Dylan Clem: Football

Dylan Clem is poised to build a successful and fulfilling career as a structural engineer with a foundation set at Hope College and his hometown of Stevensville, Michigan.

The All-American offensive guard has one more college football season to play, though.

Clem is returning for a fifth season with the Flying Dutchmen this fall. Hope is coming off an 8-2 season despite one of the toughest schedules in NCAA Division III. The Flying Dutchmen’s home and season opener is Saturday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m. against Loras College (Iowa) at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.

Clem appeared on the Hope College Athletics Orange and Blue Podcast and spoke about preparing for the upcoming season while also interning in the Washington, D.C., area.

“I took that leap of faith to come down here and spend the money on rent, for knowledge and a little bit of money. The first four weeks have been great,” Clem said. “A lot of what Hope taught me in the engineering program has correlated, along with just the ability to work hard and that comes in the classroom and the football field and just honestly campus in general. That’s just why I love Hope. Everyone has that mission to want to succeed, to want to work hard, to want to do all those things. I’ve really felt the presence of Hope in my life around here in D.C.”

In April, Clem was named the 2024 male recipient of the Be Strong. Be True. Award at the annual HOPEYs ceremony The honor is presented to a junior or senior who demonstrates the true essence of being a student-athlete and embodies the Division III motto of Discover, Develop, Dedicate.  This student-athlete is in high academic standing (minimum GPA of 3.5), plays a significant role on the team, and is involved in the Hope and Holland community.

Career Builder

The award was one of many for the Lakeshore High School alum. In May, Clem received one of two Senior Engineering Prizes from the Hope College Engineering Department. In January, he was chosen for the Academic All-America First Team by College Sports Communicators. In December, he was selected as an All-American by D3football.com.

Along his journey at Hope, Clem served as a team captain for two years, as a member of the Athletes Coming Together / Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (ACT/SAAC), and was part of the athletic mentoring program, Team 43. He also worked as a research student in Dr. Courtney Peckens’ lab.

Clem expressed gratitude for Hope’s embrace of allowing student-athletes to follow their passions on and off the field. He said he did not always find that through his college recruiting process.

“When I came to Hope, the first thing Coach [Peter] Stuursma said was ‘All right, let me get you to a football player who’s an engineer.’ He showed me Dan Romano who was probably the smartest person I know,” Clem said. “Ever since then, Hope’s been that place where I felt like I could do it all. Coach Stuursma and all of our coaches really gave us that chance to succeed and gave us that chance to feel like we can do whatever we want.”

Hope’s Engineering Department also set him up for success as well, Clem said.

“The coolest thing about the Hope engineering program was that their intro class takes you through all different types of engineering. You’ll do civil two weeks. You’ll do mechanical two weeks. You’ll build circuits and do electrical,” Clem said. “I really loved the bridge section of the civil and then we got to make concrete and crush it. I was like, that’s pretty cool. I stuck with civil and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Written Transcript