Jubil Young grew up in southern Iowa and went to Iowa State University where he was involved in the Outdoor Recreation Program. This let him travel all over the U.S. during school breaks. He spent summers as a raft guide on the Colorado River and returned to school each fall with more hair each consecutive year. Before long he was taking three-day weekends to race his mountain bike in Utah or ski in Colorado. After college he worked as a personal trainer, a health and fitness specialist and a rehabilitation aide before applying to physical therapy school. When he was accepted to DMU, he went back to the mountains for one last summer but ended up staying two years under a deferment. Coming back to Iowa has been a shock but the transition has been eased by his family.