Charles Wilson Jr.

Interviewed by Debbie Cartwright and John Smith

         Charles Wilson, Jr., also known as "Bam," was born in San Antonio and raised in Elgin from the time he was eight years old. His parents were Elgin natives who attended Booker T. Washington School. Charles graduated from Elgin High School in 1994 and enjoys fond memories of his teachers, coaches, and friends. He played sports and was coached by his mentor T. Berry. Charles began his collegiate experience on a basketball scholarship at Sheridan Junior College in Wyoming and completed his degree in education at Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska. After playing semi-pro basketball overseas, Charles began his career as an educator and ultimately served as an administrator of Omaha Street School for nineteen years. In 2022, Charles returned to Elgin as the director of the TNT Academy, a faith-based grade school. 

       The interview was conducted by Debbie Cartwright with audio assistance from John C. Smith, both members of the board of directors of the Elgin Oral History Project. Ms. Cartwright was raised in Elgin and retired from her work as an attorney in 2021. She is an active community volunteer in non-profit and governmental organizations. Mr. Smith moved to Elgin in 2001 from Austin. He was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force and settled in Texas in the 1980s. He is an active volunteer with Elgin's Lions Club, Community Cupboard, Depot Museum, and Presbyterian Church.

Interviewer - Today is Wednesday, October 16th at 2:11 PM We're here at the TNT Academy Middle and High School on Old Lexington Road in Elgin, Texas. We're recording an oral history from you, Charles Wilson, Jr. The interview is being conducted under the auspices of the Elgin Oral History Project. It will be used for generations to educate the young and old about life in Elgin, through your recollections and personal observations. The recording will be transcribed and preserved in a database. The Elgin Oral History Project organization is a community-based, not-for-profit entity with a mission of preserving Elgin's history through storytelling and personal interviews. Do I have your consent to record this interview today?

Charles - Yes, you do.

Interviewer - Thank you. My name is Debbie Cartwright and I serve on the board of directors for the Elgin Oral History Project. With me is John C. Smith, who may also ask questions and will ensure that the audio recording is working properly. I'll ask questions about your upbringing, education, career, family, and observations about the community both past and present.

Charles - Yes. Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - You ready?

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - Okay. Where were you born and raised?

Charles - Well, I was born in San Antonio, Texas. My family moved here to Elgin in 1982. I was born December 18th, 1974. And so, I moved to Elgin in ‘82, the beginning of my second-grade year. And trust me, when I came to Elgin, I was like, oh, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be here because I left my friends in San Antonio. But this was a great move for my parents because both of my parents were from here.

Interviewer - Oh. So, tell me about your immediate family, your parents, your siblings, and that sort of thing.

Charles - Okay. My parents, are both deceased now. My mother passed away in 2002, and my father passed away in 2018, and both of them were from here in Elgin, and they both attended Washington School. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, and that is the reason why I chose to major in education when I went into college. My siblings, when it comes to my siblings, I come from a blended family. Both of my parents were married and had families before they got together. So, I have a total of nine siblings - seven siblings on my father's side and two other siblings on my mother's side. And so again, I come in and I was my parents' only child together. I was lucky, I would say. I was blessed to have come into a blended family and had all my siblings. Both my mother's side and my father's side have been very supportive in everything that I've done in my entire life. And I couldn't be half the person I am today had it not been for the blended-ness of my family.

Interviewer - I have to add from my own personal perspective, you'll appreciate, that my grandfather was in the same way. He was the only child in a blended family, and he had all sisters. He had like six, maybe, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 sisters from both sides. And he was the only boy.

Charles - Oh my!

Interviewer - And so you understand how that made you special, didn't it?

Charles - Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Most definitely. Most definitely.

Interviewer - So your parents didn't graduate from high school. Where did they work? What did they do for a living?

