HEY! (HEY) What's the matter witcha head? (yeaaah) HEY! (HEY) What's the matter with your mind and all your sighing? And-a ohh-ohh HEY! (HEY) nothin's a matter with your head, baby, find it. Come on and find it. Hell, with it baby, cause you're fine and you're mine and you look so divine. COME AND GET YOUR LOVE.
Helloooooooooo Baylor Nation! Welcome back to another week of Campus Chronicles. This week McBeezy and I have some hot takes on everything from Lecrae to Paint Wars to Fountains. But after that we have an interesting look at the past few years from a student who has been here to experience most of it all from 2003 until now in multiple disciplines and with multiple degrees to show for it.
Jam of the Week
Matt McBeezy's Week
This past week was an exciting one for me. On Friday, October 1st, Lecrae and Tedashiicame to Baylor for a concert. Dex and I went to the concert and IT WAS LIT!!!!! Tedashii killed it and of course, Lecrae is Lecrae.
The next day, we rode to the Texas Tech game with a couple of my buddies(shout out to Ashburn and Jack). I purchased a student ticket and didn’t realize how good the seats were. I was roughly 15 rows from the field. For $25. Yep. That’s good. Anyway, Baylor dismantled Texas Tech in the classiest way possibly. I really do respect Kliff Kingsbury and the job he has done in Lubbock. But, Baylor had to destroy Texas Tech.
Intramural Flag Football just started up again! I’m on a team with a lot of my friends from Penland(RIP), and our coach is Quan Jones. That’s right, THE QUAN JONES! Anyway, we beat the Transfer Council 20-6 #blessed.
S/O to the best coach in intramurals got us the win today! @QuannJones
Jillian Edwards-Chapman, a famous singer-songwriter in Christian circles, somehow contacted me on Thursday. She needed a capo for her show. So, I went back to my dorm room and…no capo. So I texted my best friend, and he had one! So, of course, I had to take a picture for Twitter!
Join us next week after we do unspeakable things to Kansas!
Lord.Hinton's Week
As previously mentioned I went to the Lecrae concert and Texas Tech game with McBeezy on the 2nd and the 3rd respectively. Can confirm it was LIIIIIIIT! Here's some pictures.
Anyway, I felt really good about our performance against Texas Tech. Our defense had a few lapses of course but ya know, who cares? Our offense was damn near unstoppable when we had our foot on the gas and we won 63-35. You complain if you want to.
As far as the game experience itself it was my first time seeing a football game in Jerry World (I had been there when the stadium first opened a few years ago for a tour and 2 years ago for the BU vs KU basketball doubleheader). This might be the understatement of ever, but that's a damn nice stadium. It was also my first neutral site game ever. It was weird to hear Tech fans be so excited early on when everyone knew (or should've known) we were going to win. There was a strange interaction with a Tech fan as we were walking to the stadium. A lady rolled down her window and shouted at us "HEY BAYLOR KIDS, WHEN YOU GRADUATE YOU CAN COME WORK FOR ME." Our response was a confused look and an "ok...?".
Monday night was interesting as I spent most of the day doing absolutely nothing only to discover I had a Marketing test the day after. YAY LATE NIGHT FRANTIC STUDYING! I did fine on the test. #blessed.
Tuesday night was Freshman Follies, my first event as a StuFu member. Freshmen Follies used to be a food fight up until last year when they changed it to a "color war". This year we had all the freshmen throw paint all over each other and then pelt each other with water balloons. But we couldn't do either of those things to them, because apparently that would be hazing. Oh well.
John West is currently in the MBA program. He was a music major during his undergrad run at Baylor and came back to get a Master's degree in music. After that he made his rounds and ended up back at Baylor and is almost finished on his 3rd degree. Let's learn more about John.
Where are you from?
I am from Houston, Texas originally. I grew up in the Clear Lake area and graduated from Clear Lake High School a long time ago. I’ve lived in Waco for the last 12 years, so this is home now.
What years did you attend Baylor originally?
I attended Baylor from 2003-2007 for undergraduate work, then 2007-2009 for graduate studies. I received a Bachelor’s in sacred music in ’07, and a Master’s in music performance in ’09.
What drew you to Baylor originally?
Two things: first, I was looking for a program to study sacred music. Programs are somewhat limited, and I was pretty successful in high school in my music stuff. I considered a few smaller schools, but ultimately Baylor had a program where I could grow the most. Secondly, I was dating a girl from my high school, and I wanted to stay closer to home than Chicago, since the other school I was considering was there.
What is your favorite Baylor undergrad memory?
Excluding any rowdy music fraternity anecdotes, I would have to say the 35-34 victory over Texas A&M my sophomore year. I was in marching band all four years in school, and I had to endure some pretty terrible games. That one was definitely a highlight.
