Track’s Maxwell Myers Is Maryland Made

Junior track star Maxwell Myers is the embodiment of what a successful student-athlete represents at the University of Maryland. His perseverance and work ethic have allowed him to transform his educational and athletic goals and breakthrough into the computer science industry. 

His journey to athletic and academic success began just down the road from the University of Maryland in nearby Ellicott City, Maryland. Myers graduated from Howard High School, where his track and field career took off.

“I was born 10 minutes from Maryland, and I lived in Beltsville until I was five years old,” said Myers. “When I got to high school, that's where everything really changed. I got cut from my high school football team after playing from third grade to eighth grade, and then I was like what do I do now?”

Growing up, Myers had loved to play football, and found himself only competing in track rarely and mostly to improve his football skills. However, once he was cut from his high school football team, Myers turned his attention to track and academics. For Myers, getting cut from his football team was a blessing in disguise. 

Towards the beginning of his high school career, Myers found himself struggling both academically and athletically. He was not doing well in his classes, and realized that he would have to turn around his academic fortunes and prepare himself to once again try out for the football team. He dedicated himself to academics and in the short span of one year, was able to improve himself tremendously. 

“If you looked at me my freshman year and then you looked at me my sophomore year, these are like two completely different people,” said Myers. “I kind of grew out of my immature mentality of not doing my homework, not paying attention in class and stuff like that. I started paying attention in class, doing all my work like I'm supposed to and got my GPA up to a 3.5.”

However, Myers would find himself trying out for the football team and yet again would get cut. That was the turning point for Myers’ track and field career.

“From then on, I was just [going to] focus on track. I worked really hard at indoor and I got to go to the county meet,” he said. “I worked really hard to get to that point and then my goal was to be the fastest person on the team.”

With his newfound competitive spirit, Myers would take his speed to new heights. He continued to get better and better, and by the end of his junior year, he would go on to place fifth in the Maryland state championship meet. 

“I ended up winning indoor states my senior year. It was really my end of junior year towards senior year where I [thought] it’d be nice to run in college, and I started reaching out to coaches,” he said.

Myers mentioned that at first, not many coaches took notice of him. His times were not elite, but they were competitive and highlighted his strong work ethic. However, eventually his strong body of work was enough to catch the eye of Maryland head coach Andrew Valmon. 

“Coach Valmon here was interested in me,” Myers said, “I was also talking to UMBC at the time, but I really vibed more with Maryland, so that's what ended up taking me here.”

It was a decision that would change his life forever. He was introduced to a campus full of supportive individuals and an academic program perfect for Myers. 

“Coming here, I wanted to go to a bigger school,” he said. “Everyone on the team when I came up to visit, it was just a great experience, and I knew a few people on the team they [all thought] it would be great to see me up here. I felt like I was just drawn to [be] here.”

After some convincing from his parents, Myers decided to focus on computer science. He had even taken some courses in high school to prepare himself for Maryland’s competitive program. Myers was not very fond of the major at first. He often found the courses challenging, but he did not let that stop him. He recalls the inspiring words his mother told him when he had almost decided to drop the major. 

“I got here and I took Calc 1 and we took our first exam maybe a month in and I got a 46,” he said, “maybe 48 out of 100, and I called my mom and I was like ‘I don’t think this is for me, like I think I should change majors.’ She told me: ‘You're gonna fail one time, and then just give up? You fail at track, you just give up? You mess up one time at practice and you just go home?’”

Myers took that advice to heart, and from that point on decided he would put all of his determination into his schoolwork. Once he put his mind to it and surrounded himself with a strong supporting cast of professors, TAs, coaches and academic counselors, he began to take off. 

“I'd say as far as being a student athlete, Coach Valmon makes it very accomodating for people to complete their studies and complete their practice at the same time, and make sure we have all of the resources we need to complete things like that,” he said.

Myers credits a lot of his teammates, friends, and academic counselors for helping him have a stronger understanding of the job search process as well as allowing him to have success in the classroom. Along with a number of teammates and friends, Myers would put together a spreadsheet of internships and jobs to apply to, in just his sophomore year. 

“We were kind of jumping the gun in a sense with applying to these jobs. We didn't cover the course material before and stuff like that, but then at the same time, we were still getting the exposure to the type of stuff they were asking in interviews” he said.

His hard work paid off, and Myers was able to secure an internship with a top tech company, Microsoft.

“I ended up getting an internship with Microsoft,” said Myers. “They have an explore program that I applied for. Basically, their explore program allows you to explore both sides of development as a computer science major or information science even.”

Once Myers began his internship, he realized that it would not always be easy. Instead he would have to spend a number of long days trying to improve his work and ensure that he was creating the best version of each and every project.

“The first month we were designing what we were doing. But after that when we started coding, there were so many things I had to get used to. There are so many technicalities. I guess with coding in general, it’s very specific and everything has to be perfect for stuff to run,” he said. “After I made a lot of learning mistakes, but they are learning mistakes. And after I experienced those, I started getting myself together and figuring out what we were doing.”

Throughout his internship, Myers only had one goal in mind - to get a return offer. This led Myers to give his all every day and become a top intern with the company.

“There's a lot of times where I was struggling a lot during the summer, and there were some times [when I had to] put in the extra work, because my goal, when [I was] working for Microsoft, is to get a return offer from them for next summer” he said.

Through his dedication, Myers would end up earning a return offer from Microsoft, and will be working with them again next summer. It is the first step on the way to Myers’ impressive aspirations.

As for now, Myers hopes to improve his time management skills and receive a job offer after he spends his second summer with Microsoft. He will also serve as a Gossett Fellow, a program through the Maryland Made initiative, where he will continue to learn and grow.

“Being a part of Gossett Fellows, that's definitely what led me to apply, because I wanted to in some way shape or form be able to learn more about preparing myself for the future. Even in some ways, trying to teach other student athletes about the importance of preparing yourself for your future,” he said. “It’s imperative that everyone prepares themselves.

“Being Maryland Made means being an individual that has attained success through hard work and the opportunities the University of Maryland, and specifically The Gossett Student-Athlete Center creates for its students.”

In the future, Myers also hopes to leave a lasting impression on those who will be following in his footsteps.

“I want to try and start some type of mentorship program after I graduate college and try and work for other Black kids and minorities to let them know that everyone can do this. It’s not just the majority,” he said. “If I have a stable job and I'm giving back to the community in some sort of way, and have freetime, that'd be the biggest indicator of personal success.”