Charles - Well, the reason for them not graduating, they worked out in the fields. They picked cotton, and they made sure to let me know that every chance they got when I was growing up, about how hard it was for them. And so, when we were living in San Antonio, my mom was a nurse's aide at Normandy Terrace Hospital. I don't know if it's still there anymore, but she was a nurse's aide. And so, she did that for quite a number of years. And she enjoyed that very much. So, she was really into medicine and that type of stuff. And so, she, definitely flourished in that realm. My father was a mechanic. He was an automotive manager at Sears, Sears Automotive in San Antonio, for a number of years. And so, when we moved back—I'm sorry, not Texas—but we moved to Elgin. When we came to Elgin, that's when it stopped. She became like a caregiver. My mom became a caregiver, and my dad helped out a lot in that as well. And he would do little odd jobs here and there. So we were on a fixed income, if that makes any sense.

Interviewer - Yes, it does make sense. Very interesting upbringing.

Charles - Yes, Ma’am.

Interviewer - A lot of family support.

Charles - It was a great deal of family support. I would have to say it was a great deal of family support. Again, when I look back on it now, I'm like, oh, I may have not had the materialistic things, but the love made it so rich for me. And again, I credit a lot of who I am and what I'm still striving to be to my upbringing.

Interviewer - Where did you attend grade school?

Charles - Oh man, let's go! I first started out at Kitty Hawk Elementary over in San Antonio—started off at Kitty Hawk Elementary in 1980. And then I started again in 1982 when we moved here to Elgin. I started over at Elgin Primary School in ‘82. In 1985, I went over to Elgin Elementary School, and in ‘87 I went over to Elgin Junior High, not the middle school, Elgin Junior High School. And we didn't become, it didn't become Elgin Middle School until my eighth-grade year. And so, in the fall of 1990, I went over to Elgin High School and am a proud graduate of the 1994 graduating class of Elgin High School.

Interviewer - Do you have special memories of those times in Elgin High School?

Charles - Yes, ma'am. I do. I have some great memories, and one of my best memories in high school would have to be my shop teacher, Mr. Larry Axelson. He was so funny. And we had just a bunch of boys in the class, immature ninth grade boys, and we learned so much from Mr. Axelson. Some of the stuff that he was teaching us at that time, you were like, will we actually need this in life? Let's just say 32 years later, you're still using it. Yes, exactly. So, I love my time in all of my classes, all of my classes. One of the things I could say, every last teacher I had, I want to say there's not one that really sticks out because they all affected my life in some type of way, and I'm very grateful for that. But if I had to talk about someone who changed my life as an educator, it goes back to when I was in eighth grade at Elgin Junior High School. Let me take it back, I'm sorry. At that time, Elgin Middle School, when I was an eighth grader, a lady by the name of Annie Jo Love was the one that affected my life and inspired me to be an educator.

Interviewer - What did she do that caused this inspiration?

Charles - She was stern and I don't have a stern bone in my body. She was stern, she was fair, and she saw what you didn't see. And what I mean by that is she always saw something in all her students that came through her door. She saw something in them, and she pushed for it. And so, whenever I watched her every day constantly, every single day, she never wavered with anything. I didn't care if you came in with a bad attitude. You gave her attitude—guess what? She wasn't going to take that mess. And she was just like a mom figure to every last one of the kids who came through her doors. And she cared.

Interviewer - She had faith in you when you didn't have faith in yourself.

Charles - Yes, yes. And one of my greatest accomplishments, I would have to say was in 2008, the spring of 2008. I had a chance to come back and visit. I came back to visit here during Elgin spring break of 2008, and someone told me I needed to go see Ms. Love. I needed to go see Ms. Annie Jo Love. So, I went to Ms. Love's class and went and gave her a big hug and she had me speak to all of her classes that day. It was on a Friday, I'll never forget. She had four classes, and I had a chance to speak to all her classes, and that was one of the most memorable moments ever. So, the following year, she ended up retiring because she found out she had cancer. And on February 13th, 2010, she passed away. No, February 8th, 2010, I'm sorry, February 8th, 2010, she had passed away of cancer. And I say for me, that was an accomplishment because she was the person who inspired me to teach, inspired me to be in education. And so that's why speaking for her class was a joy to me because it was her that had placed something in me to give it back to somebody else.

Interviewer - I know that you knew Coach Berry, and he was your football and basketball coach, I believe. Can you talk a little bit about sports in high school and what Coach Berry meant to you?

