In high school, the prospect of choosing a college or even beginning to select which schools to research was something that overwhelmed me to no end. The one thing that I knew for sure before going to college was that I loved being a member of my high school marching band. The Hazelwood Central Marching Hawks, and every other previous band I had been a member of, gave me a sense of family that was nothing like my own.

Don’t get me wrong, my family was as great as everyone else’s: I grew up in a single family home with my mom doing the job of two parents and raising three kids. My maternal grandmother and grandfather also played a huge role in making sure that my siblings and I were doing everything to become great people. From a young age, I knew my family structure was different, but it was never presented to me from that perspective. Instead, it was just the norm…wake up at 5am, get dropped off at my grandparent’s home so that my mom could go to work on time and we could have better school choices. Get dropped off at my grandparent’s place at 5pm and have dinner while we waited on my mom to get off work. Nothing seemed different about my family — if anything, I always felt lucky to be supported by multiple people.

Marching band had that same feeling of family and support. There were the students who dreamed of playing Carnegie Hall or being in a world famous symphony. There were also the students who did band because at the time arts were a required part of the high school curriculum, so you either chose choir or band. I was in the middle of the pack. I never wanted to be a professional musician, but enjoyed the outlet that music provided — especially after sitting in a classroom for 5 hours being lectured at over and over again. With so many different personalities and reasons for being there, marching band was also a place to be supported by so many different people. It was that support from both of my “families” that led me to make my choice for college.

I grew up in a household where the overarching philosophy was that everyone would go to college. My mom started college, but unfortunately never finished. She would instill in each of her children the opportunity that would be afforded to us if we finished school, 2 year or 4 year. My older brother didn’t buy into the same belief and decided to take up a trade instead. I, to this day, believe that my mother wanted to make sure that my twin sister and I didn’t take the same path. She was very deliberate about exposing us to everything college-related when we were juniors in high school: we would be in the front row of a financial aid night at a random church and we would be first in the doors at a college fair at a high school 30 minutes away.

I appreciated all of this exposure, but to be honest, it just made me feel anxious and overwhelmed with all the choices in front of me. So like many 17-year-old high school students, I did nothing. I procrastinated and kept up a façade that had my mom thinking that I was on top of everything. I kept it up until the winter holidays rolled around. I hoped that maybe my mom would forget about everything until next fall when I would be a senior and HAVE to make a decision about college.

Instead of studying for the ACT or researching schools, I lost countless hours that December sitting in front of the TV watching college football games. My favorite part of each game to this day is the halftime show. There is nothing better to me than watching a well-executed show from a huge marching band. The precision, the drills, the sound, always made me know that I would be in a college marching band someday. The last game I watched that December was the Alamo Bowl, which in 1998 featured Kansas State University against Purdue University. While I was enjoying the storyline and drama of the game, what I really couldn’t take my eyes off was Purdue’s marching band. There seemed to be hundreds of people in the band and the fact that I was more excited about it than the eventual three-point lead Purdue had over Kansas State was enough to make me go and learn more about the band, and ultimately, Purdue University.

Over the next couple of weeks, I couldn’t stop thinking about the band so I researched as much as possible to find out everything about them. Of course in my researching of the band, I also learned about Purdue and what the university had to offer. Driven by my newfound excitement and interest in the marching band, I signed myself up for one of their Open House events for interested students. My mom and I traveled to the event in West Lafayette and, on the way back to St. Louis, my mom asked me what I was most excited for. I told her the band. I don’t think she was too excited at the time by my answer, but let me live in my excitement anyway. By the time we reached our house I had already decided that I would attend Purdue. There was no question in my mind about where I would go to school. Finding out that the band was made up of people who volunteered was all I needed to hear.

Needless to say, the fall after my senior year I enrolled at Purdue and auditioned for the marching band. Four years later I would graduate from Purdue University having been a member of the All-American Marching Band for all four years and holding leadership positions throughout. Knowing that one thing about myself, my love for band, helped me to find a new “family” and become the first in my family to graduate from college.

Nicholas Watson is a first generation college student and a graduate of Purdue University and Northeastern University. Nick has more than 10 years of experience in admissions, college counseling and advising, career counseling and advising and program management. Nick is the Director of College Access at ScholarMatch, where he supports our college-bound high school students.

#MyCollegeStory is a ScholarMatch original series highlighting the diverse and varied journeys to and through higher education. Check back each month for new stories!

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