First of all, let me apologize for the wall of text. If you stick with it, you’ll know me a little better. I’m not promising that it is worth it, but I put myself out there and tried to give you some perspective into my life. Thank you for your interest in me. Without further ado, I present for your reading pleasure my life story.

Howdy. I’m Garrett. Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ’18.

I don’t do things the normal way. Never have and likely never will. I work outside the box. It’s where I’m comfortable.

Going back to school was a challenge. In my first month, I turned 29 and became a father. Fortunately, my wife is amazing. She has supported me to take full advantage of some of the best opportunities presented to me. Because of this, I was able to say yes to the amazing opportunity of joining the 12th Man Productions’ creative social media team as a content creator.

Going back a little bit, I have taken a different path than most. I don’t think I would have thrived had things gone as expected. I do better in the unknown.

Anyway, just before my junior year of high school, my father took a job just west of Cleveland, Ohio. All I had ever known was life in Texas. I never got very far from I-45 growing up. I was forced to adapt to a new environment. I had never experienced snow. I thought I had, but I hadn’t. Just like they said they knew humidity. The people were different. Not in a bad way, just not what I was used to. I was determined to finish high school and come back to Texas to attend A&M.

After I graduated, I was offered tuition-free classes at the local community college for graduating in the top 10% of my class. I thought this was a good opportunity to get scuba certified and take a couple other basic classes. Unfortunately, because I moved between my sophomore and junior year, I missed out on valuable counseling. At my school in Texas, we met with counselors to talk about life after high school as juniors. In Ohio, they did that their sophomore year. I never learned how college worked.

After high school, I worked as a carpenter in Ohio for almost 2 years before saving enough money to move back home to Texas. I was ready to attend A&M. Except, I had to live in Texas for a year to regain my in-state residency. Tuition was going to be considerably cheaper that way.

Remember those classes I took in Ohio, apparently that was a bad idea. I could not attend A&M because I had too many hours to be a freshman and not enough to be a transfer.

So, I chose to attend the local junior college to get enough hours to transfer. I declared a major in Ocean Engineering. As I worked through the core classes, I found I was not wanting to be an engineer anymore. I was so close though, I continued to push on. Until that Christmas.

As family gathered, I was talking to the half of my family that are engineers and realized that was not the kind of job I wanted. They carried their stress with them. I wanted to enjoy my career. Not that they don’t, but I knew I wouldn’t.

The next semester, I switched from engineering to I don’t remember what. Not engineering. I think it was wildlife science or something. That’s not the point.

Anyway, I took a photography class. The professor was one of the first practicing professors I had known. Up until that point most were teaching theory. This professor maintained his own photography business and happened to teach a class. I found I learn better in application based situations. I figured I would, but rarely had the opportunity. I excelled.

After submitting a few assignments and showing an interest in making visual communications a career, the professor invited me to help him on a photo shoot. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. So, naturally I said yes.

We rolled up to the football practice facility at A&M and my interest piqued. This was in November 2012. At A&M. Yes, this turned out to be the Heisman photo campaign Texas A&M did for Johnny Manziel, or Johnny Football as we knew him. This was a rebranding effort of sorts. We were now branding him as Johnny Heisman. We did not know if he was going to win, but we were pretty confident. This shoot is wholly responsible for my diving in the deep end of making this a career. Until this point, I merely dipped my toe.

Fast forwarding through the next six years, I have met and photographed or interviewed some amazing people. I continued to assist that same photographer.

Then, in 2016 my wife informed me that we were expecting. Uh oh! I hadn’t planned this. I would be fine.

I realized I needed to go back to school. I had to. It was an ultimatum. It would only get harder from there.

Fortunately, I had accrued enough hours in my time at the junior college to be a transfer. Also, I had maintained a pretty good gpa. I was always pretty good at school. Just bored by it.

I applied to A&M and was quickly accepted. I was going to study communications and journalism. On top of that, I found an opportunity to learn in an application based environment. I was finally going to be an Aggie. Officially. I was born with maroon blood, but I always felt like a bit of an imposter.

I started A&M in Spring 2017. Immediately, I connected with the professors better than I did other students. I was noticeably older than the average student in each of my classes.

I did not crave the normal college experience. I didn’t need to be at the club on a Friday night. I didn’t make a lot of friends at first, but the ones I did make had similar outlooks on school.

As I participated in classes, others noticed I was picking up the material in each class easily. Now, I had a way to connect to others. I could use what I knew and what we were learning together to connect. I enjoy sharing what I know.

This resulted in my being asked to help TA the photography class in my major. I brought a new perspective that had not previously been offered. The professor was predominantly a natural light, photojournalist. My studio and lighting experience added a new level to that class.

Since coming back, I have picked up several new talents from different classes. I learned a lot about audio production and the radio industry in a radio class. I have grown as a designer in branding and magazine production classes. I became a more confident writer in media writing classes. In each of these classes and many others, I made a lot of industry connections through professors and picked up several new skills while honing old ones.

As I prepare to graduate in December 2018, I am also finishing a two year stint with Aggie Athletics as a photographer/videographer for social media. This amazing opportunity happened randomly.

Before this, my portfolio was not very sports heavy. I had spent most of my time in studio or in the corporate world. Most of my shoots would happen on the 50th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Houston or a machine shop in Miami. Not around the edges of a basketball court, softball diamond or football field.

Turns out I am not bound by those lines. They granted me access that most others don’t get. I get to follow the team everywhere they go. Obviously, I am not standing on the field of play during live action. But pretty much everything else I have access to.

In these two years, I have decided I want to work in the creative realm of college athletics. As I search for employment, I am open to whatever opportunities match my needs and wants. After providing for my family, enjoying what I do and feeling like others enjoy what I do is most important to me. I’m ready for whatever opportunities await. Chasing something new hasn’t failed me yet.