Charles - Oh, when it comes to T. Berry, it started back in seventh grade when he was my football coach. And so, football was something I loved, but I wasn't the greatest at it. I loved it because I felt like it got me ready for basketball. Basketball to me was my outlet. And football was a thing that got me ready for my outlet, taught me some aggression, if that makes any sense. And so, Coach Berry affected my life from day one, even as my football coach. And I said this, spoke of this at his funeral service a couple of weeks back. I'll never forget, September 22nd, 1988, we're playing, getting ready to play the Caldwell Hornets seventh grade. We had about 25 to 30 guys, and we're getting ready to get a pre-game speech from Coach T. Berry. And he talked about the Battle of Gettysburg, and he got us hyped-up talking about the Battle of Gettysburg. And you want to know something—36 years later that still resonates with me right now. And so again, that right there changed me. I want to say it was my junior year of high school, my junior year of high school, I would say that was the most important lesson Coach Berry taught me during my junior year of high school playing basketball for him. I didn't start that year. I came off the bench. We had a senior-loaded team, but I thought I should have been out there with the seniors, and that was just me. But when I look back at the big picture, now I get it. We did have a good talented class, but I thank him for allowing me to remain on the bench that year because I got a chance to learn the game by watching, and by watching, when I learned the game, it encouraged me to think that I want to be a coach one day because I'm actually learning the game by watching the game instead of playing. And so, he retired. That was the same year he stepped down from coaching—the end of my junior year. In my senior year, we had a new coach come in, and at that time I was one of the few seniors on the team and was the team captain, Central Texas All-District player, and got a college scholarship. I was blessed to get a college scholarship. And again, I owe a lot of that to Coach T. Berry. Coach Berry in my freshman year right away put me with the JV and varsity guys, and he challenged me every single day. I'll never forget when I was getting ready to leave for college, I visited Coach Berry to just tell him thank you. And I asked him, why were you so hard on me? And his exact words were: “cream rises to the top every single time.” And so, I took those words with me to college, and I was able to have a great collegiate basketball career as well, I think.

Interviewer - That's another example of your teachers having faith in you and seeing something in you that you didn't even know about yourself.

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - I mean, teachers are more than just educators. They're mentors and facilitators, and people who really enrich the lives of their students.

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - Absolutely. So, you got a scholarship to go to college. Which college was that? And tell us about your basketball career in college.

Charles - Well, I started out at a Sheridan Junior College in Sheridan, Wyoming. And actually, Coach Berry was the reason because he had a contact. And I went there for a year just to brush up on skills and what-not. I look at it as developmental, if that makes any sense. So, I was only there for a year. So, April of ‘95, I was looking for a school to transfer. Usually when you go to junior colleges, you transfer. So, I was transferring to, I needed to transfer to a school because it just, at that time, it just wasn't working out. I wasn't feeling that peace about something. And my English professor at the time named Carol Garcia thought I should go to a Christian college. And so, I was like, okay, there, Christian. So, the Christian college has basketball?

Interviewer - Yes, they do.

Charles - And so again, that's how naive I was back then. But I said, do they offer basketball? And so, we looked up this four-year Christian college catalog, 595, page 598 out of a 600-page book was Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska. And so, we called 4 0 2- 4 4 9- 2800, and we told him my story. And then two days later, I get stuff in the mail to come to Grace College of the Bible, which it was getting ready to become Grace University because they ended up getting the accreditation. My first year on campus at Grace University in 1995 was the life-changer for me. And this is where my college coach—his name is Jim Classen—I would say that man was the most impactful man of my life. And the reason why I called it impactful, God used Coach Berry as a steppingstone. And once that steppingstone went off to somewhere else, God used Jim Classen to like, okay, now we're about to really mold you. And he had a way of breaking me down as well. And when I mean, break me down, it's like they tell you the stuff that you don't want to hear, but that you need to hear it. And I praise God for that because he was that coach who I would've done any and everything for. And I'll never forget my last collegiate basketball game, February 27th, 1999. We had just finished playing Dallas Christian, and I had a pretty, decent game. And that was my last collegiate game. And at the end, I gave a speech to all the players and then also to my coach. Ms. Debbie, that was probably one of the hardest speeches I ever had to make. And then to hug my coach—I cried—wept like a baby because that's how much he meant to me. That's how much he changed my life. It wasn't because I was saying good-bye to college basketball; it was because God had given me something so beautiful in my life, and it made me want to be better.

