improve these symptoms. “What we’re offering is hormone replacement therapy in the form of testosterone and estradiol pellets for both women and men,” Dr. Wadle explains. “Pellets provide a delivery system that mimics the human body so that even improved physiologic levels can be achieved.”

Since the 1930’s patients throughout Europe, Japan and

the United States have success fully used bio-identical hormones. Many studies show that when prescribed and administered correctly, bio-identical hormone pellets can help a variety of conditions and symptoms. They don’t present the potential hazards that many synthetic medications do.

RenewMyWellness also offers testosterone injections for men and a prescription weight loss program for both men and women that is monitored to ensure it is safe and effective.

RenewMyWellness also offers testosterone injections for men and a prescription weight loss program for both men and women that is monitored to ensure it is safe and effective. Dr. Wadle said she founded RenewMyWellness to promote wellness through a holistically-integrative approach to patient care that combines conventional and functional medicine. The results leave patients with improved conﬁdence and a whole-body sense of well-being.

Renew My Wellness also offers testosterone injections for men and a prescription weight loss program for both men and women that is monitored to ensure it is safe and effective.

Dr. Wadle said she founded RenewMyWellness to promote wellness through a holistically-integrative approach to patient care that combines conventional and functional medicine. The results leave patients with improved conﬁdence and a whole-body sense of well-being.

RenewMyWellness is located at 33466 Woodward Ave., in downtown Birmingham. To schedule a consultation or for more information, call 248-602-3177.

Scan to receive more information & monthly newsletters.

Dr. Wadle said she founded Renew My Wellness to promote wellness through a holistically-integrative approach to patient care that combines conventional and functional medicine. The results leave patients with improved confidence and a whole-body sense of well-being.

Renew My Wellness is located at 33466 Woodward Ave., in Birmingham.

To schedule a consultation or for more information, call 248602-3177. Or visit www.renewmywellness.com.

Dr. Rona Wadle, D.O.

Southfield vet tech takes silver at agility competition in France

BY KATHRYN PENTIUK kpentiuk@candgnews.com

SOUTHFIELD — Veterinary technician and Southfield resident of 20 years Jeremy Gerhard competed with Maverick, a Pembroke Welsh corgi owned by Sally Slade of Grand Blanc, Michigan, in their fourth international event together at the 2024 World Agility Championship, bringing home a silver medal.

The sport of dog agility is an active sport for both the dog and the handler. The sport involves the dog performing against the clock over hurdles and A-frames, through tunnels, hanging tires, weave poles and a seesaw. The objective of the sport is to score the fastest time with the least penalties. Obstacles for the course are set based on the height and experience of the dog competing.

The annual International Federation of Cynological Sports World Agility Championship showcased over 200 competitors from more than a dozen countries. The 2024 event was co-hosted by IFCS and Fédération Française des Activités du Chien de Sport April 30-May 4 in Bourgbarré, France. Maverick and Gerhard competed alongside 19 other Team USA competitors.

Gerhard and Slade had been competing ei-

ther with or against each other for a number of years when Slade approached Gerhard with the idea of running with Maverick in 2017.

“She was getting ready to have a knee replacement, so I tried that,” he said. “It went OK. It didn’t go great the first time, but he was a young dog, and I’d never worked with him. Then, a couple weeks later, the only dog I had that I was competing with died very suddenly. I didn’t have a dog to run, so I just did local trials, mostly in Michigan, running Maverick and another dog that kind of came along with him.”

Gerhard explained that shortly after, he got an Australian shepherd puppy named Ruckus, but since puppies take around a year and a half or more to be ready to compete, he decided to keep working with Maverick. His bond with Maverick grew as the two continued to compete with one another.

“A little bit of a challenge was there’s some things that Sally trains differently with her dogs than I do with mine. So it was just getting used to each other. I had to learn some things that he knew differently. So I just had to learn to tell him the correct thing, and then he learned to do it correctly. He’s a very honest, hardworking dog. He wants to please. He will do anything for food.”

See GERHARD on page 9A

CONSTRUCTION LOANS

Jeremy Gerhard with his Australian shepherd, Ruckus.

Photo provided by Jeremy Gerhard

WINNING RECIPE CHOSEN IN CHARITY PIZZA CONTEST

DONATION MADE TO LIGHTHOUSE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

BY SARAH WRIGHT swright@candgnews.com

METRO DETROIT — A new champion has been crowned for the Shield’s Restaurant and Pizzeria 2024 Pizza Bake-Off Contest.

