A Way to Make Dreams Come True

by Megan Crawford

​Eleven days. Eleven days between the interview in Dallas and the day I got my Terry e-mail. It came so much earlier than I had expected. I had Friday marked on my calendar, not that Tuesday. I had not mentally prepared myself to receive a yes or a no.

I was far away from home the day I found out. I tossed and turned in the hotel bed, trying hard not to wake any of my fellow student council officers that were there with me for the conference. In just two hours we were going to get up to head back home to Wall, TX. As I laid restless, my phone vibrated on the table next to the bed. Immediately, I thought my mom was texting me "Good morning!" as she always does when I am away. It wasn't my mom though, it was an email, from the Terry Foundation. That's all I could see on the screen. At that moment I panicked. I was very unprepared to read about my future. I remember running to the restroom in the room and shutting the door, because either way I was going to cry. I placed my phone on the counter and clicked the e-mail. I'm pretty sure I forgot how to read, because I had to re-read the 'please see attached' statement about 5 times before I scrolled down to see the attached. There is was. The word "Congratulations!" said it all. I read it over and over again to make sure it wouldn't disappear. Then the tears came, and at that time I knew it was time to call my mom. She answered and immediately assumed something was wrong. I remember telling her to "Guess what?" , and I think at that point she figured it out.

If you would have told 8-year-old me that there is a way to pay for my dream, of being a Red Raider, I might have thought you were crazy. I always had a dream to go to Texas Tech at a very young age, and that probably terrified my mother, because she knew I wasn't going to give up on it. Financially, I had no idea how we'd ever be able to afford it, but I always told my mom, "God and I have this." I started early and knew every AP class, every community service project, every extra curricular activity, and every job would bring me closer to another scholarship. The prayers to God also brought me a giant blessing. 

To say that the Terry Foundation is an answer to my prayers would be an understatement. It's beyond what I asked God for. The Terry Letter made my dreams a reality, and I'll never forget the day it changed my life. 
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