Morningside Alum, Sioux City Council Member, Career Development Specialist, and avid brewery goer, this is Alex Watters.
Watters had a pretty adventurous childhood growing up. Growing up in Ocheyedan, Iowa, live was pretty great in the town of 500 people. Watters is blessed to have 2 loving parents along with 1 sister. Some of his favorite memories was when he was ramping his bike off of curbs, shooting hoops, or fishing with his friends. Once 8thgrade hit, his family decided it was best to move to Okoboji, Iowa, which is about 30 minutes from the small town of Ocheyedan. Watters favorite things to do quickly went from shooting hoops to wakeboarding on the lake, golfing, and longboarding. With growing up and getting through high school only means one thing, college.
Watters attended college at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. Little did he know; his freshman year of college would change his life forever. Whether it was meeting girls, golfing, or just trying to make money, every day at Morningside was filled with something new. A couple weeks into his freshman year he met a girl at a M’side orientation dance, and they became really good friends. Weeks after school started, he was asked to go to a family reunion at his hometown, Okoboji, with this group of people he met at that dance, and without any hesitation he said yes. Fast forward to the reunion, it was midnight, and they just wanted to go swimming. Watters went out to the dock which was 150 feet out from shore and suddenly a gust of wind got a hold of the hat he was wearing, and it flew into the water. Like any other person would do, he dove in head first to fetch his hat and little did he know the water depth was only 18 inches deep. Watters heard his own neck snap and found himself laying in the water not being able to move his own arms or legs and blacked out. After this tragic incident, he woke up 3 separate times; in the ambulance, in the helicopter, and lastly, a table getting ready for surgery. 2 broken vertebrae, 6 months of rehab, 3 months of bedrest, and many prayers later, his life was changed forever.
Fast forward to today, many years later, Watters is a well-known-successful Sioux City man. When asked if he could give any piece of advice, one of his quotes stuck: “you truly determine your destiny.” We all have the same time through the day, so what are you going to do with that time? If you know what you want to achieve in life, go after it and do not stop until you reach it. “The sky’s the limit.”