By Frances George

I am from a long line of Tarheels…. you know the ones. “Tarheel born and bred.” Myself. My husband. My brother (plus law school). My in laws. My father-in-law even worked for the university most of his adult life!  All UNC graduates for decades.

In 2005 my nephew was making a college choice. Family tradition was in the mix.

In 2007 my UNC sorority sister and now neighbor’s son was making a college choice. Family tradition was in the mix.

2011 my elder daughter was making a college choice.  Family tradition (and practically every close friend from upper school was headed for Chapel Hill) in the mix.

2016 my younger daughter was making a college choice. You get my drift…family tradition was playing a part.

When my nephew made his college choice, no one in the family had attended Baylor University with the exception of his great uncle. My nephew chose Baylor and introduced our family to a new word… Vitek’s. (Vitek’s: a local eating establishment in Waco known for its famous “Gut Pack” – need I say more?) With every passing holiday, every summer family meal, all we heard were the glories of Vitek’s! “Your life will never be the same. You MUST come to Baylor and experience Vitek’s. The school is great too!” Following graduation, my nephew made multiple trips to Texas for wedding after wedding after wedding among Baylor students, once close friends, now husband and wife. Now, my nephew is a successful attorney and Baylor grad. My nephew chose Baylor.

While a senior in high school, another North Carolina boy with deep Carolina blue roots, traveled to Waco (before Fixer Upper, before McLane Stadium) and my nephew showed our young friend the Baylor campus (and most likely they ate at Vitek’s!) but something stirred in his spirit and he too chose Baylor. Now a successful track and field coach at a NCAA Division 1 university, my sorority sister’s son chose Baylor.

In 2011, my elder daughter, Mary Scott, was deciding on college and because her cousin said, look at Baylor, we decided to take a trip down to Texas. We were greeted on campus during our visit by my sorority sister’s son. He showed us around and said, “You really need to consider this school. I’ve loved it and you will too.” In the fall of 2012, my daughter chose Baylor.

This year, our youngest child was considering colleges, just like your son or daughter. She applied to six schools in state and across the country.  Accepted to all. Awarded over $200,000 in academic scholarships. She had visited Baylor on multiple occasions to see her big sister… SING, football games in Floyd Casey and the beautiful new McLane Stadium, coffee at Common Grounds, dinner at Ninfa’s. But this time, the visit was different. Our Catherine was looking at Baylor not as the little sister but as the accepted student.

The week prior to coming to Baylor, our daughter had been invited to compete in a full Presidential Scholarship weekend at a college closer to home. This school was very much in the running for its pristine campus setting, in a city we knew well, and a short drive from home. During our weekend on this campus, our daughter was interviewed by current scholars and staff both individually and as a group. During the one on one interview, our daughter was asked how she would “inspire students on the campus.” Her answer was this: “I am a Christian. As a follower of Christ, I hope to inspire students by communicating Hope, by being the student on campus that can be counted on to give wise counsel and Godly advice. Your school’s motto is a verse from scripture and that verse, in essence, is the core of who I am. I want to leave a legacy that reflects what I believe.” Following her answer, one of the interviewers, a staff member of the college, looked down with a disapproving look and shortly after, the interview was over.

Later that day, as we were driving home, I asked Catherine how the day went. She said, “Mom, I’ve never been persecuted for my faith until today.” She relayed the story to me and said, “We prayed that I would have a sense of where I am to go to college after this weekend. Until today I didn’t know just how important a faith based school is to me. I realize that now. I do not mind if others disagree with my faith. I know there will always be students with whom I disagree. But I want to go to a school where I will not be mocked for my faith by my professors or staff (even in subtle ways – emphasis mine). I can’t wait to go to Baylor for my visit next weekend.”

The very next weekend, our entire family was on campus for SING and a special Baylor event and for Catherine, to tour the school as an accepted student. Our son flew in from NYC to be with us. It was a picture perfect weekend. On Friday morning, Catherine began her official tour of Baylor. One of the opening images from the video in the Admissions Visitor Center was of a student with head bowed and hands clasped in prayer. Throughout the admissions video, highlighting outstanding academics, phenomenal athletics, extraordinary campus life, there was a common thread… this is a school where faith is an integral part of the day to day Baylor experience. Faith is at the core of who Baylor is. Several times during the video I looked over at Catherine and she was completely enthralled, riveted on each frame of the video, as if she was the only one in the room. If she had looked at me, she would have seen tears welling up in my eyes. Indeed, this place is uniquely different.

As we walked across campus, mingling with students in the Student Life Center (the “SlC”), and passing students as they walked to class, as we stood in Burleson Quad and I recalled Mary Scott’s first days at Baylor and my mind sped through what are becoming her final days as an undergraduate at Baylor, I thought, “Could this be the place my second daughter will call home for four years?” The thought made me smile.

Sunday afternoon, Catherine and I walked across what I call a perfect “Sunday afternoon campus” with students here and there kicking a soccer ball, students in the library, young alums with their children in tow splashing in the beautiful new Rosenbalm Fountain on Fountain Mall, Catherine said to me, “Mom, can you go and do something else? I want to just be alone and walk around.”  So I went and sat by the fountain as my daughter walked the campus alone. After some time, I heard her call out, “Mom, over here!” And there she was on 5^th Street, standing under a lamppost and a Baylor banner. “Take my picture.”  I’m not sure what her thoughts were but two days later, back at home, around the supper table, Catherine pulled out her journal and read,  “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to give you a hope and future.  Baylor University, the beginning of my story …” She read to us how God confirmed through a myriad of circumstances that Baylor will be her home for the next four years.

2005, 2007, 2011, 2016. A four generation North Carolina family now with a Baylor legacy. Our senior Mary Scott said it well on her Facebook post just this week (it is March Madness after all…) “I’m Tarheel born. I’m Tarheel bred….but now I’m a Bear!”

Come. To. Baylor. Come to Baylor and be a part of something great, something unique. And you’ll discover, as I have and thousands before me, the Baylor difference.