Brian Carriere attended the Perkinston Campus from 1992-1994, where he played tennis and embraced campus life. In 1994, he was elected to the Perkinston Hall of Fame and named to Who’s Who Among American Junior Colleges.
Today, Carriere is an instructor at the Harrison County Campus, where he has spent more than 23 years helping another generation of Gulf Coast students pursue their goals.
“Gulf Coast is one of the most known and respected institutions in our region,” he said. “Being an instructor here for 23-plus years has been a blessing.”
His connection to Gulf Coast, however, began long before he arrived at Perk as a student.
His father, Philip C. “Phil” Carriere, attended the Perkinston Campus from 1961-1963 and competed in track and field. Brian’s mother, Mary K. Trippe, followed a few years later, attending Perkinston in 1964-1965.
The Gulf Coast tradition continued with Brian’s wife, Meredith Carriere, who attended the Harrison County Campus from 2002-2004.
And Brian’s daughter, Carolina Carriere, became the next generation to choose Gulf Coast, attending the Harrison County Campus from 2021-2023. She was named to Who’s Who and received the Harrison County Campus Citizenship Award in 2024, adding her own accomplishments to the family’s Gulf Coast story.
Now the family story is returning to where it began.
His son, Carter Carriere, will begin attending the Perkinston Campus in fall 2026, following the same path to Perk taken by his grandparents and father before him. Carter will also continue another Carriere tradition at Gulf Coast: athletics. He will play baseball for the Bulldogs.
For Brian, the connections to Perkinston remain as vivid as ever.
“The memories and friendships we made at Perk while in college are still part of my inner psyche,” he said. “The 1993 spring blizzard is still a vivid memory. Life on campus was always entertaining, even if unconventional at times.”
From Phil competing in track and field to Brian playing tennis and Carter preparing to take the field as a Bulldog baseball player, athletics is one of many threads connecting the Carriere generations to Gulf Coast. Their experiences have stretched across campuses and generations, but each has found a place of their own within the College.
For the Carrieres, Gulf Coast is not simply part of the family’s past. With Carter beginning his own journey at Perk this fall, it remains very much a part of the family’s present and future.