The Detroit, Southfield and Troy locations each picked a winning recipe from around 120 entries submitted. The winning pizza ideas include:

• Troy — “Smokehouse Pizza,” featuring Shield’s original crust, a smoky BBQ sauce, Wisconsin brick and cheddar cheeses, bacon, pulled pork, beef brisket, and caramelized onions, by Kyle Van Huysse.

• Southfield — “Philly Alfredo Pizza,” featuring Shield’s original crust, Alfredo sauce, Wisconsin brick cheese, marinated sliced steak, yellow and red bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, and onions, by Amin Numan.

• Detroit — “Spicy Surf & Turf Pizza,” featuring Shield’s original crust, Cajun-seasoned shrimp, spiced Italian sausage, and pepper jack cheese, by Cedric Wright.

On Tuesday, July 16, everyone gathered at Shield’s in Troy with a panel of judges to choose the winner. The four judges consisted of Charlie Langton from FOX 2 and WWJ Radio; Jonathan Carlson, the co-morning anchor at WWJ Radio; Aaron Amos, from CBS TV; and Matthew Phillips, a videographer from FOX.

In the end, and after much tasting enjoyment, the judg-

es chose the Smokehouse Pizza as the 2024 winner.

Van Huysse is a mechanic from Sterling Heights who heard about Shield’s competition through some of his friends, as well as seeing Facebook posts about it. His idea for Smokehouse Pizza came from going to different smokehouses around the area and wanting to create a pizza he would personally enjoy by putting some of the different food options available at those smokehouses into a pizza.

“It’s pretty neat,” Van Huysse said. “It was definitely a good competition, and I’m a bit surprised I won. I would love it if the recipe was actually added to the menu full time.”

He won a $200 Shield’s gift certificate, while the other two winners received $100 Shield’s gift certificates. Lighthouse of Oakland County will also be among the winners, with a $200 donation from Shield’s.

“Lighthouse is one of our favorite places to work with,” Paul Andoni, of the Troy Shield’s location, said. “We anticipate a bigger turnout next year.” They gave $200 to Lighthouse

“What a great time this was,” Andoni said in a press release. “Kyle’s Smokehouse Pizza will be on the menu for a week and may even earn a permanent spot on the menu –people love the taste of it. Next year the event will be even bigger and better.”

He also said the Smokehouse pizza is going over well.

“We’re selling quite a few, and we’re certainly considering putting Smokehouse on our menu.”

For more information call (248) 637-3131.

Photos provided by Paul Andoni

The “Smokehouse Pizza,” submitted by Sterling Heights resident Kyle Van Huysse, was the winner of Shield’s Restaurant and Pizzeria 2024 Pizza Bake-Off Contest. This recipe includes Shield’s original crust topped with smoky barbecue sauce, Wisconsin brick and cheddar cheeses, bacon, marinated pulled pork and beef brisket, and caramelized onions.

Parking

from page 1A

construction needs for improving surface lots or improving other areas, and we take that into factor. You project your revenues based on your trends. And then, of course, we include our strategic priorities like these customer service improvements.”

In addition to the recent increase, Ferndale also is planning to make a change to the way that customers park downtown later this year.

Currently, customers pay for parking on a mobile app or by kiosk by inputting a space number. The space number system will be removed, and customers instead will pay by putting in their license plate number, a similar system to one used in Detroit.

“The license plate is tied to a zone that you are in,” Bruce Campbell, general manager of Park Ferndale, said. “There will be much fewer signs and you’ll have signs with zones on them, and what people will do is if they have the app, they’ll have their license plate in the app, all they’ll do is plug in the zone that they park in to the app the same way they do a space right now. It’s the same process and then, depending on where they

park, the rate will come up and they’ll make the payment.”

Campbell noted that parking on Woodward will be a bit different, as the city is not planning on having kiosks on the road.

“Woodward is planned to be a mobile payment zone where people will either use the app to pay, or they’ll use text to pay, or they can go to the nearest kiosk. So it’s not like they can’t use the kiosk. We just won’t have any on Woodward,” he said. “With the new configuration of Woodward, I think the most consecutive parking spaces we have is right there in front of Anita’s Kitchen. I think there’s eight spaces. … It really doesn’t make economic sense to put kiosks in those areas where the utilization won’t be high enough to justify putting a kiosk there.”

The city plans to change the parking system sometime after Labor Day.

