Rachel Perez • Duncanville, TX • Class of 2010 and 2014

I attended Texas Tech from Fall 2007 - Summer 2010. The most life-changing experience I had was the study abroad program in Sevilla, Spain, in the fall of 2009. I went with the confidence that I did not know any Spanish, but I would have professors from Tech that would have experience with mono linguists such a myself.

The second week, I met a really great guy who would one day become my husband. We met at a bar and became best friends, hitting the gym together, watching soccer together, and traveling all over europe. I earned tons of Spanish credits, I learned the language, I bonded with my host family, and I learned a lot about life and the world.

My now husband eventually moved to Lubbock in summer of 2011 to get an MA in Romance Languages and teach undergrad students. We married in 2015. I'm so glad I went to Tech and to Sevilla!

Kevin Rackers • Frisco, TX • Class of 1998

My kids wanted me to thank Texas Tech and all the great memories we created there, because without Tech, they would not be here right now. My wife, Jenny, and I met at Tech through my Fraternity, Kappa Sigma. We were in many of the same classes after we started dating before we both graduated from the Rawls School of Business with Marketing degrees.

We were both from the DFW area and moved back to Frisco, TX in 2001 after we graduated in '98. She has been the chief family officer since the kids were born and I have been a Certified Financial Planner for over 21 years now, and currently in Frisco with Edward Jones. Our kids are at Frisco Wakeland High School now Cheerleading and playing Baseball, but Tech still means a lot to us today even as we go back once a year to games, attend alumni events in the DFW area and still hang out with many of our old Tech friends still to this day.

Tech was not just a 4 year education, but more a part of mine, my wife's and now our kids life's forever! Thank you and congrats on 100 years! My favorite memories besides fraternity life was getting to the '95-'95 sweet 16 basketball team games half a day in advance to be one of the crazies on the floor (that was a fun year), and also seeing Tech beat A&M in College Station and hearing 80,000 fans completely silent was amazing! A sad memory was my 1st football game ever seeing our beloved horse pass away in '94. Seeing an entire fan base rally around a sad moment like that though was another reason why we love Tech so much!

Elizabeth Hoffman • Houston, TX • Class of 1984

I was in graduate school as an Athletic Trainer. My second semester, I met the love of my life, Van Hoffman. We were in the same graduate program. We were married for 38 years until his passing this year, 2022. I will always have very fond memories of the 2 years we spent at Texas Tech.

Sarah Harris • Lubbock, TX • Class of 2011

In 2010, I went to Seville, Spain to study abroad for the summer! It was my first time out of the country so I was excited to experience a new culture and meet new people. I became friends with a few people in my class before the trip. We travelled there together and experienced Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Africa together. Once study abroad was over, we all kept in contact. I kept in contact with one person in particular who I got along very well with...I never expected she would eventually become my wife! We are Red Raiders for life and still can't believe how that one summer in Spain changed our lives.

Ron and Carol Powell • Tulsa, OK • Class of 1967

My wife to be and I met in a class soph year spring of 1965. Married May 28, 1966. Graduated Aug 1967. Moved to Tulsa September 1967. We both had very successful careers. Now married 56 years; 2 children; 6 grandchildren; 1 GREAT grandson.

Laura Landenberger • League City, TX • Class of 2002

Aaron and I (both class of 2002) met early on in our Texas Tech years, probably at a TKE fraternity party, but we were just good friends until after we both graduated. One day, we just realized we were more than friends and we started a love story that is one for the ages. He commissioned into the Air Force in May 2003 after finishing his ROTC requirements, and we got married in June 2003 and headed to our first assignment in Colorado Springs immediately after. From there, it was us against the world, and we didn't want it any other way. We had our first son in Colorado, and after 3 1/2 years there, we got stationed at Johnson Space Center in Houston. We had our 2nd son there, which completed our family of 4.

When our youngest son was 2 in 2010, Aaron was diagnosed with melanoma. He underwent surgery and immunotherapy, and all was seemingly well. So the Air Force sent us to our next assignment at Los Angeles AFB. At his very first CT scan in California, we learned that the melanoma had spread to his lungs and was now Stage IV. Over the course of the next few years, he underwent several different treatments to combat this beast. At different times, the melanoma spread to his lungs, liver, brain, and colon. In 2014, he was medically retired from the Air Force and we returned to Houston to put down some roots for our children, and to be near his doctors at MD Anderson.

I wish I could tell you he beat this beast, but he did give it everything he had. After a couple of years of the right combination of treatments keeping the cancer at bay, eventually melanoma outsmarted the chemo. He ran his last half marathon on January 18, 2015, and that week he went into the hospital because the cancer had returned with a vengeance. He passed on from this world as I held him in my arms on March 1, 2015.

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Melissa McCormick • Abilene, TX

I am a true Athletic fan of the red raiders. The students to the mascots are tremendous with enjoyment. I could not be a bigger fan with any other than the Texas Tech Athletics.