![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/leslie-cranford.jpg\")
<\/p>\n Boston O\u2019Hair used Texas Tech K-12 to get ahead in high school, fast-forwarding his
\n future.<\/p>\n
\t\tCREATORS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sometime in middle school Boston O\u2019Hair told his dad Micah that school was just too
\n slow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides being bored in school, he felt like he was wasting time when he could have
\n completed assignments quicker not sitting through regular classes. He complained to
\n his father about this on many occasions; Micah told him to hang on until high school
\n where he could start taking dual credit and get ahead of the game.<\/p>\n
Starting the summer between eighth and ninth grade and continuing during regular semesters
\n through 10th grade, he completed college algebra, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus
\n one \u2013 and then he ran out of math classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, well, shoot, now what?\u201d Boston laughed, remembering how he was slowed down
\n once again.<\/p>\n
At 16 years old, Boston finished high school through Texas Tech K-12<\/a>, the university\u2019s asynchronous, fully online school district. He is now enrolled One could say he hit the accelerator to earning his bachelor’s degree.<\/p>\n Discovering a Speedier Way<\/p>\n If the O’Hairs knew about Texas Tech K-12 back then, things might have gone even faster. As it was, Boston completed the hours he had left of his entire senior year in just \u201cI was able to do exactly what I needed to do within a perfect time frame,\u201d Boston Aside from the book-learning, Boston was able to hone his time management skills, Boston added that the Texas Tech K-12 teachers were very helpful; he could email them Shelley Montgomery<\/a>, Boston\u2019s Texas Tech K-12 advisor, was delighted to map out his plan for getting \u201cBoston is very self-motivated and conscientious, as well as being very polite,\u201d Shelley For someone hurtling headlong toward finishing high school, Boston\u2019s favorite part \u201cI had time to do exactly what I needed to do,\u201d Boston reiterated. \u201cI didn\u2019t have At the Starting Line<\/p>\n Boston was no stranger to Texas Tech. Being a Lubbock local, he had the opportunity Boston\u2019s dad stays connected to the Whitacre College by serving on the Industrial Boston\u2019s mom, Sally, also earned a degree from Texas Tech in retail management<\/a> in 2006 in what is now the College of Health & Human Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n Micah said they didn\u2019t \u201cdefault\u201d Boston to Texas Tech just because they are locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBoston started programming computers a long time ago,\u201d Micah recalled. \u201cThe kid’s Boston laughs and says he chose Texas Tech because his parents wouldn\u2019t let him go \u201cBut that\u2019s just an excuse that I have used,\u201d Boston admitted. \u201cI just love Lubbock, Micah says he is not the coddling type. He and Sally are the type of parents who help \u201cI told him, \u2018I will tell you the honest-to-God truth about whatever it is. And before But for now, as a mom, Sally especially is happy with Boston pursuing his degree while Pedal to the Metal<\/p>\n Sixteen-year-old sophomores are not a common occurrence on university campuses. But \u201cBeing in college at 16 is pretty cool, I\u2019d say,\u201d Boston stated, nodding his head. \u201cBut here, I don\u2019t really feel that. There\u2019s absolutely nothing wrong with being 16 Even in his college classes, Boston finds ways to stay ahead. He\u2019s discovered that \u201cI\u2019m able to get my work done sooner rather than later, and that has helped me be Propelling Possibility<\/p>\n Observing the father and son together, one can see with certainty where Boston gets Looking across the room, watching and listening to his son discussing the future, \u201cGod is good. He\u2019s given me the opportunity to do this for my son, and I appreciate \u201cFinding someone to do that with is difficult, and that\u2019s frankly the reason I\u2019ve He and Boston agree the Texas Tech experience has been a really good ride so far; Swiftly heading into his future, Boston said, God willing, he would like to have an And if what he\u2019s already accomplished is an indication, those goals are not unreachable.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided, \u2018Hey, I want my entire senior year done in two months,\u2019 \u2013 now, who says Find out more about the many programs available throughTexas Tech K-12<\/a>and the\u00a0Whitacre College of Engineering<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston O\u2019Hair used Texas Tech K-12 to get ahead in high school, fast-forwarding his future. CREATORS Sometime in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-85782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-lubbock","9":"tag-lubbock-headlines","10":"tag-lubbock-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85782","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=85782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n in Texas Tech University<\/a>\u2019s Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering<\/a> as a sophomore industrial engineering major<\/a> in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, & Systems Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Boston-bench.jpg\")
Boston O’Hair<\/p>\n
\n They didn\u2019t discover the university\u2019s online school until Boston had already completed
\n the dual credit courses through South Plains College. And because Texas Tech K-12
\n is approved by the TEA, he could even have transferred to the program in junior high
\n and perhaps accelerated even more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n a couple of months. He would have moved even quicker, except that the school\u2019s policy
\n dictates a course can\u2019t be finished in less than 30 days. He loved being in an environment
\n where he could finally set his own pace.<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Boston-Engineering-Bldg.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n said excitedly, remembering the breakneck speed with which he completed those last
\n classes. \u201cReally, there were no time constraints other than the 30 days, which was
\n completely fine. I didn\u2019t have to wait for teachers to give lectures about things,
\n I didn\u2019t have to wait for them to hand me the homework. I had it all at my disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n because he was working at his own speed, doing his own thing. Another skill he acquired
\n was learning from examples, rather than having a teacher or somebody else spend time
\n explaining concepts to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n if necessary, and they would get back to him in a timely way so he could keep moving
\n ahead. Another staff member also helped fuel his journey.<\/p>\n![\"Shelley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Shelley-Montgomery.jpg\")
Shelley Montgomery<\/p>\n
\n the young scholar quickly through his needed credits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n said with a chuckle. \u201cWhen he came to my office, I asked him if his dad had to push
\n him. He replied that this is what he wanted. Micah reiterated, saying, \u2018This was all
\n Boston\u2019s idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n was flexibility.<\/p>\n
\n to sit in a classroom for hours upon hours, just wondering why I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n to participate in TexPREP<\/a>, a math, science and engineering summer enrichment program for sixth to 12th graders.
