A Student. A Singer. An Athlete.
He’s protecting the quarterback as some of the nation’s toughest defenses run at him on a Saturday afternoon in October.
On a Sunday evening, he’s on stage for an Alma College chorale concert.
“Typical” does not describe senior offensive lineman Brian Weston.
During the week he’s watching film, heading to football practice, studying for a poetry final and stressing over his stress management exam.
A student, a singer, an athlete — Weston is proud to be all of these things.
He said once that he came to Alma because he won championships at Gaylord St. Mary’s High School, and Alma wins championships. In fact, Weston helped win MIAA titles in football 2002 and 2004.
However, there was a bit more to his decision to wear Maroon and Cream than football.
His older sister, Emily, graduated from Alma College in 2001, was a member of the choir and Alpha Xi Delta, but was not an athlete. She told choir director Dr. Will Nichols, Secrest Professor of Music, that he should recruit her brother.
“She told me that I should recruit him because he was a winner — and how he is,” says Nichols.
Emily had graduated before Brian stepped foot on campus as a freshman, but when he visited his sister and campus while still in high school, he met students in the choir and began the development of relationships that continue today. His days on the gridiron for the Scots had not yet begun.
Four years later, Brian is set to graduate with a degree in business administration. Five years after Emily graduated, Brian will do the same — sister and brother with the same alma mater but such different experiences. Brian spent four years hitting and getting hit on the football field, striving for excellence and victories, playing with and for pride.
“I remember being a freshman yesterday,” claims Brian. “You think I’m kidding, but I remember my first game — Wheaton, at home. I was a college football player. Our marching band — with the bagpipes and the kilts, marching out and playing. That rush of excitement from my first college game sticks out in my mind now.
“That, and beating Hope for the conference title last year,” he says, laughing. Emily Weston knew her brother was a winner four years ago but could not have known he would leave Alma with two MIAA Championships and a four-year record of 29-13.
Maybe it’s not the winning, the success that Emily had in mind for her younger brother.
It can only be more.
— Lindsay Carpenter ‘02
