From the Nominator

"“Statistically, I should be in prison, on drugs, or dead,” 26-year-old Angel Carroll says matter-of-factly. 

Only 15% of foster care youth graduate high school and go on to college. Fewer than 2% complete a degree. 

But Carroll, a former foster child involved in the criminal legal system, is a Texas Tech University graduate. That makes her an outlier in statistical terms. And while she’s proud of her achievement, she’s also frustrated. 

"I don’t think I should be an outlier,” she says. “I think everyone deserves the opportunity to get an education and enact change.” 

Now she’s working to improve the very systems that made her the advocate she is. This story, part of a series of short profiles called “Strive For Honor,” is designed to promote the shared values and sense of community among fellow Red Raiders. And it has. 

Since the launch of our university magazine, Evermore, where the series appear, we’ve seen an incredible uptick in engagement, especially among alumni whose connections to Texas Tech were tenuous at best, while maintaining the connections that were already strong. Our community members have embraced Evermore, voiced their enjoyment of it, and subscribed by the hundreds for future issues."

From the Judges

We appreciated the selection of an alumna whose efforts are in a field not often covered and who is an advocate for foster children as a former foster child herself. This is an excellent expansion on coverage of alumni from outside the principal fields in which alumni are generally featured by this institution, such as engineering and the sciences.