Marquel Carter: From Culver to Columbia

On and off the football field, Culver City High graduate Marquel Carter set a worthy example. And he will continue to this fall, when he plays football and studies engineering at Columbia University. "The one thing that goes through my mind,'' he said, ''is just to be successful so that people can see that it's possible.''

The class of 2010 graduate was an honor roll student, maintaining a 3.5 grade point average, and won a $10,000 scholarship from Champs Sports with an essay titled ''My Inspiration: My Dream.'' He was the star quarterback on a football team that won an Ocean League championship, and also played basketball for the Centaurs and competed on the track team.

Carter, 18, credits much of his success to mother Tika Tinnon, who raised him on her own. 

Tinnon taught him perseverance, determination and compassion. She made sure Carter was involved in several extracurricular activities and that he exposed to the wider world--he speaks Japanese and has traveled to Japan twice. She also happily took her son to sporting events and outings with friends.

Tinnon would also take Carter to work with her at Sony, where she was the director of distribution operations, so he could talk to her co-workers and learn about what they did.

"It took sacrifices, but it was a labor of love that I would totally do again," Tinnon said. "And it was necessary in order to make sure that all doors were open to him, that he was able to experience everything that life has to offer, and in his future, he would be willing to branch out and explore new things because of those sacrifices."

In addition to his mother, Carter also had a variety of caregivers and mentors looking out for him as he grew up in Culver City. Alice Horiba, his fifth grade teacher at El Marino Language School where he studied Japanese and was student body president, was a particular influence as were the parents of some of his friends. 

"We were really blessed to find such a wonderful community within Culver City, because all of the families, they embrace you and you embrace them," Tinnon said.

These other parental figures gave Carter love and support that helped fill voids in his single-parent household, he said.

"I wouldn't say it felt like I had two parents, but it didn't feel like having one wasn't enough," Carter said. "I always had my friends' parents, and there were just so many people.

"There's a quote that says, 'It takes a village to raise a child.' I kind of think that's what happened with me. It wasn't just my mom, although she was probably 95 percent of it, but there was also the other 5 percent composed of my friends' parents. They cared about me just as much as they did about my friends."

Carter, who has also received scholarships from the Culver City Exchange Club and from Columbia, is hopeful that people can draw inspiration from his achievements.

"I think a lot of times .... people fail because they feel like they can't do something and they let that get into their head," he said. "And so I think if they have a visual reference to somebody that they know, it's easier to feel like they'll … be accomplished."

Even when Carter was a child, people could see the potential.  

"Marquel was a very popular, active and energetic fifth-grade student," Horiba remembers. "He is a natural leader and understood how to set a good example for his fellow peers.  He is bright and when he focused on his studies, he excelled. Even back in the fifth grade, connecting with people came natural to Marquel."

For Culver City High football coach Jahmal Wright, Carter was  "kind of a model of how you want a student-athlete to be able to carry himself. I think Columbia is really getting a gem. The athletic side of Marquel isn't even like a snippet of who he really is.

"They're getting a well-rounded young man that's going to eventually represent Columbia very well, because Marquel is one of those young men that you know is going to be very successful in life."

Though Carter will be far from home, his mother will still be present and active. Her family is from New York, so she plans to visit frequently especially during football season. She used to take Carter to New York every summer so she isn't worried about how he'll fare in the city. 

"I hate to see my best friend go, but I'm happy for him, and I'm excited for what he's about to embark on," Tinnon said. "It's an awesome thing for him to be able to go to an Ivy League college. He's the first in our family."