{"id":85833,"date":"2025-12-12T18:50:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/85833\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T18:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:50:17","slug":"texas-tech-online-helps-oilfield-professional-husband-and-dad-earn-degree-december-2025-texas-tech-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/85833\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech Online+ Helps Oilfield Professional, Husband and Dad Earn Degree | December 2025 | Texas Tech Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leif Hardwick gave a college degree one more chance, staying on track with the structure
\n of the program.<\/p>\n

\t\tCREATORS<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
\n\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Leif Hardwick was more than motivated to try, a fourth time, to complete a college
\n degree. After all, his wife had earned her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree. His
\n high- school-age son would be considering colleges soon, and how would it look if
\n Dad never finished?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, with the clarity of an end goal and a well-outlined path to achieve it, Hardwick
\n walks the Texas Tech University<\/a> commencement stage this weekend, having earned his Bachelor of Science in Leadership Studies<\/a> through Texas Tech Online<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LeifLeif Hardwick<\/p>\n

His lack of a college degree hasn\u2019t held him back professionally; his experience has
\n all come from on-the-job training. Hardwick, a Texas resident since fifth grade, is
\n an account executive for Midland-based EnviroKlean, a chemical company serving the
\n oil and gas industry. He\u2019s been with the company for six of his 14 years in the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hardwick handles new commercial customer acquisition, account management, upselling,
\n and technical problem-solving for water treatment and recycling\/reuse, often using
\n information and resources from the Texas Produced Water Consortium<\/a> housed at Texas Tech. He travels extensively around South and West Texas, New Mexico,
\n Oklahoma and Alaska\u2019s north slope; he even flew to southeast Turkey earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Hardwick was not always ambitious regarding his education, demonstrated by choosing
\n to start his own auto detailing business in high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really prioritize graduating high school,\u201d Hardwick said. \u201cI just went and
\n did my own thing. I started getting behind. I even started Texas Tech K-12<\/a> (then TTUISD) my junior year, fell behind again and then decided I\u2019d just take the
\n (GED) test.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Leif\"ALeif and his family at the Texas Tech vs. Houston game earlier this year; a family
\n vacation in Hawaii. <\/p>\n

Lucky in Love, Not in College<\/p>\n

After earning his GED, Hardwick attempted college three times from 2009 through about
\n 2016. He pursued business at the University of Phoenix twice and electronics engineering,
\n construction engineering and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Southern
\n Mississippi, finding electronics engineering \u201ctoo hard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t finish these programs due to a lack of personal drive and a clear end goal
\n at the time,\u201d Hardwick said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What he did accomplish living in Mississippi was meeting Amanda, whom he later married
\n in 2008. Hardwick jokes that the oilfield has saved their marriage because he\u2019s often
\n away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time she gets tired of me, I\u2019m leaving again,\u201d Hardwick said, cracking a knowing
\n smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LeifLeif and Amanda<\/p>\n

Amanda is director of curriculum for Leander ISD, overseeing the education of 42,000
\n students. Over the length of their marriage Hardwick has observed her earning three
\n degrees, \u201cpowering straight through them, almost,\u201d because she had a clear goal.<\/p>\n

Hardwick has been inspired watching her journey, but working 60-hour-plus weeks and
\n helping raise their son, pursuing a degree of his own was logistically challenging.<\/p>\n

Their son Trenton, a sophomore who plays trumpet in his school band, has also seen
\n his mom\u2019s success, but Hardwick grins and says his wife hasn\u2019t really failed at anything.
\n On the other hand, observing his own path, he knows it will be good for Trenton to
\n see him finish.<\/p>\n

\"LeifLeif and Trenton with the band equipment truck. <\/p>\n

As if completing his degree and traveling for work weren\u2019t enough, Hardwick volunteered
\n this past semester for his son\u2019s school by driving the band\u2019s equipment truck during
\n marching season. The father and son also find time to play golf together, boating
\n and fishing on Lake Travis and attending Texas Stars hockey games.<\/p>\n

A Well-Oiled Plan<\/p>\n

It was while working at a hotel in Mississippi making minimum wage that Hardwick got
\n an opportunity to come back to the Lone Star State, taking a job with a frac water
\n treatment company in East Texas, quickly moving up the ranks. He got laid off before
\n the company sold. After about a six-month hiatus in trucking, he came back to the
\n oilfield \u2013 a career he\u2019s made permanent. While his degree was still missing, this
\n new attempt at completing college was going to be different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I have a career path I\u2019m on,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the oilfield industry
\n 14 years, so I think I\u2019m pretty much set where I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwick explored several programs and chose Texas Tech Online+<\/a>. The program was designed for people like him: working adults, transfer students
\n and career-focused learners. He also appreciated that Online+ offers 8-week accelerated
\n courses, fast-track admission decisions and no application fee as well as credit for
\n work-life experience, asynchronous learning and free career certificates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was that structure that drew him to the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Hardwicks at Texas Tech\u2019s 2024 homecoming.<\/p>\n

