Editor’s note: In the March 2011 edition of its newsletter, Clayton State University featured Dominican Sherwin James. Below is the full text of the feature.
Sherwin James is a Professional Academic Advisor in the School of Business at Clayton State University. He works to help students successfully navigate the right courses of study to put them on track for their careers.
As a former Olympic athlete with a Master’s degree in Education, he has a personal philosophy that he tries to impart to the students: “If you have 70 or more years to live, what’s the point of wasting four? Do what you need to do now. Your education will allow you to enjoy all those other years later.”
James was born in the village of Pichelin, Commonwealth of Dominica, and lived there until moving to the United States in 1999. He was a recognized and highly decorated high school athlete. He represented Dominica in numerous regional competitions, including the CARIFTA games, an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association. He’s still the only one from his country to make it to the finals in the CARIFTA 100 meters competition.
After high school, James spent a year at Linden Wood University in St. Charles, Missouri but left when the University of Idaho offered James a track and field scholarship. “I choose Idaho because academics were very important to them. In sports, a lot of people don’t think much about academics, but I was going to get a good education,” says James.
While at Idaho, James represented Dominica in the 200 meters at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. “The Olympics was an amazing experience,” says James. “I remember one of my high school coaches, Mr. Henderson. He died before I went, but he used to say that he wanted me to be at the Olympics one day. I thought of him during the opening ceremony. It really touched me.”
In addition to the Olympics, James participated in numerous international track and field competitions, including the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary (2004) and the World Outdoor Championships in Seville, Spain (1999) and Edmonton, Canada (2001). He also participated in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England (2002) and the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic (2003).
James received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Management and Human Resources and a Master’s Degree in Education, with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Idaho. In addition to a hectic sports schedule, James worked in the bookstore during his undergraduate years. He worked as a graduate assistant in the athletic department, as well as a mentor and a tutor during his graduate work.
It was during these busy times that he developed his time management philosophy that teaches to students in the University Foundations Course at Clayton State. “Now and then I would hang out with friends,” says James, “but I was really about doing what I needed to do. I wanted to make my family proud back home because I was one of the first to go to college.”
After graduation, James took a position at South Georgia College in Douglas, Georgia, as a Student Success Counselor. Later, he moved to Atlanta to join Clayton State where he has received the Best Advisor of the Year award and served as President of the Advisor’s Council.
Recently, James also was elected the Advising Student Athletes Commission Chair 2011-2013 for the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).
When not advising or mentoring, James enjoys traveling and outdoor sporting activities. He is also passionate about working with various community-based organizations, such as MoMentum, the young men mentoring program at our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Atlanta. James, his wife, Tawanna, and their 19-month-old baby boy, Tashern, reside in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Well done champ!! As have already been said by a few “some of the young-men in your community should follow in in your shadow”
Coach and friend!!!
Congratulations Sherwin!! Feel very proud, as a former schoolmate from GBSS. Always bright and determined..Keep up the good work and i hope you will motivate the young boys back home..Too many of our young boys are fallen along the roadside..They have no ambition..All they do is smoke marijuana..
May God bless you and your family and i wish u great success in your future endeavors…
I am so proud of my classmate. Keep up the good work I can see you smiling.
CONGRATS from a former classmate at GBSS>
congtrates to sherwin i am also from pichelin and this makes me feel proud that someone from my village achieve such a great achievement. i hope the other people from the village read this especially the young men.
Well done Mr.James I do hope that the young men and ladies that are coming out of Dominica will take a page out of your book and make the nation as well as their parents just as proud as you have done. Again well done and GOD bless you and yours
Well done cousin your late dad Edwin ,gran aunty Rita, teacher Lambert etc are celebrating your success as well as us. Please keep up the good work remain your lovely, humble and hard working self. You are an example to the youth of SOUTH CITY and Dominica. Let them know hard work pays.
Extremely proud of you.
God bless and protect you always cousin
WE ALL NEED TO BE REMINDED OF THE FAMOUS SAYING….
“The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not obtained by sudden flight.
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
CONGRATULATIONS SHERWIN. YOU HAVE DONE IT BUT I JUST KNOW THAT IT WASN’T EASY. CELEBRATE AND ENJOY YOUR SUCCESS AND WE ARE VERY, VERY, VERY PROUD OF YOU
Well first of i must say congrats,to a fellow classmate and still friend up to this day,many may say we knew he would or could because its in his family or bloodline, but its a choose he made and kept to it and it all merited at the end,he is a good example for all those who make excuses for the reasons that they live the crazy life style that they do and blame a system or not having.it is there for everyone of us to take heed too.Good job Sherwin and i hope this would inspire the young men and women of the south and Dominica on a whole to be your best and remain focus and sky it the limit..god first and everything else follows…we are the few, the proud ones to be called Dominicans…
Congrats Sherwin, great job. keep up the good work.
Well done and congratulations! The fruit of your labor is sweet, and I must say you deserve it.
congratulations sherwin.proud of ya
Daddy Edwin and Catherine are all smiles and that’s great. Reach for the PM of Dominica heights bro. be another Pierro, Mamo, Skerrit, Edison, PJ and all the past ones, Leblanc. But dont stay in America and work with remote control ok this wll not work in DA. I see it in your eyes. You make us proud!!!!!!
my boy great job may god continue to bless u an protect u . u make us as a family as a village as a country an as a ppl proud.
