Brian Wheeler by Spencer Johnson
Brian Wheeler (1984-1988)
I attended Explorer Junior High School in kindergarten through second grade. Every morning, my younger sister Alissia and I took the bus to school every morning, escorted by my oldest sister Natalie, who was in the 7th grade. The civil rights movement was going on at this time, and we weren’t allowed to sit in just any seat because we were black kids in a mainly white school in the Mukilteo district. Natalie had to fight in order to get us all seats on the bus- I see her as my own Rosa Parks.
My first years of high school spent at Mariner High School, where I was on the basketball team. However, our coach was known to keep the black players out of games. My father refused to let me be a victim of the coach’s prejudice, and so I was transferred to Cascade during my junior year.
With an enrollment of around 2700 students, Cascade was one of the biggest schools in the state at the time. Although there were only around 10 black students in this 2700, I didn’t feel racism. City schools were more accepting than those in the suburbs, such as Mariner, Cascade was not a judgmental school despite its size. Its halls were only cold to me because the people were unfamiliar. However, Alissia-though a year younger than I- had already been attending Cascade and took me under her wing.
I continued to play basketball at Cascade. During the 87-88 seasons, I received all league honors, along with scholar athlete awards. Our coach, Coach Cobb, was a great motivator. He made me want to play hard. Games were on Friday nights, and we would have team dinners the night before. When we had away games, my teammate Darryl McNeel and I would dress especially well to show the other schools that we meant business and that we weren’t the stereotypical black kids from the ghetto.
No matter if we won or lost, some teams were rude towards Darryl and I. Among there were Snohomish Panthers and Marysville Tomahawks. Their fans and students would make racial jokes before, during, and after the games, but we didn’t let that phase us. We had grown up with that kind of ridicule, and we knew we were pretty good players. Our parents were also very involved our sports careers, so nothing ever got out of hand.
Besides basketball, I ran track. Coach Bekins was an awesome life and track coach.
Everyone had a job during High School. The summer before my junior year, I worked 3 jobs to buy a car so my sister and I could drive to school. The first was a regular job doing maintenance at the sears in the Everett Mall. I also worked in Edmonds for a company called Monarch Trading, which manufactured sheep skin products like seat covers, gloves, and jackets. The third was a temporary job at a drug store, moving the shelving. At all 3 jobs I was treated very well because I was on time and a hard worker.
Required classes at Cascade were math, history, English, and science. My favorite classes were sales and marketing and business law with Mr. Stevens. Those classes taught me about real world as far as how business and government work. Typing was another important class because everyone needs to know how to type.
My sister and I would go to Burger King during lunch and before practice. There was a walkway from campus to Burger King when I was in school. We also went to a popular teen dance club called Buzzy’s on Broadway and Hewitt. Teens from Everett, Mariner, Marysville, and Cascade High School would go there and interact with each other. It was downtown Everett, so there was never a problem.
Michael Jordan was popular. People listened to music by Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Motley Crue, The Beastie Boys, and Metallica, and saw Sean Penn and Nicholas Cage Movies. Levi’s were worn by a lot of people, and homemade skinny jeans were sewn below the knee from the inside to take out the width. I didn’t do that though.
The Cold War did not affect the school or the community, nor was I involved or politically aware during the Reagan administration and election of George H. W. Bush.
I graduated from Cascade in 1988 as one of the 5 blacks out of 680 seniors. I felt that my overall experience was a good one, and the staff and students were very fair.
After College, I moved to Atlanta where I worked for Nike. This job later moved me to Los Angeles, and then I worked for Fed Ex and Tommy Hilfiger until 1999. In April of that year I became a Deputy Probation Officer for Los Angeles County. I was promoted to a field officer supervising adults after 7 years of working in juvenile detention facilities, but transferred back to juvenile camp facilities in July 2009.
One camp houses approximately 110 minors. The camp I currently work at is Camp Vernon Kilpatrick in Malibu, California. It is one of a kind because the minors are all recruited to play a sport. The football, basketball, track, baseball, and soccer teams play against regular California High Schools. Most of the staff double as probation officer and coach. In fact, I was an assistant coach for the junior varsity football team this past season.
I am currently single with no children. I’m my spare time I love to travel, and have taken trips to Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico several times, and Brazil.
