Jason McNair

Jason McNair was raised in the small east Texas town of Kemp, Texas located approximately 45 miles southeast of Dallas. He went to Kemp schools from kindergarten until he graduated in 1988 with a total of 62 seniors. Jason started his college career at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas that same year. He soon struggled with working full time, living on his own and maintaining his grades. He had recently met his future wife, Collien, and felt he needed to do more in order to create a more solid life for them. Jason joined the United States Marine Corps in February of 1992. He graduated from boot camp on May 2, 1992 and exactly one week later he married the love of his life, Collien.

Jason was trained as a weather observer at Chanute, AFB., Illinois for 15 weeks and received 35 college hours for his training. He then was given orders to MCAS Bogue Field where he served as a weather observer on the flight line. He was promoted to Corporal (Non Commissioned Officer) in 2 years and attended Corporal Leadership School for Non Commissioned Officers. He graduated 8th in his class.

Jason was offered promotion to Sergeant and a substantial reenlistment bonus, but turned it down so that he could go back to Texas and complete college. He reenrolled in Trinity Valley Community College in Athens and from January of 1997 to December of 1997 he attended straight through to earn his Associate of Arts Degree. Jason had plans to attend The University of Texas at Tyler, however, his car broke down and he had to go back to work. He worked for Coca-Cola Dallas Syrup Branch for almost 8 years, putting his wife through Nursing School all the while. He left the lucrative job at Coca-Cola in 2005 to pursue his education in Psychology. It was during this time that his life was changed forever. He and his wife adopted 3 children after fostering them for almost 2 years. By October of 2007 they had their first child together and in September of 2008 the adoption was final and Jason became a stay at home father until 2012. He applied and was accepted into The University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Psychology. Jason then applied for his Licensed Chemical Dependency Internship in March of 2014 and began working at Sundown Ranch, LLC., in Canton, Texas. He would work there for 14 months before leaving to be a stay at home father once again for his kids and family. In 2017 he was on his way to a family event and received a call and was offered a Counseling Intern job at Waterford Academy, LLC., and he never looked back.

The most fulfilling part of his job is knowing he is making a difference instead of a catchy product and that what he sends back to the world is a kid with hope.

He chose this field because he witnessed firsthand the destruction addiction brings to families and how the ravages of drugs and addiction is destroying his small community, and thousands just like it across this country.