Amin Woods excelled on and off the football field
Throughout this month there will be college graduations all across the country. Most of the students graduating are members of high school classes of 2020. For those particular students, because of the newly-declared COVID-19 pandemic, when they graduated from high school there just wasn’t that much celebrating to be done. Their schools had been closed several months earlier, and mass gatherings, like graduations, had been highly discouraged, if not outlawed.
So, that makes this year’s college graduations even that much more important. Most every student looks forward to that big culminating ceremony that marks the end of an educational era.
Cornwall’s Amin Woods is no different from those other hundreds of thousands of students. He’s a 2020 Cornwall Central High School graduate who spent the last four years studying at Marist College; he’s set to receive his degree on May 18.
When interviewed at the end of April Woods said he was enjoying the last few weeks of his college career — “everything’s pretty much done, it’s just time to walk the stage”.
He looked back on a fast four years at Marist, despite having started college, again, amidst COVID protocols.
If you don’t know Woods, you might recall his name anyway. At CCHS he was a standout football player, on a team that won the state football championships two years in a row, going 24-0 actually. That varsity team was coached by Mike Connolly and Ryan Baldock, and Woods played on it from the end of his freshman year through his senior year.
When he got to Marist, an NCAA Division 1 team, there was no football season his first year. That was disappointing to Woods, because while he still really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, he did know that he wanted to continue to play football. He was a good high school student, who worked hard in both the classroom and on the field because “I knew that football would get me into college”.
(He tossed out a shout-out to his favorite CCHS teacher here — Mrs. Christine Dolan, a math teacher!)
As the world recovered, Woods did end up playing for the Red Foxes — and playing well. As a matter of fact, if you happened to tune into ESPN last September 30, you may have heard mention of him as he carried the ball 38 times, for 233 yards, in a win over Stetson University. His work on the field that day set a D1 program record for Marist. He had six touchdowns on the season, also breaking a school record.
But, that’s all in the past now and the young man that went to college mostly to play football but also to get a good education, graduates as an already-successful entrepreneur.
“Within my first semester I decided I was going to study in the business field,” Woods said. “I dove right in and started my own e-commerce website. That means, using the power of social media and online shopping, he has cultivated a following of shoppers using TikTok and other platforms. He finds fun, seasonal items that he thinks people might want to purchase — “mostly small impulse buys,” he said — and gets them into the hands of those who want them. In the process, he makes some fairly decent money.
“I take a lot of pride in my entrepreneurship,” he said. “And, I believe one of the best ways to make money is online.”
Now, that said, he’s also in the market for a ‘real’ job as he graduates from college. He’s willing to share some of his good traits with potential employers — self-driven, self-motivated, high energy and hard working — as he searches for that perfect job.
But, when he gets that job, he won’t be stopping his e-commerce business — “I want to have multiple streams of income,” he says.
Woods is also willing to share some of his best advice for his fellow Class of 2024 college graduates and the CCHS Class of 2024’s grads — “bet on yourself,” he says, “Double down on your aspirations and motivations. And know that it’s okay to take some risks.”
As graduation approaches, Woods, who lives in Newburgh with his girlfriend, is spending a lot of time working out — “strong body, strong mind”. He’s also paying tribute to his parents, Yasmin and John, for their support as he has become an adult and dealt with challenges along the way.
“COVID threw some adversity in my face, but I definitely overcame it,” he said. “Others can do the same thing.”
