Column by Robbie Robertson
Our youngest son, Marshall, will be 18 this week and a senior at Leake Academy this upcoming school year.
Marshall has pursued acting since he was 8 and appeared in a Newton Little Theatre production.
Since that time, he was actually made a few paychecks appearing in various plays a New Stage Theatre in Jackson.
He has consistently said that he wants to study acting in college. For the longest time, Southern Miss was the leader in the clubhouse. His mother went to USM, and he loves the Eagles.
My wife and I decided that we actually needed to branch out a bit and see something outside of the state of Mississippi – something that many local folks will frown upon.
As soon as school was out, we made our first trip to the University of Oklahoma in Norman. I think it would be easy to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the university, which will be a fine addition to the SEC. After leaving Norman, we headed south to Dallas to visit Southern Methodist.
For those who don’t know, SMU might as well be an Ivy League School. If there was an Ivy League of the South, they would be right there with Vanderbilt, Duke, Rice and Tulane. And when I say they have money, it’s not an exaggeration. I really think it grows in trees out there. And their theatre school is one of the finest in the United States. Most of their staff graduated from Yale. As we left SMU, they had skyrocketed to a close No. 2.
A few weeks later, we visited Florida State on the advice of a friend. Again, we were very impressed with the school but more so with their theatre program. Now the Seminoles are 1A and the Sooners are 1B.
For most of my adult life, my wife has tried to get me to move from Mississippi and I have resisted her at every turn.
While Marshall could very well end up at USM, it’s really insightful to see what is out there when it comes to universities. We certainly should let the state line confine us to our learning opportunities, that’s for sure.