Interviewer - What was the most important thing that Coach Classen taught you?

Charles - Character. Character. He said character goes a long way. And he always preached character and practice. We had character building every practice. We always had these character nuggets and being at a Christian college where you could actually talk, do that, do those type of things. And character was always number one on Coach's list. And so, I'll forever be grateful for that. And that's something I even carry into my everyday work life, not even my work life, but also with my family as well.

Interviewer - Excellent. That's good. Obviously, you were a Christian and you've been involved in church, and my next question has to do about church. 

Charles - Yes, ma’am.

Interviewer - Growing up, and I know it must've been a big part of your life, did it start in San Antonio and move on to Elgin? How did the church mold you—the institution of church?

Charles - Oh man, Ms. Debbie, now you're about to put some tears—big water—in my eyes! Ms. Debbie, church came about for me in January of 1987. January of 1987, I was a sixth grader and attended a family church—Mt. Carmel Baptist Church.

Interviewer - I know where that is.

Charles - Nice. Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, the late Reverend Goins.

Interviewer - Goins. Yeah, absolutely.

Charles - And that man is another vessel that God placed in my life that was huge and instrumental. And I can still to this day, recall sermons that Pastor Goins would preach and still kind of just think about those sermons from time to time. And I'll never forget, it was June 27th, 1987, when I got baptized, where he baptized me. And there were men in the church. There was a guy named James Hendricks, Mr. Jimmy, he's passed away here a couple of years ago, who taught me how to pray. He was a deacon in the church and taught me how to pray when I was 12 years old. And that still rings out to me. There's another guy, James McCarther, deacon James McCarther. When I would see those guys pray on Sunday when I was a little boy, I was like, man, I want to be able to pray like that one day. And just to see their strength, to see how they held themselves up, that was just amazing to me. And I would say men of the church over at Mt. Carmel helped raise me when I was growing up, but it was Pastor Goins’s leadership that really took it to a whole other level for me.

Interviewer - And those were men of character also?

Charles - Yes, ma'am. Yes. And I'll never forget, right, the Sunday before I left to go to college, Pastor Goins had a Bible for me, and he presented it to me in front of the whole congregation, and he said, don't open this Bible—don't just open this Bible when you're in the trouble. You make sure you open it all the time and don't let it collect dust. And you know what? 32? No, 30 years later, I still have that Bible. That's wonderful. I was kind of messed up a little, but I still have the Bible. Yes.

Interviewer - That was a treasure.

Charles - Yes, yes. It was.

Interviewer - In addition to school and church and family and everything else that was going on in your life during that period, what do you remember about the community of Elgin during those days?  When you were going to school here, having moved from San Antonio and getting involved in everything that you took part in, what did you think of the community?

Charles - When I thought of the community, the community was one of the reasons why I moved back after being gone for 28 years. The community for me was a village. When I was growing up, I didn't have a car. I didn't own a car. Every now and then I would ride a bike, but I would walk up and down Main Street and people would blow their horns, honk their horns— “Hey, Bam-Bam.” I have a nickname, a childhood nickname that I grew up with— “Bam-Bam.” And so, I would go inside of a store or whatnot, “Hey, Bam- Bam, how are you doing?” Not Charles just, Bam-Bam. The community made me feel really good. And what I loved about the community when I was growing up of what I saw was people working together, working together, and that was ingrained, and they loved this place. And so, I remember in 2011, when I was living in Omaha, Nebraska, a friend of mine named Terrence Mackey had talked about growing up in this community, in his community. So, community didn't start really resonating with me until 2011. How can I be involved in my community? And so fast forward to 2020, about the end of 2020, I kind of knew, first of all, I was going through a dark time in my life. I was going through a separation from my ex-wife. And I remember just like, okay, I feel like I'm broken, God, but God, you could still use me. I think you could still use me. And all I could think about was community. I said, what would it be like for me to move back to my hometown and be used in my community? Because I would always come back to Elgin and visit. And every time I visited Elgin, it was something spectacular that always grabbed my eye. Just like, oh man, this is pretty cool! Okay, Elgin, that's pretty cool. And I wanted to be a part of that. And so, when I moved back, I made the move back in 2022, and I saw all the beautiful things that were going on in Elgin. The time I moved back, Elgin was celebrating its 150th year, the sesquicentennial. That was a great time to come back. And then that we also had Theresa McShan elected as mayor. And that was beautiful for me. I came back at a great time, and that's the time to get involved. It's been amazing to see how Elgin has grown and evolved as a community. And the most impactful thing, Ms. Debbie, is a lot of people that I get a chance to serve with in the community, a lot of them are not from Elgin, and they love it. It's a beautiful time to be a part of this community and serve with some amazing people.

