Dr. McCollum: Pursuing an Ideal Career
In the year of 1962, at Mercer Island High School, the forth graduating class received their diplomas. Among these students was my interviewee, Dr. McCollum. Dr. McCollum is a very respectable person to this day, thanks to his career built on building his pursuit of his passions through methods of skill and determination; that was just as respectable. From tennis to service in the United States Air Force, Dr. McCollum inspires many with his motivating charisma. This is the story of Dr. McCollum’s pursuit of an ideal career.
Such a career is built on passion. Dr.McCollum’s is tennis. Such a simple sport, but so enjoyable: tennis can be merely a group of friends hitting a ball back and forth. SMACK! SMACK! With every hit, your concerns, your fears, and your doubts are put out of mind. SMACK! SMACK! The ball zooms towards your opponent. SMACK! SMACK! The sound of the ball as it collides with the bracket can bring ease to the mind. “It is great exercise, hitting the ball back and forth. It is also a great stress reliever,” stated Dr. McCollum. And it still is, to many athletes, it may be the greatest! Whether, he was playing for the Seattle Boy’s Team, or with his future peers at Washington State University, this game of foreplay can improve any mood.
Tennis inspired and motivated Dr. McCollum, even to take the next step in his career. Dr. McCollum, if you may have guessed, attended Washington State University. When asked why he chose Washington State University, he responded: “ It was natural to me because I have lived near the campus two prior times; one of which when I was two to twelve years old. It was my playing ground, I would play there with the students.” He began to reminiscence of the how much tennis motivated him “Tennis was a pretty redundant thing for me,” he said. Though, Tennis was not his only passion. “I was very fascinated by how we got to where we are in the current events of the time. Not only as a country, but as a world,” Dr. McCollum informed me. While he accepted the opportunity to teach tennis, he also studied political science and world history. But such history led him to a dilemma: the Vietnam war.
“I got my degree in world history and I almost got my degree in psychology when I had a knee surgery that required knee surgery;” Dr. McCollom told me, “I avoided drafting because I would rather have served in the air force of my own will.” While serving in the Air Force, he was mainly stationed in Germany. He moved up the first four rankings in minimum time, when he received a great opportunity. “I was serving in the Air Force when I was informed that I qualified to be accepted into Bull State University. I could earn a full masters degree in counseling and psychology for four years on my off time. I was also able to travel a lot around Germany and western Europe. It was a most wonderful and beautiful experience,” concluded Dr. McCollum.
With a honorable discharge, Dr. McCollum still pursues his ideal career as a practicing psychologist and counselor of his own business. From tennis to collage, military to grad school, and even to his own business, hard work and determination won out. It even continues to this day, making this, in my opinion, the greatest coming of age story.
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