How GatorMade changed Justin Shorter's ‘whole perspective on life’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Prior to this summer, Florida receiver Justin Shorter didn’t have any stamps on his passport. Now he’s trying to fill it up.
Shorter was one of 16 UF student-athletes who traveled to Greece in June for a 10-day service abroad trip with the GatorMade program.
The group of Gators volunteered with the non-profit organization “The Smile of the Child” before checking out the historical sites and local culture.
“I had my favorite life experience I’ve ever had. Just changed my whole perspective on life, really how I look at things,” Shorter said Wednesday.
It was the first time leaving the country for Shorter, who has exploded in Florida’s last two games with 230 receiving yards. After visiting Greece this summer, he wants to travel the world now.
Shorter explained how the service abroad trip with GatorMade created a life-changing experience for him.
“Really just seeing something else, seeing how other people live, someone else’s culture for a change. That really opened my eyes up,” he said. “I was kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ They call it wanderlust. Now I just want to travel everywhere now after doing that.”
The group was led by senior director player relations and GatorMade Savannah Bailey. She educated the 10 Florida football players and six UF women student-athletes on the philosophy of servant leadership and planned a short trip to Santorini to give them a fun break from eight-hour workdays.
What was the highlight of the trip for Shorter?
“I would definitely say the last day,” he said. “Miss Savannah sat at my table, too. We were at this beautiful restaurant where you could look over, the sun was setting, you could see an island out there, the water, the ships. It was just breathtaking. I’ll never forget that.”
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GatorMade Week
The Florida football team is celebrating its first GatorMade Week ahead of the homecoming game Saturday against Missouri. It’s a new tradition to raise awareness and promote the initiatives of GatorMade, which was established earlier this year.
The program has four full-time staff members in Bailey, Vernell Brown Jr. (senior director of student-athlete development and alumni relations), Marcus Castro-Walker (Florida’s director of player engagement) and Diane Lebon (football business manager and GatorMade coordinator).
Bailey was asked Wednesday what GatorMade has accomplished so far that she’s most proud of.
“The fact that Justin Shorter gets up and says, ‘Hey, I had the best life-changing experience I could ever want.’ That’s all that you want,” Bailey said. “That makes my whole job, my whole stress, my whole everything worth it.”
The GatorMade program, launched by Florida coach Billy Napier in January, is a holistic player-focused and purpose-driven initiative that develops football players during their time at UF and beyond.
“Miss Savannah, she does a great job,” Shorter said. “I feel like that’s definitely a program that’s going to help a lot of boys become men in this program, which is I feel like a lot of us need.”