He started in summer 2024 majoring in Leadership Studies with concentrations in Human
\n Resource Development and Organizational Leadership. He came into Texas Tech with a
\n sliver over a 2.0 GPA and has pulled a 4.0 through the entire program.<\/p>\n

Hardwick knew he wanted to keep his GPA up, but once he found out that Texas Tech
\n only considers their internal GPA for graduation honors and such, that made a difference
\n to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cComing in with a 2.0, there\u2019s no way I would ever get any kind of honors,\u201d he said
\n honestly. \u201cThat gave me that extra goalpost. That was motivation. After that, it was
\n all about organization, setting goals and then having the discipline to keep them.
\n And I\u2019m getting things done a lot quicker. Usually on the classes that are stretched
\n out over a full semester, I get bored. If I get bored, then I start letting stuff
\n drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwick says he also still has an issue with lessons he can\u2019t apply to the real world.
\n But once he found this path, everything else just fell into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Structured Success<\/p>\n

It was Lance Pickle, Hardwick\u2019s online student advocate, who led him to the Leadership
\n Studies program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LanceLance Pickle<\/p>\n

Pickle says what struck him about Hardwick was his desire to maximize everything during
\n his time at Texas Tech. From exploring the best degree program and finding course
\n options each semester that aligned with his educational and career aspirations to
\n how he could set himself up for success in that pursuit, Pickle thinks Hardwick took
\n full advantage of everything he could during his undergraduate program.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeif has always been a lot of fun to work with,\u201d Pickle said. \u201cFrom the very beginning,
\n I never knew exactly where he would be when we met for a Zoom appointment. He might
\n be in some remote part of Alaska, or out in his work truck in an oil field. But his
\n adventures never got in the way of doing everything I asked of him in terms of his
\n degree. Leif was on it without delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwick says the courses have already helped him with project management and organization.
\n The human resources classes all made sense to him because he could immediately apply
\n them at work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Leif<\/p>\n

He even passed the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) certification exam
\n in July. SHRM is an international organization with over 300,000 members that promotes
\n the role of HR as a profession and provides education, certification and networking
\n to its members while lobbying Congress on issues pertinent to labor management.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I used to be a walking HR violation,\u201d Hardwick chuckled. \u201cNow I\u2019m less of
\n a pain to everybody. On the exam I just answered the questions the way I would not
\n do them in real life. Everybody at work thinks it\u2019s hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone very impressed with his SHRM achievement is Morgan Provost, his instructor
\n for two human resources classes. She shared the SHRM certification information with
\n her students early in the spring semester. Hardwick followed up with her in April
\n with more questions. Explaining that the exam is notoriously tough and pointing him
\n to additional resources, Provost didn\u2019t hear from him again until July, when he let
\n her know he had passed the exam on his first attempt.<\/p>\n

\"MorganMorgan Provost<\/p>\n

“Most people don\u2019t succeed the first time,\u201d Provost said with obvious pride in her
\n student. \u201cBut from his introduction posts – explaining that he was working full-time
\n in the oilfield, while taking 15 hours of online courses, and still finding time to
\n play golf with his teenage son \u2013 he sounded like a hard worker. I wasn\u2019t surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeif\u2019s thorough work, dedication and attention to detail have been evident throughout
\n his time at Texas Tech. I feel blessed to have had him as a student, and I know that
\n he will be successful no matter what he chooses to pursue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally earning his bachelor\u2019s degree, Hardwick is on a roll. He\u2019s been accepted into
\n the Master of Engineering Technical Management program at Texas A&M, an online, cohort-based
\n program with two weeks of immersion on campus. He sees it as a natural next step and
\n an extension of the leadership program he\u2019s completed at Texas Tech.<\/p>\n

But Hardwick knows that Texas Tech\u2019s Online+ program has, indeed, made that next step
\n possible. Once just a tagline, the university slogan, “From Here, it’s Possible\u2122,”
\n now holds deep meaning as he nears graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closer I\u2019ve gotten to the end, the more it sticks,\u201d Hardwick says, anticipating
\n walking the graduation stage. \u201cWhen I first came in, it was just another slogan. As
\n I get closer to graduation, it\u2019s made more sense.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Find out more about the advantages of Texas Tech Online+.<\/a><\/p>\n

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