Congratulations to our April 2025 Member of the Month (MeMo) Brian Thomas! National College Attainment Network (NCAN) staff asked him both professional and personal questions so you can get to know him and the
work he does better.
Q: What brought you to the college access and success field initially? A: In 2007, the company I was working for informed me they would
be closing our store location. My wife found a job opening at Jackson State University (JSU) as the Minority and Transfer Recruiter. I took a chance and applied and was offered the position. JSU is the largest historically Black college and university
(HBCU) in Mississippi. #TheeILove While at JSU, I found joy in working with incoming students as well as helping lead the student recruiter organization Tiger PRIDE.
I left JSU after about six years to work in a different field but knew something was missing. I missed the students. Strangely again, someone contacted me through my wife about an opening with Get2College, a program of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation.
In the interview for my position, I remember mentioning how much I missed the students and the fulfillment of helping others.
So, to answer the question, I think my wife brought me into this work because she was instrumental in finding both of my positions within education. I've been so lucky to have her as my cheerleader! Cue the awes (brownie points)!
Q: What do you love most about your role or organization? A: The chills I get when working with families. Completing a FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and Mississippi Aid Application and
informing a single parent that their child can receive a maximum Pell Grant and the HELP Grant from Mississippi and can go to school for FREE! The HELP Grant pays full tuition and fees to any state-funded two-year or four-year college in Mississippi.
When I was promoted to director, I was clear with my then supervisor that I wanted to stay in touch with students and families. They are the reason I am here. I want others to have the right of the education that I received.
Q: What's your favorite thing about being an NCAN member? A: The Advisory Task Force (ATF)! Also the NCAN National Conference.
Both allow me to see what others are doing across the country and network with others who are extremely knowledgeable. The learning community that is NCAN and the ATF are worth their weight in gold!
Q: What advice do you have for people who are new to college attainment work? A: Get out there. Learn. Experience what others go through on a day-to-day basis. Use your knowledge to benefit others. Advocate
for those who need it. Join the NCAN Slack channel. Attend webinars. Go to NCAN Conference if you are able. One of the biggest things I do is to try to stay humble. Don't enter the room like you are the smartest. Listen to others, especially students
and their families. Take their experiences and grow your knowledge to help the next student, and the next, and so on. Don't give up!
Personality Questions
Every month, our MeMos will be answering some fun questions to help us get to know their “out of office” side!
Q: If you were dropped into any movie or TV show as a new main character, what movie or TV show would you pick and why? A: The Sandlot! I loved playing baseball in the yard as a kid. I played
baseball until my freshman year in college. I remember watching The Sandlot as a kid with my neighbors and wanting to form our own sandlot.
Q: You get to host a dinner party with five people, dead or alive, famous or not. Who are you hosting? A: My grandfather Thomas Bown, my hero. I grew up across the country from him, but when we saw each other he
always did outdoor things with me. He also served in Word War II and opened up to me about his service for my senior research paper in college. He passed away years ago but I think about him often. Mildred and Richard Loving, if it were not for
them, I would not have been able to be in an interracial relationship and marry my wife. My older daughter's birth mother - We are adoptive parents. I want to hug my daughter's mom and thank her for the chance to be a father. I know this is more
than five, but I miss my in-laws who both died too young.
Q: What's one thing you'd like to cross off your personal bucket list? Is there one thing you've crossed off already that you're really proud of? A: Fly fishing in either Montana or Alaska!
Q: What's your favorite food, and one food you don't like? A: Pizzabananapuddingcinnamonrolls since I can only list one! I don't like brussels sprouts.
Q: If you could immediately be fluent in one language AND proficiently play one instrument, which language and instrument would you choose and why? A: Spanish because I think it's romantic. And I used to play
bass guitar in metal bands but haven't in years.
Q: You HAVE to sing at karaoke. What song do you pick? A: Toto by Africa.
Q: What’s one topic, not related to education/college attainment, that you could give an impromptu 45-minute TEDTalk about? A: Cloth diapers! Yes, for real. We were all about some cool cloth diapers!
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