Interviewer - Which is part of what we're trying to capture with the Elgin Oral History Project, so that we keep all this history when the community is growing with new people coming in and people like you who moved back after 28 years. So, you left and went to college. You were at Grace University after you'd gone to junior college, and then you went to work where?

Charles - Well, the summer after I graduated from college, one thing I left out, I played international basketball, semi-pro basketball overseas.

Interviewer - That's a big deal. Where did you play overseas? 

Charles - I started out in the Philippines with a group called Athletes in Action. We did a tour in the Philippines. In a lot of our games, we played against the professional teams over there, and then we would share the gospel of Jesus Christ at halftime and after the games. In my traveling, I got a chance to see a lot of the country through basketball, but also to share the gospel. Again, I credit Elgin with a lot of that stuff because there are different places that I got a chance to do certain things, and some of these places were worse conditioned places, but being able to adapt to your environment, again, I credit a lot of that to my upbringing in Elgin and how the community raised me. And so, I did that in the summertime. I did that for almost 13 or 14 years. Every summer I would go to different countries, play basketball and share the gospel with different organizations. But during the fall years, I would of course teach. So, I'm into my 26th year of education.

Interviewer - Were you teaching in high schools?

Charles - Well, we're about to get there. We're definitely about to get there. So, in the fall of ‘99, I started out at a middle school called Roston Middle School. And my first teaching job, I was basically, it was one-on-one with an autistic young man.

Interviewer - Roston High School is where?

Charles - No, Roston Middle School. It's in Roston, Omaha, Nebraska.

Interviewer - Nebraska, okay.

Charles - Yeah. So, all of that was in Nebraska. And so, I did that for a year.

Interviewer - One-on-one teaching with an autistic student.

Charles - And let's just say he taught me more than I taught him, and that opened my eyes to something really bigger. I only did that for one year. So, the next year I transferred to the Omaha Public School system, and I was at this place called Yates Alternative School for three years. And so, at Yates Alternative School, basically you're in a school with alternative kids who can't make it in public schools, and you get pretty much the bottom of the barrel. And so, survival of the fitness, I would always call that job right there prepared me for what was ahead for me. I did that for three years. I taught in that system for three years. Then there's this beautiful place called the Omaha Street School. I was there for 19 years before I moved here. I was at the Omaha Street School. I served in many capacities the Omaha Street School, a faith-centered alternative high school that was set up for students who may have been kicked out the public schools but needed a second chance at education. But what made us different is we had the faith piece, the faith piece. So, I did that for 19 years. I started out as a Bible teacher and an American history teacher. I taught math for the first three years there. And from there I became an administrator. I served as a dean of students and assistant principal. And also my last couple of years I served as the director of student support. So basically, I would work hand-in-hand with our principal, with our teachers, and with our students. And then I would also go out in the community and talk about the school. I would work hand-in-hand basically more so with our executive director who was like the superintendent that oversaw it all. Yes.

Interviewer - And the students came from Omaha?

Charles - Yes. We served in the North Omaha vicinity. North Omaha is probably more of the talked—one of the most talked about neighborhoods or part of Omaha that people try to shed a dim light on, but really it shouldn't be a dim light because there's a lot of great things happening in North Omaha, and that's still happening in North Omaha. A lot of greatness that's going on.

