I toured UT as a high school senior in the Spring of 1996. I remember seeing people in Greek t-shirts, a lot of smiles, and a humongeous football stadium. I often tell people I don't watch the show "Friday Night Lights" because I LIVED IT. I grew up in an itty-bitty town in Texas, high-kicked during half-time and ate more than my fair-share of concession stand nachos. I wore a lot of sequins to footballs games, can still do the "touchdown routine" and tend to look pale now because I have terrible nightmares about applying blush so people 50-yards away could tell I was smiling...seriously.
Our town was between Austin (Hook 'em...UT) and College Station (Gig 'em...A&M), so the whole "big football school" felt familiar to me. My parents sent in my admission check, I had no idea what a VOL was until Orientation, and, well...the rest is history!
Despite these athletic ups-and-downs, we're proud alumni of UT! In early October, we hosted a party for high school students in our area...the UT Alumni office handled inviting the students, we just provided a place for them to gather. The program included folks from Admissions and current UT students who talked about their experiences at UT. I about fell out of my chair when our local weatherman (UT Alum and local celebrity!) walked into our house...he was happy to pose for a picture with Lu! (Emily H., are you reading this? I know how you feel about the weather...ha, ha, ha!)
It's (still) great to be a Tennessee Vol!
The loss was awful, even if it was to my tarheels. I love that ya'll hosted the event...I only remember really old alums hosting when I was in school and no one near as cool/chic/young as you two.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year!
ha! GO BIG ORANGE and thanks for the shout out on the weather! :) We got a weather radio for Christmas.... I'll call you when you need to get in your bathtub. :)
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