Best of CASE District IV Award
 

Institution: Texas Tech University

Title of entry: Remembering Columbia: A 20th Anniversary Commemoration

About this entry: Issue 3 of our university magazine, Evermore, focused largely on the emotional story of Texas Tech's connections to the Columbia space shuttle's final mission. It ended in disaster on Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated on reentry, and all seven people aboard were killed, including commander Rick Husband, a Texas Tech alumnus, and pilot Willie McCool, the son of two faculty members. The story was about them and their fellow Red Raiders who stepped up in the aftermath of the disaster to help in whatever way they could -- embodying the ideals of grit, integrity, courage and selflessness. On Jan. 28, 2023, four days before the 20th anniversary, we hosted an in-person commemorative event at Space Center Houston, the event center for NASA's Johnson Space Center. We brought together the Texas Tech and NASA communities to remember those lost and honor the undying spirit that remains to this day. We heard personal, firsthand accounts from Ginger Kerrick Davis, who was in NASA, and Rick's widow, Evelyn Husband Thompson. On Feb. 1, the 20th anniversary, we shared on our website and social media channels videos and photos of the event, and through a partnership with Texas Tech Public Media, the program was broadcast on local PBS. The lasting and tangible results of this event remain to be seen, but based on the reception and feedback from the 232 people who attended, that one emotional evening solidified their connections to Texas Tech and their pride to be Red Raiders.