Willie Jackson is a freshman at UTC pursuing a degree in construction management. Photo by Angela Foster.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a place where students can explore their interests, pursue an education that excites them and start building toward their future.
For Willie Jackson, a freshman who hails from Meridian, Mississippi, UTC provides an opportunity to create a better life for his family.
“I was really looking for something better,” said Jackson, who moved to Chattanooga and attended The Howard School. “I started out at an early age looking up to the wrong people, following the wrong crowd, seeing that it didn’t get me anywhere in the long run. I really wasted my time.
“I have a kid. He’s 4 with autism. He was nonverbal, but now he can talk. I took that and decided I wanted a better life for them, my son and fiancée. So I decided to come here and try to get the best education I could.”
By “following the wrong crowd,” he found himself in trouble.
“I used to sell drugs in my past,” he said. “That didn’t work out. I’ve been to jail, prison, and that was it. It was just time for me to turn my life around. There was no point in continuing to do what I was doing and getting the same results. I wanted something better. I wanted something positive.”
After attending Chattanooga State Community College, where he earned a cosmetology degree, Jackson transferred to UTC to pursue a degree in construction management.
He had to start his academic journey all over again, he said, but at UTC, it’s “all positive vibes.”
The impact he felt on campus led him to write a song, “Dreams to Degrees,” about his UTC experiences and determination to succeed.
The song caught the attention of Brad Bond, assistant director of academic support in the UTC Center for Academic Support and Advisement (CASA), who was helping Jackson in the UTC Library one day.
“Willie just has this energy about him,” Bond said. “I can just tell he truly enjoys being in this space. Whether he has a class or not, just being here at UTC was important to him. He wanted access to all the resources he could possibly get. So through natural conversation and his love of UTC, he was like, ‘Yeah, I even made a song.’”
According to Bond, this enthusiasm from nontraditional students is common.
“With what I’m calling nontraditional students,” he said, “they have often lived and have seen life and possibly have families, have worked jobs and sometimes have run into perceived dead ends. They’ve realized somewhere along the way that education will help them reach the next level. Willie is one of those students.”
A fan of all genres of music, especially country, Jackson said the song came to him after class one day.
“I looked out and thought, I’m going to make something for the school because why not give back to something that has helped me?” he said.
Bond shared the song around the CASA office, hoping to promote Jackson’s work.
“Willie is obviously going the extra mile as a student, so I want to go that extra mile for him. That’s really what it boiled down to,” he said. “If you’re willing to do the extra, I’ll do the extra. This wasn’t much, but little things like that can be a big deal to people. So keep your word and do everything that we possibly can to support a student.”
Jackson hopes to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, set an example for others with similar life experiences and eventually run his own construction management business.
“I really want to leave here showing that I’ve learned something,” Jackson said. “Hopefully, I can pass it on to the people in my community because the community I come from is so underprivileged.”
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Willie Jackson’s song “Dreams to Degrees” expresses his love for UTC.