“It’ll work the same as the rest of the system, where there will be signs up that will have a zone number on them and people will be able to either use the app to pay or pay by text, or again, there are kiosks near most of those places,” Gacioch said. “We think it simplifies the process for drivers, as well as making it more efficient from a management standpoint for operations.”

Skating

Following that, in 2022, Lucas again raised money to honor his promise to hold an event for the disabled community and was finally able to hold his first skating event.

“It was a huge success,” Lucas said. “Over 110 individuals with special needs attended. It exceeded my expectations in every way. It was a pretty emotional day. I can’t explain the utter joy experienced by the kids. They are amazing. Nervous to try something new, but trusting in my volunteers. The smiles and laughter they have on the ice is priceless. It is not lost on me that these families were entrusting me to create a supportive and safe event. Their positive feedback was immensely rewarding.”

Due to the popularity of the event, Lucas decided to make Hockey Mentors into a nonprofit organization and to hold the skating event every year.

The event is free for individuals of any age with any type of disability, along with their families/caregivers. There were 150 people registered to attend the event on Saturday, though some walk-in participants were able to attend while the skating continued.

“We have a big mixed group that can learn to skate, and the teams come out here for scrimmage,” Wyatt Lucas said.

The event provides opportunities for attendees to learn how to ice skate and play hockey together. No prior experience was needed, and each guest had their own on-ice buddy, some of whom are experienced hockey players.

“The kids are so nervous, and then they don’t want to come off the ice,” Gail Lucas, Wyatt Lucas’ mom, said. “We have one-on-

one volunteers that let them experience the ice.”

Hockey equipment like jerseys, helmets, sticks and gloves was provided.

The hockey scrimmage games that guests could also watch during the event were played by teams of differently-abled players.

“Not many people realize hockey is an adaptive sport. There are teams for the deaf, amputees, Downs syndrome, even blind hockey,” Wyatt Lucas said in an email.

Hot lunch and swag bags filled with goodies were provided.

Funds raised were around $7,000$9,000, and much of the support, in term of financial and volunteer work, came from other local organizations, including Auto Hauler Exchange, Espofitlife, Kelly’s Kidz, Maserati of Troy, a memorial donation from the Petersen family, a memorial donation from the Elam family, Peach Lab, the Troy Community Foundation, the Troy Rotary Club and Twin Pines Landscaping.

“I am always impressed by young people who understand philanthropy and regularly give back to our local community — Wyatt Lucas puts his heart and soul into helping others,” Valiena Allison, the grants committee chair for the Troy Community Foundation, said in a press release. “Wyatt spends countless hours fundraising for his Special Needs Hockey Tournament, and this is a special day for folks who might not have had the opportunity to lace up some skates and hit the ice. Wyatt provides the ice time, the needed equipment, hockey coaches and mentors, and lunch. This event is certainly one that each participant looks forward to and will cherish the memories from afterward.”

For more information, visit https://hock eymentors.net.

Photo by Erin Sanchez

On-ice buddies assist disabled guests during the Hockey Mentors for Special Players’ skating event July 27 at the Buffalo Wild Wings Sports Center in Troy.

Gerhard

At the 2023 World Agility Championship, Maverick and Gerhard earned team gold and two individual silver medals.

Gerhard became interested in agility competitions in the 1980s when he was in high school, and his aunt let him use some of her dogs to train with.

“I ended up doing kennels for the owner of the place that we were doing the training at, and then I started working with some of her dogs. This was before agility actually really existed in this country. Then somewhere in the ’80s, I think it was ’88, agility kind of came up across the pond, if you will. It originated in England, and I saw that, and I just got hooked. For the most part, I haven’t looked back. And I don’t do much else dogwise at all. Agility is just more fun than everything else was.”

Slade was also a pioneer in American agility competitions and has been competing for around 40 years. She explained that a friend signed her up for a class, and she was hooked.

“She only stayed in agility for a year, but I got the bug,” she said.

She added that Maverick will turn 10

in September and has been competing in the American Kennel Club and the United States Dog Agility Association competitions since he was 15 weeks old.

Slade explained that Maverick has been No. 1 one in AKC since he was 3 years old.

“I’m not as big into USDAA as Jeremy is. Maverick is the No. 1 corgi in AKC, and to keep him No. 1, I have to show a lot of AKC, so I limit how much Jeremy can show him in the other venue just because I want to keep Maverick No. 1.”

She added that AKC tends to be more generous with running times than the USDAA.