I attended Explorer Junior High School in kindergarten through second grade. Every morning, my younger sister Alissia and I took the bus to school every morning, escorted by my oldest sister Natalie, who was in the 7th grade. The civil rights movement was going on at this time, and we weren’t allowed to sit in just any seat because we were black kids in a mainly white school in the Mukilteo district. Natalie had to fight in order to get us all seats on the bus- I see her as my own Rosa Parks.
My first years of high school spent at Mariner High School, where I was on the basketball team. However, our coach was known to keep the black players out of games. My father refused to let me be a victim of the coach’s prejudice, and so I was transferred to Cascade during my junior year.
With an enrollment of around 2700 students, Cascade was one of the biggest schools in the state at the time. Although there were only around 10 black students in this 2700, I didn’t feel racism. City schools were more accepting than those in the suburbs, such as Mariner, Cascade was not a judgmental school despite its size. Its halls were only cold to me because the people were unfamiliar. However, Alissia-though a year younger than I- had already been attending Cascade and took me under her wing.
I continued to play basketball at Cascade. During the 87-88 seasons, I received all league honors, along with scholar athlete awards. Our coach, Coach Cobb, was a great motivator. He made me want to play hard. Games were on Friday nights, and we would have team dinners the night before. When we had away games, my teammate Darryl McNeel and I would dress especially well to show the other schools that we meant business and that we weren’t the stereotypical black kids from the ghetto.
No matter if we won or lost, some teams were rude towards Darryl and I. Among there were Snohomish Panthers and Marysville Tomahawks. Their fans and students would make racial jokes before, during, and after the games, but we didn’t let that phase us. We had grown up with that kind of ridicule, and we knew we were pretty good players. Our parents were also very involved our sports careers, so nothing ever got out of hand.
Besides basketball, I ran track. Coach Bekins was an awesome life and track coach.
Everyone had a job during High School. The summer before my junior year, I worked 3 jobs to buy a car so my sister and I could drive to school. The first was a regular job doing maintenance at the sears in the Everett Mall. I also worked in Edmonds for a company called Monarch Trading, which manufactured sheep skin products like seat covers, gloves, and jackets. The third was a temporary job at a drug store, moving the shelving. At all 3 jobs I was treated very well because I was on time and a hard worker.
Required classes at Cascade were math, history, English, and science. My favorite classes were sales and marketing and business law with Mr. Stevens. Those classes taught me about real world as far as how business and government work. Typing was another important class because everyone needs to know how to type.
My sister and I would go to Burger King during lunch and before practice. There was a walkway from campus to Burger King when I was in school. We also went to a popular teen dance club called Buzzy’s on Broadway and Hewitt. Teens from Everett, Mariner, Marysville, and Cascade High School would go there and interact with each other. It was downtown Everett, so there was never a problem.
Michael Jordan was popular. People listened to music by Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Motley Crue, The Beastie Boys, and Metallica, and saw Sean Penn and Nicholas Cage Movies. Levi’s were worn by a lot of people, and homemade skinny jeans were sewn below the knee from the inside to take out the width. I didn’t do that though.
The Cold War did not affect the school or the community, nor was I involved or politically aware during the Reagan administration and election of George H. W. Bush.
I graduated from Cascade in 1988 as one of the 5 blacks out of 680 seniors. I felt that my overall experience was a good one, and the staff and students were very fair.
After College, I moved to Atlanta where I worked for Nike. This job later moved me to Los Angeles, and then I worked for Fed Ex and Tommy Hilfiger until 1999. In April of that year I became a Deputy Probation Officer for Los Angeles County. I was promoted to a field officer supervising adults after 7 years of working in juvenile detention facilities, but transferred back to juvenile camp facilities in July 2009.
One camp houses approximately 110 minors. The camp I currently work at is Camp Vernon Kilpatrick in Malibu, California. It is one of a kind because the minors are all recruited to play a sport. The football, basketball, track, baseball, and soccer teams play against regular California High Schools. Most of the staff double as probation officer and coach. In fact, I was an assistant coach for the junior varsity football team this past season.
I am currently single with no children. I’m my spare time I love to travel, and have taken trips to Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico several times, and Brazil.