Interviewer - That's fascinating. I had no idea any of that was going on. You said the name of the school was Street School?

Charles - Omaha Street School.

Interviewer - And why did they come up with the name of Street School—getting kids off the street or what was the meaning of the word “street”?

Charles - Well, this is how it started. In 1985, there was a school in Denver called the Denver Street School that was started by a guy named Tom Tillapaugh. And he started this school in the basement of his house in Denver, Colorado. And so, it ended up growing, really evolving. There was a guy named John Parson, who was a young, really cool district attorney who would volunteer his time and teach law at the Denver Street School. Mr. John Parson is actually my mentor. He's still my mentor after all these years and one of my best friends. At the end of 1997, he and his wife, Lori, he and his late wife, Lori, and their 7-year-old son, Jared, came to Omaha to visit because he was originally from Omaha. They came to Omaha to visit, and they drove by this campus, and they said, “wouldn't it be awesome if we started a street school here in Omaha and call it the Omaha Street School?” Again, he's a big-time attorney out in Denver, Colorado, making a lot of money, and his wife Lori, she followed his vision. So, they packed up their life from Denver, Colorado, came to Omaha, Nebraska to start the Omaha Street School. And so, the Parsons have been a huge, huge support in my life. And the Omaha Street School is into its 26 year in existence. And it's been amazing to still follow Omaha Street School, even here in Texas, and the street school, I got a chance to serve in so many different administrative capacities where it has equipped me for what I do now for TNT Academy. And so I've just, again, I can't thank God enough for bringing me to Omaha Street School and being there for so long the way that I have, because you develop not only a relationship with the students there, but the relationship with their families and the community, and the street school was in a very unique spot in the North Omaha community. So that's why this thing called community means so much to me.

Interviewer - Yes. And it sounds like the experience that you had there led you to your current position. I want to know more about TNT Academy and how you made your decision to come here. And first, what does TNT stand for? What is the acronym?

Charles - I want to say Coach Pam got it from the Tuck ‘N Tumble school because she did gymnastics when she first started. I want to say tuck and tumble. And then it ended up going to Tumble ‘N Trampoline. But that's how TNT got started through a gymnastic piece by the late Pamela Barnett. And how I came to know about TNT? It was December 2021, and a good friend of mine by the name of Bob Haisler—and man, I love Mr. Heisler, he and I . . . 

Interviewer - Bob Haisler is a good friend of ours too. 

Charles - Okay. He and I go way back. So anyway, he sees me during Christmas break of 2021, and he gets the word that I'm moving back and that I was planning on moving back to Elgin. I was like, I haven't put any feelers out or anything. And he had taken me, he got me in his truck, and we had drove from the Holiday Inn. We drove from Holiday Inn all the way to Paige to the TNT academy, and this was December 27th, 2021. So, we pull up into this parking lot out in Paige, and I see this big old mansion of a house, and I'm like, oh man, this is pretty nice. It's pretty cool. So, we park his truck, we walk inside, and you see these rooms, these classrooms. And I meet Coach Pam and a lady named Kay. And we were talking about school, we were talking about vision, all these type of things. And so, when Coach Pam talked about her vision, I was like, man, I could see myself at a place like this because I was telling him about what I was doing at the Omaha Street School, and we were all talking about accreditation because at the time, TNT was trying to become accredited. So, I had talked about some ideas about what it took for the Omaha Street School to become accredited. And so, we just sat there and talked about school for almost an hour. And I remember walking back to Mr. Haisler's truck with him, and we just prayed for me to possibly one day land at TNT Academy. And then I kind of laughed it off, but God even laughed harder. And so that spring, I had put my feelers out to a lot of the schools here in the Central Texas area. And for some reason, I got passed over, and that's okay because God had a plan. And I'll never forget. And there was one job that was a public school that offered, but God had a plan. And his plan was for me to be at TNT Academy. I knew I was going to take a big cut in pay. And my pastor had talked. I'll never forget, it was Easter Sunday. My pastor had talked about God is not going to take you somewhere and just drop you off. Sometimes you might have to scrape the bottom of the barrel and work your way back up. When Ms. Pam had called me and she said, “I know I can't afford you, but I would love for you to be here at TNT Academy.” And I prayed about it, prayed about it, and He just led me there. And I told her on April 18th, 2022, that I would come on board. And she said, “well, can you just send me a bio so I could just give it to our families?” I said, okay. So, I sent her a bio and two days later, I didn't know she was going to blast it all over Facebook!

