A Degree That's Bigger Than Him

A Degree That's Bigger Than Him

Albers students never cease to inspire, and Seth Chism is one of them. After graduating this year with a Business Analytics degree, Chism will be teaching at his high school alma mater, Seattle Preparatory High School. His post on Instagram caught attention for its caption: ‘I realize that this degree is BIGGER THAN ME’. Below, he tells the story behind it.

Where he started

I was born in Oakland, California, then my family moved up here to Washington. I have an identical twin brother, an older brother, and my mom and dad. I went to Seattle Prep for four years after getting a track scholarship.

After graduating, I went to St. Martin’s University which is in Lacey, Washington. I went there for two years and it was really hard there. In my freshman year, I broke my leg and missed most of the season. It was sad, not being able to do something that I used as an escape or a way to focus and forget about things.

In my sophomore year, I came back [to track] and it was hard. I just wasn’t the same person. It was hard getting in shape. A lot of my friends transferred out and I felt like I was stuck on an island for a whole year. It was pretty rough.

And then I talked to a few coaches at Seattle U and transferred over. I practiced with them for a little bit and ended up getting cut from the team.

I was pretty upset about it at first because I was like, wow, this all I have ever done. It’s like my identity. What else am I going to do? I’m at a new place where I don’t really know anyone else.

And I was thinking, oh I made a mistake. I must’ve made a mistake coming here, blah blah.

All that was probably the best thing that happened to me because I don’t think, voluntarily, that I would have stopped doing things that were holding me back. There was work that I needed to be doing and I was neglecting a lot of other areas of my life.

What Seattle U gave him

Being at SU taught me so much. It’s a hard school. It taught me a lot about being a man and figuring out stuff independently, trying to work through adversity, and handling things that I just was never asked to do before.

It was an awesome experience and everyone was so welcoming to me. No one ever hesitated to help me out. And you know what? I needed to put my foot forward, too, not do things by halves. I needed to allow people to help me out and allow them to get to know me, which I did.

I’m very independent and hate asking for help. I would rather flunk a class before I ask someone for help. And I realized that’s a bad mentality to have -- no one does anything on their own.

About others preparing the way for him

Both my parents [pictured above, with his brother] went to college. My grandfather on my mom’s side, William Reed Tucker [photo below], was really, really smart and would’ve liked to have been an engineer. But he was an orphan – he had lost both parents by the age of six -- and poor. He graduated from high school and never got the opportunity to go to college. Instead of being an engineer, he fixed engines in the military instead.

It was just like a different time back then. You think about how much money he missed out on or how many opportunities he missed out on because no one told him that he could do what he wanted to do.

My parents would tell me stuff about when they were in school, and how counselors would come up to them and be, oh you shouldn’t do this or that. My mom’s an RN (registered nurse). A counselor once said to her, no, I don’t think that’s something you’d be good at. You should do social work or something else.

Being Black, sometimes, people will overlook you and underestimate you and try to put you in boxes before you can go out and show that you can do something. It’s constantly having to prove yourself sometimes.

Not all people are like this, my parents have always taught me. But you need to be on guard and pay attention. A lot of the things they faced when they were growing up and trying to start their careers, I’m getting to know.

I’ve been spoiled. I have had some adversity, but I would say, honestly -- I’m very privileged because my parents set me up for so much success. There are a lot of things I didn’t have to experience that others in my family have had to experience. They worked incredibly hard for me and put me in the best position to succeed. It was up to me to follow through.

And that’s why it’s a huge deal to me because none of this would’ve been possible without what they did before me. They had a harder time getting to the table and getting a seat at the table when they were growing up in that era. It makes me feel very grateful that I’m even able to be where I’m at now and not to take it for granted either because as quick as I got it, it can be gone the next day.

On why he chose to teach

Seattle Prep has a program called the Alumni Service Corps where, every year, they hire alumni who’ve just graduated from college to teach for a year. It’s like a year of service, an opportunity to give back to the school.

My dad mentioned it to me in December and I thought, you know, let’s be proactive and see where this goes. I spent most of the year not knowing what I wanted to do job-wise after graduation.

[Teaching] would be a great opportunity to take a year off just to figure it out. Work hard. Give back to the school. Work my tail off. And use that year as a transition period to figure it out. 

I want to work somewhere where I feel I’m contributing to something greater than just a profit margin. I want to work where I feel I’m making an impact and have a voice in the company.

I want to be where I feel I have purpose. 

What he learned about himself on this journey

1. I’m a lot stronger than I gave myself credit for.
    
2. I learned to give myself permission to fail and permission to make mistakes, knowing it’s not a concrete thing. I always have the opportunity to do better, improve, and do the best I can.
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3. Being a Black man is a struggle in itself but it should never be a crutch and it should never be an excuse as to why you can’t change your life. You don’t take what people say is going to be hard for you and make that the reason that you didn’t succeed. You always have the opportunity to succeed at the end of the day.
    

To have that mentality of going through life, going to school, and staying positive is huge for people who look like me because that’s not the mindset that people like me have. A lot of kids grow up already defeated. They grew up already hearing as kids, oh no, you’re already Black, life could be hard for you. It’s going to be challenging for you.

But it shouldn’t just be the reason that you can’t make anything better. A lot of kids just grow up discouraged and without any hope. I want these kids to know that anything’s possible. You’ve got to put the work in there and not let people -- even family members -- discourage you. Family members will sometimes discourage you more than people outside of your own home.

You really need to filter the things that go into your mind, stay positive, and keep that mindset moving forward. It’s a lot easier said than done, obviously. But just stay positive. Keep your inner circle full of people with that mentality, people who are also positive and pushing you in the right direction.

And you’ll see that anything is truly possible.

Follow Seth Chism on Instagram at @the_great_schism.