Good work DNO. Sometimes we need good news to. A lot of time the good news is pushed aside in the media, but I am very happy to see the you all are bringing out good news. Keep it up.
good job ….keep on making happen……
Congrat sherwin all of us from pichelin are proud of your achievements .i pray that many will follow in your footsteps
I am so proud of you Sherwin! So proud, it’s as if you’re my brother man! Always put the lord first and you’ll continue to shine! May God continue to use you as an example to all of us! Much blessings to you and your family!
Congrats Sherwin.You made your family very proud
Congrats Sher
Remember you from High School days. Keep it up…Your success is no surprise to me….
Congrats, Sherwin!!! I remember we used to always go to watch you run at the Windsor Park when you were an athlete back home! It was so exciting to watch you run. People would turn up just for you. That was when athletics was really exciting in DA. I remember all the girls used to blush when you turned up in your tights/body suits…woosh!!! HOTTTTT!!! Everybody had a crush on you. Now you’ve grown up, working hard, with a wife and kid. All the best to you and your family. Really nice to see how well you turned out.
Aye Sherwin i am very happy of the contribution that you are making. Keep up the good works man. You were a determined student and sprinter. I am not suprised at your achievement but just want to tell you to continue walking that good road man and may the good Lord continue to bless you.
Congrats to you Sherwin. I know that your mother Catherine is very proud of you. Your father Edwin is looking down smiling. So to is your aunt Joan and the rest of the family.
You have definitely emulated the footsteps of fellow Pichelin guys like Thomas Letang, Francis Letang, Davis Letang, Clarence Christian These guys, as you have done now, have made all of Pichelin proud academically. Keep up the good work and remain forcus.
We at Pichelin are very proud of you. Do not forget Pichelin as the village needs role models like you for the young guys to emulate. It appears that too many of the younger ones “want it now”
Like internet children… Congratulations Sherwin… Edwin is smiling down on you!
Go Sherwin -“Teacher Lambert” Mr. Lambert Henderson -rest in peace- would be proud to know that he said something that contributed in a way to someone’s life.
Congrats Sherwin, once again u continue to make us in pichelin proud and Dominica by extension. We have stood tall in the diaspora always: and u are a perfect example of exellence and tenacity. Your commmunity is proud of u bro.!
Congratulations to Sherwin for such great achievements from a brother up here in Morne au Diable to
another positive brother up there in Stone Mountain Georgia.It looks like the environment in Stone
Mountain has a positive effect on you..Hold on!!
Congrats James. You have the looks and the brains. Remember the sky is the limit. Go for it. On a personal note.is your wife from Dominica as well – Castle Comfort to be precise?
thats great!
Finally a guy with some class featured on DNO! All these wannabe rappers and RnB stars get on my nerves. Its 2011 ladies and gentlemen. Stop the rapping and start the learning!
Well done James, this is truly an inspiring article
Good Job Cuz. It was a pleasure reading this article this morning. As a fellow James (from Pichelin), I am very proud and feel very encouraged. Keep in mind, your help would be welcomed in Pichelin today. The youth really really need someone to look up to. Keep up the GOOD work.
Exemplifies strength and will to move ahead beyond the challenges and circumstances of life! With a good heart and God upfront in your life, ANYTHING is possible! Congratulations!
Its just a pity that many of our young boys in the village are not willing to move forward, plant the good seeds and reap the highest profits of all, SUCCESS! However, its heart warming to know that there are still other great ones out there!
SO TRUE! THIS WARMS MY HEART! AT LEAST WE KNOW THAT THERE IS HOPE AND THERE IS A GOD! GO SHERWIN!!!
Sports and Academics can co-exist.
True testimony of the positive impact that sports can have on the life of an individual who probably would have never had such an opportunity had it not been for sports.
Dominican students take note.
Our present day High School Principals TAKE NOTE.Let us stop short changing the students that a in our charge,and please provide them with all the opportunities, we never know where it will lead them.
Way to go Sherwin.I remembered you as a student athlete and I am happy to see you have been able to achieve academically.
From your former classmate at GBSS: Congrats & keep making us proud.
Great job and Congrats, Cous. Keep it up.
NJ
yes i
congrates sherwin
Congrats Sherwin….you did very well for yourself my friend
Great Story. Congratulations to you sir.
Kudos to you. I feel very proud to be Dominican especially when one of our own make a name for himself on the international stage. Deepest congrats to you Sherwin.
my bro congratualations on all your achievements so far am proud of you g from the pichelin community. Keep the forcus and aim for the highest there is available for u and continue making ur family and ur country dominica proud. Big to ur family and the stone mountain crew i know they have your back optimistic sounds killa, dave, ect……
Back home big from seepo, jan, co and d rest of d pichelin massive………
congrats
Great job my fellow Domerican brother. Let’s all keep doing our thing and positively representing the Nature Isle with pride and excellence. Bless up.
I remember Sherwin from the Clifton Dupigny State College years, good job my boy
Congrats Sherwin! Your GBSS schoolmates are proud of you!
Congratulations. Continue to be focused and put God first in your life.
way to go, sherwin!!!!
Congratulations, true sign of perseverance, I know you had it tough.