EDGE Mentee Highlight: Meet Jimmy Girot

Jimmy is truly a renaissance man. 

Jimmy Girot is a Corporate Fitness Manager at Eli Lilly and Company through the National Institute for Fitness and Sport.  

He is a Hanover College graduate and has a broad set of life experiences stemming from his relationship with his grandparents, to playing several positions as college football player, and his passion for improving the perception of Catholicism, even though he grew up around the Southern Baptist church.

He loves to travel with his fiancee Courtney and spend time with family.  His EDGE mentor is Dave Holly.  

Without further ado, meet Jimmy.

Jimmy thanks for joining us for our mentee highlight. From our interactions together, I know your grandparents and great-grandparents played a pivotal role in your life. Tell us about your relationship with them. Those are rare relationships that everyone doesn’t get to experience.

My family is very close and my great grandparents definitely shaped how we all approach life.  As most children of The Great Depression were and are, they were extremely frugal and conservative in regards to finances.  My great grandfather began his career through a tough role with Amoco Oil in Southern Texas, a company he worked for until retirement.  One of the few things I keep on my office desk is a gift to him from Amoco for “Perfect Attendance”– that means a lot to me.  My great grandparents were hard-working, humble, and open-minded.  I was blessed enough to know them for 25 years and I spent most of my childhood at their home.

Heard that you were quite the renaissance man on the football team at Hanover College, tell us about your experience there and how you may have earned that title? 

I think “renaissance man” would inaccurately suggest that I was good.  I did have several roles (linebacker, tight end, special teams) and I was definitely a team leader–I wasn’t very good though.  Collegiate football was a huge part of my personal development, from time management to organizational leadership.  I am proud of the team we had my senior year and I’m proud to have stuck around for all four years.  

Who was your favorite football player growing up?

Corey Dillon – Running Back for the Bengals!

Corey Dillon might have been the only bright spot on the Bengals during those years. Sticking with this sports theme, did sports lead you into exercise & physical training?

Sports certainly sparked my interest for fitness but the inflection point was after I took human anatomy as a sophomore.  After I took that class, I was hooked and I still am.  It’s an exciting and rewarding industry to be involved with right now. 

On a different note, but one that I know you’re just as passionate about, tell us about your different experiences as it relates to the church?

It’s difficult to map my journey as a Christian.  I consider my senior year of college as the time where I truly accepted Christ and began to study the Word.  My family meant to raise me Catholic, but I spent more time in the Southern Baptist church with my great grandparents.  I had two friends who’s fathers were Methodist pastors, so I spent a lot of time in those churches as well.  I started going to on-campus chapel in college with a teammate and it was led by a local Catholic priest.  Confirmed as a child, I now attend a Catholic church with my fiancee, Courtney, but I still venture out to others–I just love meeting new people and sharing stories.  My fiancee and I definitely feel a responsibility to address the stereotypes of modern Catholicism, although many of them have been well-earned.  We’re believers, evangelists, and we’re all God’s children.    

What role has EDGE played in your life? 

EDGE has given me a platform and support group where I can openly share my experiences, good or bad, and get feedback from like-minded friends who care. There is no other network like EDGE, it continues to propel my professional development and my personal growth.