As the countdown to halftime approached, Carter Arrott and Addison Boehning anticipated the bright lights as they walked down the tunnel to the Jones AT&T Stadium field with their parents at their side.<\/p>\n
Tears of joy were shed and prideful words were exchanged with family as the pair was crowned king and queen during halftime of this year\u2019s Texas Tech Homecoming football game against the University of Kansas on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Carter Arrott, a fourth-year personal financial planning and management student from Ballinger, said representing Beta Theta Pi was a full-circle moment. He said his grandfather, uncle and father were all Betas, and encouraged him to continue the legacy when he rushed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people that are pushing you to be the best version of yourself,\u201d Arrott said. \u201cThey were telling me, \u2018If you keep getting one percent better each day, this is going to be something that you have a good shot at senior year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As Arrott and his mother, Kandace, stood in the tunnel at Gate 11 to the south endzone, he said hearing the Goin\u2019 Band from Raiderland playing reminded him of the nostalgia of attending games since he was a baby with his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been here every season. That love and support is here, and it’s a really full-circle moment where you rediscover the passion and love (like) when it was your first Tech,\u201d Arrott said.<\/p>\n
Despite the anticipation and tears shed both by his mother and himself, Arrott said this moment was memorable and something he\u2019d never forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I’ll obviously remember for the rest of my life, but whenever I bring my kids and grandchildren and everyone to Lubbock for a game day, get to tell them that story, that\u2019s when it\u2019s going to be most impactful,\u201d Arrott said.<\/p>\n
Boehning, a fourth-year agricultural business major from Earth, Texas representing Pi Beta Phi, said she started preparing to run for Homecoming queen as soon as she could.<\/p>\n
She participated in S.O. Sing, studied up on niche Tech history and used her role in the Student Government Association to advance her chances.<\/p>\n
After all the work she put in, Boehning said ultimately, the decision to be elected was not up to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, I knew it was out of my hands,\u201d Boehning said. \u201cIt’s going to come down to the votes and whatever God had in store for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Homecoming king and queen have the opportunity to go into Lubbock Independent School District schools and be mentors to motivate students\u2019 academic abilities by attending the local elementary school pep rallies in the spring.<\/p>\n
Arrott said the most significant aspect of being king is the opportunity to foster relationships between people and build a more interconnected community.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust take it day by day and take nothing for granted, but appreciate every single second because it really is a blessing,\u201d Arrott said.<\/p>\n
Arrott and Boehning knew each other in high school, and he said they both planned to go to Tech long before their first years on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve known her for a long time. We\u2019ve been involved in different things,\u201d Arrott said. \u201c(She\u2019s) always so selfless and just a great person to be around. The energy’s always there. She really does embody Texas Tech and the spirit that makes it special.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the morning of Homecoming, Boehning said she was already nervous, but it was waiting in the tunnel with her father as the game clock ticked down when the suspense truly began to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad, he has a very calming presence, and I was super thankful to get to go out there with my dad,\u201d Boehning said.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the outcome, Boehning said she relied on her support system more than anything else. She said being able to make her parents proud after winning was reflective of the hard work they put into raising her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw her (Boehning\u2019s mother), that was probably the closest I got to crying just because I could tell how proud she was of me,\u201d Boehning said. \u201cMy dad didn’t get the opportunity to go to college, and he was just standing in front of that many people, he was just amazed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in her small town of Earth, Boehning said she graduated with only 28 people. She said coming to Lubbock and Tech shows that small town people can make it even in a big city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re (small town people) used to doing the hard work that it takes to make something work,\u201d Boehning said.<\/p>\n
Now, as Arrott and Boehning reflect on winning alongside each other, she said she\u2019ll never forget where she came from.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose connections served Carter and I well throughout this week,\u201d Boehning said. \u201cWest Texas roots really were a big factor in me and him making it as far as we’ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the countdown to halftime approached, Carter Arrott and Addison Boehning anticipated the bright lights as they walked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1837,168,170,169],"class_list":["post-12124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lavida","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}