Gerhard explained that he enjoys the handling aspect of agility competitions and the involvement that comes with running a dog. As a veterinary tech, he loves helping and caring for animals. As an agility competition handler, he appreciates the sport and fun of training. He added that popular breeds for agility include smaller breeds like corgis and papillons, as well as herding breeds, the Shetland sheepdogs and border collies.

In addition to competing, Gerhard serves as the secretary and trial chair for Canine Combustion Dog Agility Club, the oldest agility club in Michigan with around 22 members. Gerhard joked that Maverick

is a slug during practice but a star in front of a crowd.

Slade agreed.

“Now, at practice, Maverick jogs. When Jeremy first was going to try out for the very first time on the world team, I have a class that’s only a mile away from me, and I told Jeremy, ‘Come down for my class, and you can work with the class,’ because they never trained together,” she said. “So he came down to practice, and I had forgot to mention to Jeremy at that point that Maverick doesn’t run at practice. Of course, he gets into the atmosphere of a show. He just

Editors: Brian Louwers | (586) 498-1089 | brianlouwers@candgnews.com Annie Bates | (586) 498-1071 | abates@candgnews.com

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doesn’t put on any effort at a class. He came down and worked with him and said, ‘He’s not running.’ I said, ‘He never does at class.’ ‘This is pointless,’ Jeremy said. I said, ‘This is what I deal with on a regular basis.’ I never get a chance to work him at it like he does at a show because he gets into the crowd.”

For more information on the United States Dog Agility Association, visit www.us daa.com. To learn more about the American Kennel Club, visit www.akc.org. For more information on the Canine Combustion Dog Agility Club, visit www.caninecombus tion.com.

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Clark was a gym rat to the fullest extent and credited Stevenson for developing his passion for working out.

“Stevenson actually got me working out in the first place,” Clark said. “I started working out as a freshman, and I kind of got addicted to the gym. I was working out every single day all the time. I was working out with seniors and juniors that were bigger than me and stronger than me, but I just wanted to work. I wanted to improve and I wanted to get better. That was always my mindset, especially when it came to the physical aspect of sports and lifting.”

Once sports were no longer in the picture after college, Clark’s constant time in the gym was more so for his job as a personal trainer at Pulse Fitness in Pleasant Ridge rather than working towards a goal for himself.

Bodybuilding became an answer, but it never seemed to be the answer Clark was looking for until now.

“The concept of bodybuilding was that I wasn’t going to be able to run, jump and be athletic anymore, so I was really focused on athletic training and stuff that I was used to,” Clark said. “Fast forward to last year, I have a co-worker who won Mr. Ohio in 2021, and he was telling me that I have a great physique and that I have what it takes. I was considering it and thinking about it, but I was leaning more towards not doing it because I was used to being athletic and wanting to stay athletic and doing athletic movements, but at the same time, when I worked out at the gym, and I work at a gym, so I’m always in the gym, I was just working out without a goal, since I didn’t have sports anymore. Bodybuilding gave me that goal to work towards in the gym and gave me a goal to achieve.”

On June 15 at the NPC Natural Michigan State Championships in Ypsilanti, Clark achieved his goal as he took first in the Men’s Classic Physique category, which focuses on how defined and symmetrical the muscles are.

It was Clark’s second show ever after finishing in third a week prior in an open show.

“It felt good, but it didn’t really hit me at the moment,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t say I was expecting it, but I was confident in my ability of where I would place. It felt good, especially when it sunk in and I could sit back and say that I won.”

Embarking on any new journey can be difficult, but Clark was lucky enough to have his friend and coworker Jake Chandler by his side to guide him through the process.

A bodybuilder himself, Chandler has competed in competitions since he was 17 years old after his grandmother, who also

competed in fitness competitions, got him into working out when he was 12.

Chandler, who is a bodybuilding coach, said he understands the struggles his clients tend to face, so he was able to give Clark pointers early on.

“When we first started off, I just wanted to make sure his head was in the right place and kind of give him some expectations on what to expect,” Chandler said. “It’s one thing to get lean for the summer and lose a couple extra pounds of body fat, but when you’re going for a bodybuilding show, you’re getting yourself to sub-6% body fat levels. I told him right off the bat that this was going to be a very intense version of what we have our clients do.”

What was the meal plan looking like for Clark? Well, more of the same every day for roughly three months.

