The Yellow Jacket (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 23, Ed. 1, Friday, April 28, 2000 Page: 4 of 12
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Student Piople
Hagerty reevalutes future
JOE MIRACLE
YJ ASSISTANT EDITOR
Generally a person is consid-
ered to be a full-blown adult by the
age ot 22. If senior language arts
major Christa Hagerty ever imag-
ined this to be true she would now
lue a strong argument against this
notion
In the past year. Hagerty s
perception of her tutuie has been
Hipped upside down and turned in-
side out Twelve months ago
Hagerty had a place she called
home a prospective career in jour-
nalism and a healthy skepticism to-
ward the idea of personal marriage.
Since then she has heartily
accepted her call as a schoolteacher
answered a proposal for marriage
trom a hometown friend and said
good-bye to her mother who died
in October of 1999 and her grand-
mother who died in January. The
loss ol her mother was unexpected.
"She was fine and then she
wasn't." said Hagerty.
For I lagerty. w hose lather has
lived hundreds ol miles away since
her childhood losing her mother
was like losing a mother and father
ligure
"It's limiting to say it's like a
big hole in your life" said Hagerty.
"It's like leaving home and never
going back and never getting to talk
to her again or getting to say good-
bye to her."
Her mother was an incredible
Student Piajfde
Blair savors
TIFFANY HOYER
YJ STAFF WRITER
You've heard it before. "At
Howard Payne University every-
body is somebody." But what
makes that statement true? Among
a wide variety of factors it is those
students who go out of their way to
be friendly that truly make us all feel
important and accepted during our
years at HPU.
Senior Kelsa Blair is defi-
nitely one of those students who
exemplifies Christ's love and accep-
tance on the Howard Payne campus.
With his ultimate goal set at relat-
ing with God Blair also desires to
communicate effectively with other
people and show them Jesus' love
in a very real way.
Blair grew up with his parents
and two sisters in Fort Worth Texas.
During his senior year in high
school Blair had narrowed his col-
lege choices down to three schools
without even considering Howard
Payne. However after Howard
Payne professor Dr. Gary Gramling
discovered that Blair attended his
mother's church in Fort Worth Dr.
Gramling wrote Blair a letter.
"I got this letter from Dr.
influence in Hagerty's life. Her
death solidified Hagerty's transi-
tion from adolescence to adulthood.
"My mom was kind of a se-
curity blanket for me" said
Hagerty. "All of the sudden I didn't
have that security. I had to lean on
what she taught me and all of a sud-
den I had to become her for me."
I lagerty was not alone in her
grief leaning against her brother
Michael for mutual support. Her
relationship with her brother is one
ol her most cherished friendships.
Growing up together in a home
w here change ot scenery occurred
relatively otten the Hagerty's de-
veloped a bond that is deeper than
a normal sibling relationship. Her
brother is one of her best friends.
Long time friend John
Hshleman was also a source of sup-
port during her time loss.
"I think God purposefully
put John in my life because he
knew what was going to happen to
me this year" said Hagerty.
She had been friends with
Lshleman since high school but
they had never developed a roman-
tic relationship until the summer of
1999.
"I call him Esh and he calls
me 1 lag" said I lagerty. "That's the
way it's been for seven years."
They were such good friends
in high school Hagerty agreed to
stand in John's wedding as his "best
man" in turn he would stand as
her "maid of honor" when she
the college
Gramling my senior year in high
school" Blair said. "It wasn't even
saying 'come to HPU' he just told
ffljp Av ?i .-5' ''v.
WHfy-'"'' . . jj J 'm
Photo by Chris LubyYJ Photo Editor
One of Blair's fondest memories of HPU is meeting his
fiancee Brandy.
APRIL
after tragic
KATURES
B''- ' H
photo by Chris LubyYJ photo editor
Hagerty views life from a different angel after
experiencing a year that turned her life upside-down.
would tie the knot. Little did they
know they wouldn't be staying true
to this agreement.
experience by being involved at HPU
me to look at as many schools as
possible. I thought it was pretty cool
that a professor was writing me
28 2000 4
loss and discovered love
They began dating in late
summer. Their friendship-based ro-
mance soon proved to I lagerty that
without even knowing me. So I
visited HPU on a Saturday and I
just knew this was the place."
Blair knew that choosing a
college to attend was a very large
decision and he did what he tries
to do in all situations he gave it
to God.
"It was one of the biggest
decisions I ever had to make" said
Blair. "So I severely sought God
on it. I finally felt at peace about
the decision and had a lot of con-
firmation so I decided to come to
HPU."
Blair knew from the moment
he stepped foot on the campus that
Howard Payne was for him and he
was for Howard Payne. He got in-
volved in many activities right
away.
"While I've been at HPU I've
been involved in the BSM Exec
Council I was the student body
vice president for a semester I was
a T.A. for two semesters I'm an
R.A. in Jennings Hall and I'm in-
volved in my church. Crossroads
Baptist" Blair said.
Along with involvement in
Howard Payne Blair has also made
many fond memories along the
way.
"Of course one of my fond
it would be much much more.
"It got to the point at the end
of September where I knew I was
going to marry him" said Hagerty.
In one of her last conversa-
tions with her mother Hagerty re-
ceived her mother's blessing about
her situation.
"She had complete peace
about me marrying him and never
worried about me when I was with
him" said Hagerty.
As I lagerty has found an un-
expected love for a high school best
friend so has she discovered a love
for teaching. This love was molded
by her college experience which
she entered as an eager and aspir-
ing career journalist. This aspiration
was quickly altered as the journal-
ism piogram at Howard Payne was
cut halfway through her freshman
year.
"In high school I was like the
newspaper nazi" said Hagerty
"When the journalism program was
taken away that took away part ol
my identity."
However defeating this
change may have seemed Hagem
now understands that it was all pari
of God's ultimate plan. She had to
change her major and decided to
become a language arts major with
a teacher certification.
"I'm supposed to be a
teacher" said Hagerty.
Hagerty realizes that she can
sec HAGERTY page 12
est memories was when I stalked
Brandy my fiancee" said Blair.
"We had a night class together and
I would 'conveniently' walk where
she was during our break. That was
fun."
Blair also labels some of the
friendships he's made at HPU as the
best friendships he's ever had.
"I really enjoyed the time I
spent with my first roommate Bran-
don Palmer" added Blair. "My
freshman year we would play
Jacket Golf three times a day. We
were synonymous with Jacket Golf.
It was so much fun."
Blair is a senior public rela-
tions major with a minor in Chris-
tian studies and will graduate from
Howard Payne in May. His poM-
graduation plans include marrying
Brandy Smith in July and moving
to Fort Worth. Blair hopes to find a
job that's heavy on employeeclient
relationships.
"I really want a job that con-
centrates on working with other
people" said Blair.
However his goals in life are
much more grandiose than simply
being successful. He wants to con-
tinue learning and growing in all
see BLAIR page 12
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The Yellow Jacket (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 23, Ed. 1, Friday, April 28, 2000, newspaper, April 28, 2000; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth103455/m1/4/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Howard Payne University Library.