Janice and Edward “Nick” McGowen have established the Janice and Edward "Nick" McGowen '93 Endowed Scholarship. Distributions from this endowment will be used to provide one or more scholarships to full-time students in good standing pursuing an undergraduate degree in ocean engineering from Texas A&M University in Galveston, Texas.
Nick attended his first Aggie football game as a freshman in high school and was instantly drawn to the culture at Texas A&M. When it came time to apply for college, he chose to study at Texas A&M at Galveston to chase his dream of being an Aggie. “I’ve never looked back on my decision to be an Aggie at a small campus,” he said.
Nick was the first in his family to attend a four-year university. Unsure of how to develop successful study habits, he left school his sophomore year to work a full-time job. But after several years of working, he felt Texas A&M calling him back to fulfill his dream. “My goals were not attainable without accomplishing my desire to graduate as an Aggie,” he said.
Motivated by his desire to achieve his goals, Nick put in the work to get back into his dream school. He enrolled in junior college to retake courses and prove his ability to achieve academic excellence. He met with the dean of engineering and was granted reacceptance into the university.
Once back at Texas A&M, Nick applied himself to his studies to demonstrate his commitment to his academic pursuits. At his graduation, the dean of admissions found him in the crowd and gave him a hug. “She said, ‘I knew you were going to make it, you've worked so hard for this day,’” Nick said.
From that moment, he knew he wanted to give back to Texas A&M. “Clearing a financial hurtle is the simplest thing I can do for someone with a passion to succeed,” Nick said.
The McGowens established the scholarship to give students the opportunity to achieve their goals. They hope their demonstration of commitment to Texas A&M and higher education will inspire recipients and enable them to pay the gift forward in the future.
The McGowens live in League City, Texas. They have three children, Kaitlyn, Ethan and Nicholas ’23. Nick is currently the senior director for travel quality engineering at PROS, a computer software company he has worked at for the last 16 years.