“Mom, I think I’m ready to go to college,” began the conversation between myself and my late mother one cold January evening in 1991.
Less than a year after (finally) graduating La Marque High School and still hobbling from a cracked kneecap from the result of attempting a windmill slam dunk in the back of Gil Castile’s house that sidelined me and my plans to join the Navy, I came to the conclusion that if journalism was indeed my path to follow, it would require going back to school.
That meant going to College of the Mainland, where my mom attended when I was a youth.
With joy on her face, my mom gave me the money for tuition for the Spring Semester of 1991; it was also the first time a financial transaction between my mother and I was a loan, so with added motivation to prove to her this investment was worth it, I enrolled.
COM gave me the foundation and confidence necessary to advance my education and opened the door for me to attend then-Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University) in the fall of 1993, and as Saturday’s election draws near, I am reminded to pay it forward.
This is not an endorsement for either candidate, but more of a call to the community to take the time out of your day and use the right given to you by those who have served in order for you to express your personal choice. This is about how I am thankful to have had a quality school such as College of the Mainland to build my skills and lead toward a journey that still continues to this day. Without COM, my path might have taken a different direction, and while my failed attempt to emulate Michael Jordan or Dominique Wilkins cost me a possible career serving my country, Door #2 opened up for me to live out my childhood dreams of covering professional sports and — for the past four-plus years — serving Galveston County as Managing Editor of The Post Newspaper.
The same visions I once shared as a youth are continuing to be realized by other local students who, young or old, are being blessed to add College of the Mainland as part of their journey.
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Brandon C. Williams is the Managing Editor of the Post Newspaper and attended College of the Mainland from 1991-93.