“It was the same exact thing every single day, pretty much,” Clark said. “I got it memorized for real. I’d have two eggs, 200 milligrams of egg whites, 40 grams of oats, and 75 grams of blueberries for breakfast. That was meal one. I’m not the biggest fan of eggs, so I’d combine the egg whites, the oats, the blueberries, and put some protein powder in and add banana to make a little shake and eat the two eggs separately. Meal two was 6 ounces of chicken and asparagus, and meal three was 6 ounces of chicken and asparagus, and then, like, 200 grams of rice. Meal four was beef and rice, and then I had a shake, so I had four meals plus a shake every single day.”

The workout routine wasn’t anything new for Clark, but it was more detailed, as opposed to an explosive workout routine.

Chandler said the routine focused on certain parts of the body each day with increased cardio each week.

“It’s kind of a combination of everything,” Chandler said. “We usually separate the cardio and the lifting. The lifting is very hypertrophic based, so you’re doing anything from 6-12, or even 20, rep ranges, and you have a variety of rep ranges in there. It’s mostly weight training and isolating certain muscle groups. Instead of a full upper day or a full lower day, you’re breaking things into body parts. You might have one day where you’re training chests and another day where you’re training arms or quads, and maybe a fourth day where you’re training your back and hamstrings. The cardio is separate from the workout. Once you finish your lifting, you’re either getting on the stairs, the bike, or the treadmill and doing another workout on top of what you did.”

Only two shows in and already a first place finish to his name, Clark said he plans to compete in more competitions in the future.

We Help Oakland County’s Economy Thrive

At Oakland Thrive, we believe that strong economies mean strong communities. Our goal is to support and grow the economic ecosystem in Oakland County by giving businesses of any size the tools and support they need to achieve success and propel our communities forward. When opportunity knocks in Oakland County, Oakland Thrive makes sure that businesses are equipped to answer.

Offering:

Small business 1:1 consulting

Free workshops and networking opportunities

Child care business support

Hospitality industry support

Succession planning

Government contracting assistance

Matching buyers and suppliers

Business intelligence services

And more

The Exterior Painters Celebrate 20 Years of Transforming Properties, Neighborhoods

Nothing transforms a property and makes it shine brighter than a fresh coat of paint. It’s simply the best and most cost-effective investment you can make for your home draped in the colors of yesterday.

The Exterior Painters have been revitalizing properties for 20 years.

“We specialize in just exterior painting, and the reason why we do that is we believe that repetition is the mother of all skill,” said owner Brian Scott. “For 20 years, that’s all we’ve been doing is outside work. When it comes to that, we do wood replacement and siding replacement. It makes us the perfect ﬁt for homeowners who don’t want to re-side their whole house.”

The Exterior Painters replace damaged siding and boards as needed, but they’re not looking to push for a full siding replacement.

“It gets people by another 10 years and transforms the look of the house, bringing it to the next color trends of today,” Scott said.

“Another thing we do that makes us unique, we have a full-time color consultant,” Scott added. “For most people, that’s the hardest, most stressful part, choosing what color they want. Our consultant comes out and

meets with the homeowners and gives them an idea of what the new color trends are so they can make a good color choice that complements their landscaping, brickwork and architectural features.”

The Exterior Painters also specialize in brick staining.

“A lot of younger people are buying houses. We’re taking it from grandma’s house of the ’50s, ’60s or ’70s and bringing it to that HGTV look,” Scott said.

Power washing the siding — and for an additional charge, soft washing the roof if needed — can also make a big difference in terms of curb appeal.

you’re getting a bigger bang for your buck.”

It’s a win for everyone, from the crews The Exterior Painters employ and pay well to the homeowners who see their neighborhoods transformed. The company paints 30 houses a week on average in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Livingston counties, and boasts a ﬁve-star Google review average.

“With us you’re buying certainty. We don’t ask for a large deposit, and you don’t have to worry about anyone running off with your deposit,” Scott said.

Scott said his crews often see their work spread from house to house in a neighborhood as the properties are transformed through fresh paint, siding repairs and much-needed washing.

a neighborhood as the properties are to get.”

“We stand by our work. We provide a warranty and proven results by taking care of everybody in the community. We’re Nextdoor’s No. 1 preferred contractor in Rochester two years in a row. It’s that certainty factor. You know what you’re going

“It’s the cheapest home improvement you can do without breaking the bank,” Scott said. “Compared to other home improvements,

The Exterior Painters are located at 2365 Avon Industrial Drive in Rochester Hills. To request a quote or for more information, call (248) 844-8888.