Scholar Stories: Unorthodox Route Fuels Juda in Career Path and Gymnastics
1/31/2024 11:03:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics, Features
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each week MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Absopure.
By Ainsley Carpenter
Paul Juda's academic trajectory has looked a lot like his gymnastics career -- unpredictable and unorthodox -- yet has always been marked with hard work, great success and the promise of more to come. The graduate student, currently working towards his graduate certificate in Real Estate Development, came to the University of Michigan as a freshman in the College of Engineering.
Juda cites the encouragement of those closest to him as a major factor behind that initial decision. However, after a semester of classes, he realized that it might not be the path for him.
"I was putting so much into the work, into the studying and into the class assignments but I just never saw the relationship between my input and my output," Juda said.
He took the winter break to reset and, with his family's support, "stumbled" into psychology the following semester. The first course had him hooked.
At the same time that this academic passion developed, COVID-19 struck, cutting Juda's freshman season short and canceling that year's Big Ten and NCAA Championships. The disappointment came with a silver lining in that athletes were able to pour more energy into academics. Juda started the psychology major that summer and immediately fell in love. The field's focus on human beings is what really drew him in.
"I love people, I love communicating with people, I love talking to people, I love reading people, this could be for me," he said.
Despite moving away from engineering, Juda took the lessons he learned from that first semester, specifically the importance of work ethic, and applied them to his new course of study.
"I'm going to devote myself in a way that, even though my major will be easier, I will still pursue it as much as I can and I will still put in the work," Juda said.
With this attitude in mind, Juda found himself having fun with the psychology major his sophomore year despite being stuck in online classes. He also competed in the NCAA Championships for the first time that April but recalls a disappointing performance. Just as his lack of success in engineering drove him to great achievement in psychology, the sting of knowing he did not reach his potential at that year's championships fueled a comeback.
The following year, Juda ended the 2022 season as the NCAA individual champion in the all-around and on vault, alongside six All-America honors, two Big Ten individual championships, and the Big Ten Gymnast of the Championships award, among others. He said that this comeback could have been a "storybook ending" to his gymnastics career and admits contemplating the logic of ending on that high note. Ultimately, Juda disagreed with those telling him he should walk away from the sport having done enough.
"My competitive side said no, I didn't," Juda said. "I raised a trophy over my head, but the team hasn't."
He decided to come back for his senior year, the decision in part due the discovery of new ambitions in the classroom.
Despite loving the psychology major, Juda began to look towards the future during his junior year and was unsure about where his degree could take him. After hearing that his extroverted, ambitious, and motivated personality might be well-suited for a career in sales, he enrolled in the Cappo Sales Track through the Ross School of Business. It was there, studying for his Sales and Marketing certificate, that Juda says his true passion unfolded.
As a first-generation college student and son of Polish immigrants, he did not have much experience with the business world when he entered the program. However, he emerged having realized that a career in business was exactly what he wanted to pursue. Juda credits two mentors, professors Follett Carter and Michael Speigl, for supporting this development by highlighting the characteristics which led him to succeed as a gymnast and illustrating their applicability in the business world.
He was similarly inspired by the host of guest lecturers that these professors brought into the classroom.
"They were successful individuals," Juda said, "and they showed me that with hard work, the right attitude and constant good effort, you can become successful just like all of the stuff that they teach you in gymnastics, all the stuff they teach you in sports."
Juda was unable to compete his senior year due to injury, an especially disappointing blow considering the success he had the year prior. However, he refused to let it keep him down.
"Last year was the time I got down to business," he said.
He redoubled his academic efforts and found significant success in expanding his knowledge of the business world by connecting with Michigan alumni and class guest speakers. The "master networker," as his teammates call him, focused on those connections and developed a clearer view of his future after Michigan. He also spent a lot of time volunteering at Detroit's Cass Community Center, making the trip downtown every spare weekend he had.
"It's such a centering way to end your week," said Juda. "I grounded myself in Detroit, and it gave me a lot of perspective about my ankle. Yeah, I'm missing out on the opportunity to compete, but at least I know where I'm going home to sleep tonight."
Today, Juda is pursuing his graduate certificate in Real Estate Development, as inspired by the connections he made his senior year.
"I'm loving every second, but it's been another challenge," he said.
He also is back in the gym and competing for the Wolverines. As far as gymnastics goes, Juda's individual accomplishments have surpassed even his own expectations. He is now in his second season as team captain, with two NCAA individual championships and the Nissen-Emery Award, the gymnastics equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, under his belt. Only one goal eludes him: leading his team to a national championship. The idea of making that dream reality in 2025 when Michigan hosts the NCAA Championships continues to fuel his athletic endeavors.
"We're going to be competing," Juda said. "Anything individual is more just for me, but now it's all about the team."
With another season of eligibility remaining, Juda plans to remain in Ann Arbor and work toward that goal with his team. This time next year, he hopes to be taking part in Ross' one-year Master of Accounting program, which he sees as a valuable step toward achieving his entrepreneurial dreams.
"I don't think it's going to look pretty. I don't think it's going to look traditional," Juda said about his career plans. "I think it's going to look exactly like gymnastics. Gymnastics is so unique.
"I didn't pick football, I didn't pick basketball -- I didn't pick a sport that a lot of people do. I picked the most unique one possible. I think that's what really attracts me to entrepreneurship. It's not a classic 9-to-5; you get out of it what you put in."
With the work ethic he took from engineering, the people skills that attracted him to psychology, and the passion for business he discovered in sales, all paired with the determination, self-reliance, and leadership developed in gymnastics, Juda sees every piece of his history serving as a factor in future success, whether that be in real estate, sales, or opening a new business.
However, at the end of the day, Juda holds character over personal success, just as he puts the team's achievements before his own.
"I never want to change the fundamentals of who I am," he said. "I always want to be a good person, I always want to do the right things, and above all else, I want to make sure that you know I leave the world in a better place."
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