Interviewer - You were hired?

Charles - I was hired. 

Interviewer - What is your vision for TNT Academy?

Charles - My vision for TNT Academy is for us to grow and prosper and be an amazing vessel for our community. And that's one of the reasons why we have the middle school and high school here in Elgin, because I feel that we could be a vital asset to the Elgin community to bring Christ, to continue to bring Christ. The Christ is here, but man, just think you could never get enough of Him. But I feel with growth that we could do a lot of things. So, my overall vision for TNT Academy is growth so that we can continue to equip champions. I call our students “champions” because they're victorious. They have a voice, and we have value to equip our champions to go out and spread the gospel anywhere, not just Elgin, but anywhere in the world.

Interviewer - I know you're just getting started, but how many middle and high school students do you have here right now?

Charles - Right now we have a total of 16 between the grades six through 12. Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - And I know you're trying to get a six man football team going, is that right?

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - How's that going?

Charles - We have a lot of work in progress, but what I can say, Ms. Deborah, this past year, we started a co-op. We are doing a co-op with Bastrop Tribe, and we have two young ladies who are playing volleyball for Bastrop Tribe, a senior and a freshman. And this upcoming weekend, they will be playing in a private school state high school volleyball tournament. So, I'm so proud that our high schoolers are getting a chance to have that opportunity, and it's an amazing opportunity.

Interviewer - That’s a big accomplishment in a short period of time.

Charles - It is. It really is. And it's all God.

Interviewer - What do you consider your most important professional achievement to date? 

Charles - I would say being able to, of course, with the help of God and the great support team that I have around me, oversee two school campuses. When I first told people, they were like, man, you think you can do that? And I was like, I don't know, but God is in control of this thing and I'm just going to follow his lead. And again, God has been doing some great things within both of our campuses this fall. And just being a part of that on an everyday basis to go back and forth between both campuses has been a blessing.

Interviewer - And it's a big achievement too.

Charles - It is.

Interviewer - What would you consider your biggest personal achievement to date?

Charles - My biggest personal achievement? Yeah. I would say to go past 25 years of education because when I first started, I didn't think I would last more than two or three years. I'd say to be celebrating my 26th year is an achievement in itself. And I had been blessed throughout the years, don't get me wrong, I've been blessed throughout the years to get different types of awards through my educational career. But to make it past 25, I would say that's the most personal. That's personal.

Interviewer - That's a good achievement. I agree with you. You mentioned that you were separated from your spouse, and I don't want to ask anything about that, but do you have children?

Charles - Yes, I have three daughters, Aaliyah 28, Hope 25, and Zaria 21, soon to be 22.

Interviewer - Congratulations.

Charles - Yes, yes. And I'm so proud. I am so proud of them. So proud of Aaliyah. My oldest is a therapist, and I'm expecting my first grandchild.

Interviewer - Oh, congratulations.

Charles - In November. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Interviewer - So, she's a therapist. How about daughter two?

Charles - Daughter two. She lives in North Carolina, just moved to North Carolina and took a job with Amazon. And then my youngest is a pre-health major through the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. And through Clarkson, I want to say Methodist Hospital. Yes. Methodist Hospital. So, she wants to be a traveling nurse.

Interviewer - Well, they're high achievers like their dad.

Charles - They're taking it to a whole other level though.

Interviewer - Do you get to see them very often?

Charles - I do. And actually, I'm going to go see them in the next two weeks.

Interviewer - Wonderful.

Charles - Yeah. I try to see them at least two to three times, if not more a year. Whenever I have a break from school, I always try to get back to Omaha and see them. 

