By Julie Copenhaver
The room was filled to capacity with devoted Baylor fans. But many had not received diplomas from the university, until now.
On Saturday, February 18, the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) honored more than sixty recipients with a special Alumni by Choice (ABC) decree. These newest members of the Baylor family were nominated by their families and loved ones for their unrelenting devotion to Baylor. Some recipients attended other universities and married into the Baylor family. Some attended Baylor but never completed their degree. Others were community members who faithfully attend every Baylor sporting event.
“This program reflects both the diversity and the inclusiveness of the Baylor family. You have chosen Baylor as your university,” Jeff Kilgore, CEO and executive vice president of the BAA, told the assembled crowd.
The alumni association began the ABC program in 1986, and over the past twenty-six years it has provided a unique opportunity to honor thousands of friends who didn’t graduate but are a part of the Baylor family.
The event allows recipients to gather for a seated brunch in the Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center and hear testimony from friends and family about the honoree’s love and allegiance to Baylor.
“Although he was a person of limited financial means, Genaro always told his eldest child that someday she would attend Baylor. Only Baylor was good enough for his little girl. Trusting as she was, she believed in his dream and his son followed suit. Genaro made sure his family had what he could not—a great Baylor education,” said Rachel Palacios Rodriguez ’80 in nomination of her father, Genaro Palacios.
Cody Sulak ’06 nominated his wife, Jacqueline. He said, “I bleed green and gold, but at sporting events my wife is more enthusiastic and louder than I am. She even told me that she wishes she could do college all over again and would go to Baylor.”
The BAA has proudly honored more than 2,300 people with the Alumni by Choice diploma. If you would like to nominate someone for the 2013 ABC, click here. To see photos from the 2012 event, click here.
