Full Circle: From Studying on Campus to Building Something Worth Certifying

There are some moments in life that feel bigger than achievement. They feel sacred. They feel like grace. They feel like the kind of full-circle moment only God could write.

This is one of those moments for me.

In Twice Over a Man, the book I released at the end of 2024, I tell the story of going off to college on academic probation in the summer of 1994. I had been admitted to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, but before the fall semester could begin, I had to complete math and English that summer.

English came more naturally to me. Math did not.

That season was humbling. I was trying to get acclimated to college life, trying to prove to myself that I belonged, trying to hold onto a future that still felt fragile. But during that time, I also found myself drawn to another campus in St. Louis: Washington University.

I would go there to study.

I did it that summer. I did it again when I came home on breaks after getting settled at Mizzou. Somehow, whenever I was back in St. Louis and taking courses, I found a way to make it to Washington University’s campus.

And as I wrote in my book, it made me feel smarter.

That was never a slight against the education I received at UMSL or at the University of Missouri-Columbia. It was something else. It was aspiration. It was imagination. It was the quiet hope that maybe one day I might have some kind of affiliation with one of the crown jewels of our region.

I did not know then what God was preparing.

Years later, I had the privilege of teaching at Washington University. I started by teaching nonprofit marketing, fundraising, and community affairs during a season of transition into the CEO role at United Way. My former boss, Gary Dollar, had taught the course before me and entrusted it to me, and later I passed it along to our Chief Marketing Officer, who also taught it for a number of years.

After some time away, I returned to WashU as an adjunct professor and had the privilege of designing and teaching a leadership course alongside Dr. Jill Stratton.

That class became one of the highlights of my first few years as CEO of Midwest BankCentre.

It exposed me to some of the brightest young and seasoned minds in this country. Many of those students I still keep in touch with today. And like anyone who has ever taught with an open heart already knows, teaching teaches you. You often receive more than you give.

These were post-master’s courses. The students came accomplished, thoughtful, experienced, and hungry to grow. I am sure they learned from me, but the truth is I learned from them too. Their engagement sharpened me. Their questions stretched me. Their presence reminded me that growth is never a one-way exchange.

So today, I am deeply humbled to share this:

Washington University’s Continuing & Professional Education division has chosen to certify The Thriver’s Path.

Even writing those words gives me pause.

This is more than a professional milestone for me. This is personal. This is deeply personal.

From a young foster kid trying to survive academic probation…

To a man studying on a campus because it stirred something in his imagination…

To later teaching there…

And now to have a course I created recognized and certified by that institution…

That is not something I take lightly.

It is a full-circle moment.

And it is also a reminder: sometimes the places that awaken something in us early are pointing us toward something we cannot yet see.

What began as a quiet aspiration has now become something tangible, something structured, something that can serve others.

And there is more.

Thanks to the generosity of supporters who believed in this vision, we also exceeded our enrollment goal for the beta of The Thriver’s Path.

I want to say that plainly: we exceeded our goal.

I am grateful. Truly grateful.

Grateful for every person who enrolled.

Grateful for every investor who sponsored.

Grateful for every encourager who saw the value before it was fully visible.

Grateful for those who believed not just in a course, but in a calling.

The Thriver’s Path was built from deep conviction, lived experience, hard-earned lessons, and a desire to help people move from feeling stuck to being strengthened with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose. To see others now affirm its value, and to see early momentum building around it, is both affirming and humbling.

I know what it means to need a shot.

I know what it means to build while still healing.

I know what it means to hope for a future you cannot yet fully name.

That is part of why this matters so much to me.

So today, I am not writing from a place of arrival as much as I am writing from a place of gratitude.

Gratitude for the journey.

Gratitude for the people.

Gratitude for the preparation.

Gratitude for the grace.

And gratitude to God, who has a way of taking the places where we once felt small, uncertain, or unqualified and turning them into places of assignment, impact, and blessing.

Did you catch that?

Sometimes the place where you once went just to feel stronger becomes the very place where your work is recognized.

Sometimes what looked like longing was actually preparation.

Sometimes God lets you visit something long before He lets you carry it.

I am humbled.

I am honored.

And I am deeply thankful.

With gratitude,