The Sky is the Limit

There is no limit to what we as human beings can do; Alex Watters has proven to many that he has no limit. Alex Watters is a Career Development Specialist here at Morningside College, and many have seen him going around campus speaking of job opportunities for what would interest students most. Besides being so active on campus, Watters has different jobs around Sioux City as well. 

In his short life, Alex Watters has done amazing things and met inspirational people. Watters talked about how events in his life created the man people see today. He takes his first years from attending Morningside and applies to working with 1styear students who aren’t sure about their path. “My life experiences helped me work with first year students because I knew what it felt like.” His placement in the city and connections to different organizations assist Watters in guiding students on their dream career paths. 

All this hard work, communication and perky attitude would be here at Morningside if he didn’t have a transformational readjustment of his life. He shares his story with an attitude most wouldn’t expect with the specific result he was left with. Watters attended Morningside College on a golf scholarship, mostly not caring for campus or classes, just golf and girls, he would often joke. One evening there was a dance in Olsen Student Center and he went. He can’t contain his laughter when he describes on how good of a dancer he was, he claimed he had “the moves.” It was announced there would be a dance competition and people would need to pair up, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a spunky girl like him giving all the moves. 

They danced and won the competition without trouble, while dancing they discovered they’re both from Okoboji. The young girl mentioned she was going back up that weekend for a family reunion and suggested Watters should come with her group of friends. Looking back Alex shrugged at the idea, “I thought yeah why not? My parents would be glad to see me again and I’d be hanging out with these cool girls.” His decision for a quick trip home would be the start to the path where he is today. 

After hanging out with his friends, having a good time by the campfire, the group voted it would be a good night to go for a swim in the lake. Watters and the little brother of one the girls waited along the dock while the girls changed. They were 150ft out on the dock when a sudden gush of wind blew the hat Alex was wearing in the water. Really liking that hat, in the spur of the moment, he dove in head first into 18-inch-deep water. 

Instantly he heard his neck snap, his body floated along the surface as he tried to coach himself to start swimming, start swimming. Only he couldn’t. He blacked out. The girls saved him and called the ambulance that would transport him to a helicopter lift to immediate surgery. Alex vividly remembers coming back to consciousness briefly and hearing the words from one the medics, “You really messed up.” Then he went back into the dark. His journey to the operating room was a path full of lows and lowers, for Alex couldn’t walk again. 

Surgery was a success and Watters was given the choice to be sent to a phenomenal recovery facility in Englewood, Colorado. In there he met other guys like him who made a spur of the moment choice and now were on the journey to having new lives. Watters said his time there was fun and he could connect with the atmosphere around him. 

His accident according to Watters helped development a man he never would become if he had not had his accident. It was asked of him, “Alex, if you’d never had your accident do you think you’d still be this politically active and task oriented as you are now?” With a snort he replied, “Not a chance in hell.” Before his accident he believed his life didn’t have direction, he wanted to be a golf coach as his first career choice; to professionally coach and teach people how to play. Since politics and community service were a huge part of his life growing up he could sort of see himself doing it but he wouldn’t be such an inspiration and leader if he hadn’t. 

Alex Watters has no limit to what he can do, and he’s proven time and time again you should do what you love to do. If you meet Alex he’s so in love with his jobs it’s almost scary. Having his accident didn’t slow him down at all, he still goes 100 miles an hour if he can. He’s everywhere helping people find their spark and succeed, at sports events cheering all athletes on, taking his duty on the city council seriously and pushing for change. Also, he has worked with the First Lady Michelle Obama herself. Who can say they did that in their lifetime? He’s been offered jobs in the U.S. Department of Education, graduated grad school with great honors. This man knows no limit he can reach, and he encourages every single student on Morningside Campus to reach high for what we want. The sky is the limit.