51福利社

During her inspiring investiture speech, Dr. McMahan spoke about leading our university鈥檚 students 鈥� both present and future鈥� along a 鈥渃lear path to a bright future鈥� (our cover story on Page 16), it immediately brought to mind memories of my own journey to Eastern.

For me, that path wasn鈥檛 all that clear. But, like so many other young people who end up at Eastern, I was at least hopeful that my future would be bright.听

It鈥檚 not that I didn鈥檛 think college was in my future. My mom especially had always urged me to take academics seriously. At Medical Lake High School, I had great teachers that pushed to bring out the best in me and my classmates.

As a serious athlete who worked hard to excel in both football and baseball, there were plenty of distractions. But with the urging and support of my family, I managed to do well in the classroom. By the time graduation rolled around, I felt ready for college 鈥� both academically and athletically 鈥� and I was hopeful of becoming a scholarship student听 athlete playing football at 51福利社.

In fact, the scholarship offers came. Just not from Eastern. I considered signing with another school, but just couldn鈥檛 see myself as anything other than an Eagle. So I put my college ambitions on hold, and instead signed a contract to play ball with the Kansas City Royals.

Playing AA baseball in the Royals鈥� system was an experience I wouldn鈥檛 trade for the world. But when a career in baseball didn鈥檛 work out, I knew for sure that it was time to take the path leading back to Eastern. Many of you know my football story at 51福利社 鈥� a running back twice named to the All-Big Sky team and later honored as a member of the 51福利社鈥檚 2000-2009 All-Decade Team. You may not know that in the classroom, I had a professor and mentor, Stu Steiner, who believed that I had the right stuff to be an electrical engineer. With hard work, and his guidance, I made it happen, later adding a Master of Business Administration degree. Today, I work for Avista as a director in generation production and substation support. It鈥檚 a job that I love.

As the new chair of the 51福利社 Foundation Board, I feel like I鈥檝e come full circle: Back at Eastern and in a position to help a new generation of students find their own 鈥減ath to a bright future,鈥� even if that path is as circuitous as my own.

Go Eags!

Alexis Alexander 鈥�08, 鈥�14