A huge fan of "Top Gun" – who, by now, has probably seen the film’s recently released sequel – and hailing from La Porte, comes Marshawn Sherrod.
Reflecting on his younger days, Sherrod was not short in saying how fantastic it was to be brought up in an environment like La Porte. And that comes as a testament to how spectacular the town still is.
“I thought it was a good life, growing up in La Porte. I played basketball from fourth grade to my senior year of high school, I had good friends, and I was so involved,” Sherrod said.
And as for his family life, Sherrod has had a storybook adventure, one capable of beautifully filling the pages of a novel that has yet to be written. He was between two worlds, though able to thrive in each one.
“I was involved in two good families, a black family and a white family. My parents got divorced when I was younger, so I was living in Michigan City with my dad while I went to La Porte schools. And it kind of got hard for my dad to take me back and forth, so I took a big duffel bag to stay at my buddy's house, because I still wanted to go to school and play sports. And my buddy's parents were a huge help. Then, one day, they just sat me down and said, ‘Do you want to live here? We got a room downstairs and a shower and everything.’ So I guess you could say that they kind of adopted me. At first, it was friends, but then we became a family,” Sherrod said.
As it is for most people, college is usually the first spot after one’s high school graduation. But it was different for Sherrod, and it’s easy to say that he merged onto a rather selfless route, pursuing serving the nation as his vocation.
“I went to the military right after high school, straight into active duty. I did my basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina,” Sherrod said. “Then, I did my advanced individual training at Fort Lee, Virginia. And then I was stationed in Hawaii for a couple years and I got out in June of 2020.”
Shortly after his departure from the army, Sherrod set his sights on working elsewhere, maybe closer to home. A few options were presented to him, and he’s always seemed to find the best of the best.
“I was going to be a police officer, but that changed, and I got approached by a different company where I would get better benefits. I got a college degree on it and everything. So I went to work for this company I'm at now, New Age Telecom, and I've been working here for the past couple years,” Sherrod said.
With the eventual start up of his own company, Sherrod Technology and Sales, there’s definitely some excitement ahead on his path. Since he's merely at the peak of beginning things with the business, there wasn’t much to be said.
But the future surely is bright, and Sherrod is looking forward to the prospect of operating in Indiana.
“I think it'd be great. I think there’s a lot of opportunity here in Indiana. I’ve made good relationships growing up in La Porte, so I think that running a business here could be great for anybody. And it's going to be a black-owned business, so I think that’d be great, too,” Sherrod said.
Even outside of the potential the company has, it’s evident that Sherrod has goals, goals that he would like to see realized. Those goals are bright, too, possibly allowing him to help others in the same way he has been helped in his life.
“My main goal for the future, I would say, is to help people as I was helped at a young age. In case kids do not know where to go or don’t have somewhere to stay, I would think I would try to step in and help, like I was helped,” Sherrod said.