\n The pre-freshman engineering program is administered through Texas Tech\u2019s Department of Mathematics & Statistics<\/a>. Boston valued the social interactions with other students like himself. The endeavor
\n also ignited his interest in engineering, although it helped that Micah holds two
\n degrees in industrial engineering and an MBA. He earned his undergraduate degree from
\n Texas Tech in 2006.<\/p>\n![\"O'Hair](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OHair-family.jpg\")
The O’Hair family<\/p>\n
\n Advisory Board for industrial and systems engineering, just completing his sixth year
\n in the volunteer role. Also, Micah has sponsored more than 20 student senior design
\n projects over the years.<\/p>\n
\n been very STEM-oriented since he was a little boy. And I already knew that Texas Tech
\n has options on a university level to support his interests. Had we been living somewhere
\n else where that hadn\u2019t existed \u2013 while this would have been difficult \u2013 we would have
\n figured out a way to get our 16-year-old into college somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n anywhere else at 16.<\/p>\n
\n and I didn\u2019t really want to leave \u2013 and Texas Tech just seemed like the place to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n set goals, are supportive of the things Boston wants and will help him attain them.
\n Micah promised a long time ago that Boston could bring anything up for discussion.<\/p>\n
\n you leave my household, you will know what you need to know to be ready for the world,\u2019\u201d
\n Micah said, with his eyes starting to well up. \u201cAnd so, anyway, that\u2019s been my promise
\n to him, which I will finish fulfilling \u2014 perhaps on a bit faster track than we were
\n expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Boston-and-siblings.jpg\")
Boston with siblings (from left) Dane (12), Ivy (9), Piper (14) and Pierce (9)<\/p>\n
\n living at home with her and Micah, his four younger siblings and three cats. Boston
\n enjoys playing chess in his free time, and he has avoided being too involved in student
\n organizations, choosing to \u201cchill\u201d after the intense two months that closed out his
\n high school experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n the age difference doesn\u2019t seem to bother anyone.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a ninth grader, and you\u2019re looking at the juniors and seniors in your high
\n school, you\u2019re like, \u2018Dang, they\u2019re old!\u2019 There\u2019s a massive age gap there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n here. In fact, most other people when I tell them that, well, first of all, they\u2019re
\n confused, like, \u2018What, are you sure?\u2019 But then after that, it seems to become their
\n favorite fun fact.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Boston-with-jeep.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n the teachers give the homework, lecture material and everything further in advance
\n than the high schools ever did. He\u2019s able to apply those time management skills he
\n learned in Texas Tech K-12.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n pretty much stress-free in college, or waiting to the last minute to do everything,
\n being very stressed and getting no sleep,\u201d Boston explained, proving wisdom way beyond
\n his age.<\/p>\n
\n much of his wisdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Micah thinks about what it means to him to be Boston\u2019s guide. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n it,\u201d Micah said, with his voice quavering. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those deals \u2013 \u201cMicah hesitates.
\n \u201cMy dad was a great dad, and my mom was awesome, but because neither pursued a career
\n in engineering, I needed an advisor outside my immediate family.<\/p>\n
\n been as involved as I have in the industrial engineering department. If I can offer
\n that kind of assistance, many years removed, to the younger ones, I\u2019m happy to do
\n so, because I didn\u2019t have that. And I\u2019m very happy, very pleased, on so many levels,
\n to be able to offer that to Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/boston-and-micah.jpg\")
Boston with Micah<\/p>\n
\n between Texas Tech K-12 and the university\u2019s offerings, the combination is \u201cabsolutely
\n killer,\u201d Micah exclaimed, to the to the point where Boston will likely graduate at
\n 19 years old with an engineering degree. Texas Tech has made his rapid journey possible.
\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n opportunity to build and manage massive, complex projects as well as raise a family.<\/p>\n
\n such a thing? Who\u2019s going to allow me to do that?\u201d Boston queried incredulously. \u201cI
\n know my previous high school wouldn\u2019t. So, I\u2019m glad that I came here, and y\u2019all were
\n able, y\u2019all were willing, to accept me to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n