Interviewer - Well, let them know that we want to see them in Elgin also.

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - A couple more questions. I don't want to keep you too long.

Charles - Oh, no, you're fine.

Interviewer - You have a vision about TNT Academy?

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - You have a vision of what your role in that's going to be. What do you think about Elgin in five years or 10 years? What is your vision? What do you see happening in our community?

Charles - I see this, I see amazing growth for Elgin within the next five to 10 years, with new people coming in that have these great ideas. And I just see how much everybody pulls together. I see just amazing, amazing growth in every aspect when it comes to schools, churches, more businesses and opportunities, more opportunity for our youth. And I'm hoping and praying that we have more positive, keep adding more positive opportunities for our youth because that's where it's going to be. Yes, it is. Also, within our schools, I love it because even today, I'm excited about this interview, but the second thing I'm excited about is our community pep rally. That's huge. And again, I love it because we're in a time where people are really coming in and taking ownership and really embracing Elgin and just watching people embracing and how they embrace it. That's been a beautiful thing, Ms. Debbie.

Interviewer - I agree with you. I'm a native Elginite myself, and it's wonderful for me to see new people come into our community and are proud of it.

Charles - Yes.

Interviewer - Oh yeah. Not just us old-timers, but people who are newly minted Elginites are excited about their community.

Charles - Oh yeah. And Ms. Debbie, you might call me strange after this, but I love when I take walks in my community when I walk up and down Main Street. Sometimes I do it early in the morning before work, or I could do it between 8:30 and nine o'clock. There is something about walking up and down Main Street when you're walking by these businesses, even if they are open or closed, and you just feel a sense of freshness. And then also when you walk inside of a school—I’m a very atmosphere type of person. So, when I walk inside of a school, I look around and I think of just a total atmosphere. And just the atmosphere of when you walk into the schools has been just great. And then when you go into football games and cheer these kids home and you see the stands just full, these fans from Elgin cheering them on, no matter if you win or lose that sea of purple, that's a beautiful thing. The pride in all of that.

Interviewer - So, are you still involved with the athletics?

Charles - School? Oh yes. Oh yeah. Yes ma'am. Go to the games. I go to the games. Yes, ma'am. Here's the deal. There's always that one child. Everybody else might have their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters at the game. But there's that one child that probably didn't have anybody. They're cheering them on. And I want to be that one that could cheer that child on. They may never meet me. I may never meet them, but I just want to cheer. Cheer that child on.

Interviewer - You're the cheerleader on one of my teams too! Alright, one more question. As I said, I know that you've got things that you need to do for work. You've told us some really good stories. You've told us stories about Coach Berry giving advice, and Reverend Goins. You've told us stories about your basketball playing experiences. You've told us about growing up in Elgin and being called Bam as you walked around the streets. Are there any other favorite stories that you have growing up—something that happened to you that you find to be particularly interesting or funny or that you would want to share with us?

Charles - Probably not at this moment that I can think of because there's a lot of great stuff that has happened in my life, and especially even when I went away for those years, and I still came back. It was always something amazing and eventful. I would just want to just leave with this legacy. A legacy means everything to me. And like I said earlier, neither one of my parents, neither one of my parents graduated from high school and that prompted me to become an education major. And I'm glad I didn't give up after year two or year three when I first started teaching, because every time I walk through a door of my building, I think of my parents and I hope and pray that they're smiling proudly at me, which I feel that they are. But it's my parents. My parents are my driving force along with my babies, but my parents are who I did this for. And moving a school, having a school here in Elgin, and they're buried up the street from here.

Interviewer - At the Westbrook Cemetery?

Charles - At West Westbrook Cemetery. When I pass by there, I smile because their baby helped bring a school here to their hometown and I couldn't be more proud.

Interviewer - Legacy is important.

Charles - Yes, ma'am.

Interviewer - That's something the Elgin Oral History Project is trying to do is to create a legacy of interviews and stories on social media that will last for generations. Thank you so much for being a part of this.

Charles - Thank you. Thank you.

Interviewer - May I call you back?

Charles - You sure can. Thank you. Yes ma'am. Ms. Debbie, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. John.