What dorm did you live in freshman year?
I lived on the 4th floor of Martin Hall, so I avoided any of the required nudity (Penland) or strangeness (Brooks) other dorms would have offered. Our night watchman was a hero to us all.
You have 2 degrees in music and play a ridiculous amount of instruments, what instruments do you play and which is your best?
Oh gosh. I don’t have a hard number for you on that anymore. In school I studied bassoon, contrabassoon, piano, organ, trumpet, carillon, percussion, and voice. I also play guitar (acoustic, bass, electric), keyboard, banjo, and handbells. I gave recitals on bassoon and carillon in school. I don’t know that I would say any of them is my best, but I have a Master’s degree in bassoon, so let’s go with that. To answer more than asked, I was in Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Baylor Symphony, Baylor Bronze, Baylor Men’s Choir, and the Waco Symphony while in school. I still play contrabassoon in the Waco Symphony.
You're getting an MBA now at Baylor, what was that transition like from music student to business student and what drew you back to Baylor a third time?
The transition between music and business is something I get asked about all the time. My short answer is that it’s easier than I expected. The music degrees I received from Baylor didn’t require any coursework in math, so there was a lovely 11 year gap between math-based courses. That was a little jarring, but I got over it quickly. The Baylor MBA program has a great introductory course for MBA candidates with no business background or degree - basically a seminar on key business skills like accounting, statistics, finance, and economics - and that got me acclimated to the program very quickly. As for what drew me back to Baylor the first time, I like to joke that once you’ve bought two degrees at Baylor, the third one is free. In my case, Baylor has been _very_ generous with me over the years, and I am deeply grateful for the people who have made that possible. Honestly it was as simple as the fact that I already lived in Waco and didn’t want to relocate unless it was necessary. I’ve loved getting to be a student during some of Baylor’s successes after having lived through some less-successful years.
What is your favorite Baylor tradition from undergrad that you've maybe seen die down in your graduate years?
My favorite old tradition is absolutely the tradition surrounding the eternal flame. I stayed awake for 36 hours with my roommates from Martin fending off smoke bombs, fireworks, water balloons, and bitterly cold weather to guard the eternal flame with the freshman class. That tradition has (understandably) died down because it was getting a little… intense.
What is your favorite new Baylor tradition?
Favorite new Baylor tradition: an environment that expects excellence. That probably sounds a bit snarky, but AD Ian McCaw has done a truly unprecedented job at every stage of his tenure at Baylor in providing the tools and the coaches for our school to excel in athletics. Baylor is a program others look to emulate, and the distance we’ve come in the last 12 years is breathtaking.
Favorite Waco Restaurant?
Man, this is tough because I’m a hardcore foodie, but right now it’s Coach’s downtown. Great BBQ, great sides, great atmosphere. I’m impressed with what they’ve done with that location so far.
Slovacek's or Czech Stop?
Slovacek’s. Their slogan is spot on.
Funniest Baylor athlete experience you've had?
This is such a loaded question because I’ve had the opportunity to interact with so many athletes over the last 12 years. I’m going to take creative license here and share a couple short ones. My freshman year at Baylor was 2003, and it was pretty easy to sit in the front row of the "Bear Pit" back then. Tommy Swanson was on our team that year, and while they were warming up before the game, he came over and pulled a Mean Joe Green on my Sprite, except I didn’t get his jersey. I was about 60 seconds away from having to drive Nick Florence and his wife from their wedding ceremony to their reception. Terrance Gannaway is just a generally funny dude - definitely somebody I’ve missed this semester while he’s doing his MBA Healthcare residency. And since I would rather risk looking like a name-dropper than leave them out: Spencer, Troy, and Makenzie have all been in the MBA program with me at various times, and they’re all awesome, genuine folks too.
How is it in the grad lounge in the new business school? Sounds amazing.
The grad lounge is phenomenal. The graduate lounge in Hankamer was a cave with no windows and no access to coffee. The Foster Campus grad lounge is more than half windows, and we have coffee and a balcony outside overlooking the southeast end of campus. It’s like moving from the Red Roof to the Hyatt.
What is your favorite place on campus?
My favorite place on campus is the bell tower of Pat Neff. The bells make up an instrument called a carillon (which can be played instead of relying on programming) that I got to play while I was in school the first time around. I always spent a few minutes when I would practice looking out at the campus from the tower.
There you have it folks. Another week on Baylor's beautiful campus in the books! Hope you enjoyed it. As always leave any questions in the comments so we can answer em next week!
May the afar flung green and gold guide and protect us as we onward go down this Good Ole Baylor Line. See ya next week guys!
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