• He graduated from Jesuit High School (it's okay; he's wearing a shield on his chest now) and said that he enjoyed it.
• He dreamt of joining the marines. "As I grew up, I felt that every­thing I did was preparing me to accomplish this goal and to excel in that career field."
• Passing both the academic and physical fitness assessments with exceedingly high grades, he fell short with the medical ex­am. "A medical condition I had had as a child and teenager per­manently eliminated me from all military service. I was crushed."
• He was unsure as of what to do next; his whole life had centered around this dream. "Over time, I took the drive and the determi­nation with which I pursued my goal of becoming a marine, and I applied it to other pursuits, both physical fitness pursuits as well as academic ones."
• He went to UNO majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies. "My college experience was different than most. I worked my way through college, mostly coaching swimming and bartending; so I did not have a traditional college experience. Both were great experien­ces in which I learned several valuable life lessons."
• He also worked at Perret's Army Surplus Store in college and, af­ter graduating, he had an outside sales representative position for a natural stone company. "While this was a great job, I still felt a calling to serve others through teaching and coaching."
• He was hired at St. Louis King of France School as a middle school social studies teacher, and Brother Martin hired him as a swim team coach shortly afterwards.

Coach Bordelon, always a spiritual man, grew up greatly influenced by religion.

• "Throughout my childhood and my teenage years, I was always very involved in my church parish: participating in CYO and youth group activities, serving as an altar server, volunteering with the Parish School of Religion programs. In addition to this, I was ac­tively involved in Campus Ministry activities at my high school."
• After his inability to join the military, he "started to question God's plan for me; and this led to a questioning of my overall faith in general."
• He went through his personal "Dark Ages" in which he wandered faith-wise and struggled with his spiritual side. "I began to un­derstand that while my life might not have gone down the path I wanted (at first), it was going in the direction God wanted me to travel." He started trusting God more, and realized that he could use his abilities in coaching and teaching.

Brother Martin has been one of the best experiences that Coach Bor­delon has encountered.

• "My favorite part of Brother Martin is the people, both staff and students. Everyone that is a part of Brother Martin make it the place that it is today. The faculty and staff are some of the best people I have ever encountered. They all have such diverse per­sonalities and backgrounds, yet every single one of them comes together as one to carry out the mission with which we are task­ed: helping boys turn into men. I feel that the students are the heart of Brother Martin. They look after their classmates as if they were their own brothers."
• He loves coaching because he loves the sense of unity among the members of both the swim team and the track and field team. "Their spirit and selflessness give me the motivation to push myself to be a better coach as well as a better person ... there are no individuals on our team."

Coach Bordelon ends with some words of wisdom:

"No matter what you might think, your teachers really are trying to help you to succeed. Everything we do is intend­ed to prepare you for the "real world," even if you cannot see it right now. I know you might hear this statement often, and most of the time you probably just ignore it. I was the same way when I was in high school. It took cer­tain experiences in my own life to realize that my teachers were trying their absolute best to help me to succeed. Again, you may not see it right now, but your teachers are hard at work to prepare you for what lies ahead."