by Mason Gentry
Brian Walker is a custodian here at Parkland College. But if you ask him, the job is much more than that. His responsibilities cover a great range including advice, direction and a warm welcome for each student and faculty member. Walker exemplifies a level of friendliness, wisdom and excitement that should be shared.
A Champaign-Urbana native, Walker went to school at Central High School where his lengthy future in academia was inspired by his lifelong mentor, Freeman Hrabowski. It was Hrabowski that stopped Walker in the halls one day for missing class and helped change his life. With his influence and involvement with Upper Bound, a scholastic program for students in the area, Walker found his interest in Chemistry which would guide him in his future endeavors.
“In the first week of its approval, the drug ended up selling for 6.5 million dollars. Despite his work, Walker only earned a 13-dollar marble plaque”
After graduating from Hampton University in 1981, “I used to work at a company called A.H. Robins, [which was] a drug company. [My boss] was developing high performance liquid chromatography, standardizing the method for testing the drug products, and I was studying thin layer chromatography, graph chromatography, mass spec, straight out of college,” Walker said. He and his boss worked on preventing and removing a parasitic disease in chickens called coccidia. In the first week of its approval, the drug ended up selling for 6.5 million dollars. Despite his work, Walker only earned a 13–dollar marble plaque.
Based on his work ethic, Brian was encouraged by his friend, Kim Feldman, and his mother to apply to Meharry Medical College in Nashville where he was accepted and enrolled for two years from 1985-1987. Having tended to his ill mother, he was not able to continue here because of Reagan era stipulations, where school exams must be passed within a year.
In 1995, Walker moved from his job at the Caterpillar Headquarters in Morton, Ill. to the University of Miami and eventually to Atlanta. Later that year he moved back home to Champaign-Urbana where he worked for two years as a sales chemist on Anthony Drive—a now defunct company. Following that, he applied for a chemist position in Rantoul, Ill. in 1998. He was hired on to the team of freshly graduated, young chemists. However, upon his first day, he was scolded for missing his first three department meetings—the dates of which were sent to him via email. Embarrassed, Walker did not want to have to explain to his boss that he didn’t know what an email was after being built up as such an experienced chemist.
Frustration turned into motivation and Walker taught himself how to use computers at the media library on the U of I campus for free. Eventually, he purchased a whole computer set with Windows ‘95 in Dec. of 1998. He then realized that computers could, “make t-shirt transfers, you can make CD labels, you can make this, you can make money off this!” Walker decided to take his Hrabowski’s advice and enrolled in computer-oriented classes here at Parkland in 2001.
After coming down with a serious illness, Walker was sentenced to his bedroom for two months. Walker, now bed ridden, was forced to voluntarily resign from his position at the lab in Rantoul.
Walker was happy to explain his life up until this point and even happier to be doing what he loves. “Right now, I have my own IT practice, I do video surveillance, I’m monitoring 17 cameras on my phone for [various businesses],” Walker said. Along with camera surveillance, Walker builds computer labs for churches in the area, repairs laptops and does several other computer-related business transactions for people and friends in the area. At Parkland, Walker always tries to maintain the same character as he does outside the community. He aims to keep positive. “Life throws you curves, what you think his going to happen in your life, is not going to happen. But education is always a crutch you can fall back on,” he said. If you see him around campus, make sure to give Walker warm salutations and don’t stray from talking to him!
