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Love and Passion

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My Love and Passion...

Fill in the blank. My love and passion for Texas Tech comes from…..

Stanley Myles • Gaithersburg, MD • Class of 1968

My family hails from Ackerly, a little town in Dawson County about eighty miles south of Lubbock. My grandfather and my father were both well drillers, mainly involved in drilling wells for irrigation, but my father drilled wells for any purpose - residential water supply, oil and mineral exploration, and mining. His work required many moves; during my first 17 years we moved nearly three dozen times. I attended four elementary schools, one junior high, and three high schools in five states.

The one constant in my upbringing was Texas Tech. My father was a fervent fan and supporter of Tech football starting as a youngster following Pete Cawthon's teams traveling around the country in the 1930s. My parents told me that I attended my first Tech football game when I was only a few weeks old. One of my earliest memories was watching the game clock wind down at Jones Stadium. We attended away games whenever possible. The highlight of my childhood was being in the stands to witness Tech beat Texas for the first time in 1955.

Beyond sports, as a child and adolescent Tech was a powerful part of my very identity as I constantly had to reestablish myself in new towns and new schools. The connection to Tech that I felt was very personal. When I stepped on campus as a student for the first time, it was like coming home.

In all the years since I graduated in 1968, I have maintained my connection to Tech through sports and donor activities despite following a career that led me to live far away. My Tech roommates and I have together attended numerous Tech sporting events throughout the country, including nearly 40 football games. I support Tech through the Alumni Association, the Red Raider Club, and the Matador Society. I'm intensely proud of the progress Tech has made over the past fifty years to become a premier institution of higher and professional learning, as well as the vital contributions it has made to the well-being and development of the West Texas region. I am grateful to be a part of Raider Nation. As always, I'm thrilled to say "Go Tech!"

Amanda Dorton • Lubbock, TX • Class of 1991

I grew up a Red Raider, however I am the first in my family to graduate from Tech. My love of Tech started by being in The Goin' Band from Raiderland. Best traditions ever! Being a part of this Tech organization gave me a lifetime of friends, family and amazing memories. I met my best friends and husband of 32 years. My daughter was also in the Goin Band and a sister in Tau Beta Sigma. My pasion continues as my husband and I are still very active in the Tech band by being board members in the Goin Band alumni association. Ofcourse my education at Tech prepared me to teach for the last 31 years.

Kelsey Halfen • Richmond, TX • Class of 1998 and 2009

I loved my time as an undergrad at Tech but thing that really changed my life was my graduate work. As a young mom and new teacher, Tech offered an amazing opportunity to develop my career through the online Instructional Technology graduate program. I learned so much and was able to balance work, school, and motherhood. Since then, I have been named my campus Teacher of the Year in 2017. That same year, I made the finals for FBISD Secondary Teacher of the year and co-coached my first 6A State Champion Academic Decathlon team! Since then, we have won six straight Texas Academic Decathlon titles, broken the record for highest scoring team in Texas history, and made two trips to USAD Nationals.

This year I was named Texas Academic Decathlon Coach of the Year. Teaching and coaching are my absolute passion and joy. I feel like I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for the excellent education I got at Texas Tech University! Wreck ‘Em Tech! Thank you!

Larry Cheek • Langley, WA • Class of 1970

Officially, my transcript says I earned a BA in journalism with a minor in Russian. But I also had an unofficial minor, and as I look back on the half-century since my graduation, that one has made all the difference in my life.

In 1968-69 I was a member of the Tech Singers, the second-string Music Department choir that was good enough to be tapped for serious performances with orchestra, such as the Haydn "Creation" oratorio and Howard Hanson's "Song of Democracy." In my spare time I was also teaching myself classical guitar. One day as we were leaving the choir room after rehearsal a soprano friend named JoAnn Park, a music major, noticed my guitar sheet music and asked if she could look at it. I handed it to her. She opened it and saw immediately that I'd been penciling in the note names-E, F#, G#, A ... Her jaw dropped.

"Larry!" she squealed. "You're supposed to be able to read music in this choir!!"

Three dozen choir members, most of them thoroughly adept music-reading music majors, spun and stared, saucer-eyed. I begged the earth to open an instant chasm and swallow me. It did not.

I'd been singing in choirs for years. I loved music, and I had a good enough ear that I could generally intuit where the music was going and tune myself to the nearby singers who actually knew what they were doing. But read the music? Not really.

The choral director, Gene Kinney, somehow missed learning about the imposter in the bass section. I remained in Tech Singers and the next semester signed up for Music Theory 101. And in the semesters that followed, a bunch more music courses. By the time I graduated, I had 19 credits in music. And I could read music.

The journalism degree program was wisely structured with few required courses outside the Journalism Department, leaving us free to wander wherever our interests took us and assemble a broad-spectrum education. Besides Russian and music, I took electives in sociology, political science, French existentialism, Mandarin, and more. But of everything I learned at Tech, music has been the beating heart at the center of my life.

I met the woman who became my wife because of music. Patty Ball was a music major and was prepping for her senior recital when we had our first date. When she learned I could read music she asked me to be her page-turner. (I still am, 52 years later.) I became the music critic for the Arizona newspaper I worked for some years later and wrote hundreds of concert reviews and music features. I studied piano seriously and even taught for a few years. I built a couple of harpsichords. I regret that I never became a good enough pianist to play at a concert-quality level-I started much too late-but I saw many friends who were professional musicians struggle and was frankly glad I never had to earn a living at it. Music is way harder than journalism and unless you rise to the rarified top, it pays even worse.

I usually have music playing in the background for several hours a day now while I'm doing other things-writing, cooking, building boats, sweeping the porch. When a particularly interesting piece comes along I'll shift my focus and listen intently. And I'll understand quite a bit about what I'm hearing. I still love music more than anything else I've done in my life, and thanks to a supremely embarrassing moment at Tech in 1968, I'm no longer a bystander or imposter. I live in music.

Sydney Crane • Lubbock, TX • Class of 2015 and 2017

My love and passion for Texas Tech started well before I even stepped foot on campus at the start of my schooling in the Fall of 2011. My mom was a proud Texas Tech grad, and for years in middle and high school, I would come to Lubbock and be a part of the band and orchestra camp on campus. I always watched Texas Tech sports and wore the bold scarlet and black colors proudly on college t-shirt day in school. I knew I was destined to write my own Red Raider story when I made the decision to attend school here for not one, but two degrees! (That's how much I love Texas Tech)!

My fondest memories not only involve my educational experiences and where that has led me as a professional today in the Lubbock community, but also the passion and spirit I felt on campus and still today whenever I see a fellow Red Raider. The culture of Texas Tech is one of excitement, pride, and support for all things scarlet and black, getting your guns up when the suns up, tortillas, and wrecking em. I am a proud Texas Tech alum and my love and passion will never fade. I think in some ways, it's grown stronger as I have Texas Tech to thank for the many friendships, experiences, education, and beautiful memories I cherish and hold close. #wreckemforever #ttuloveandpassion

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