Student-Athlete Spotlight: Senior Tate Halford

Tate Halford participates in several student activities, is a Top 5 percent student, and is a volleyball captain.

Parents: Mike and Shannon Halford

Previous schools attended: Los Fresnos Elementary and Liberty Memorial Middle School

College: Texas A&M University, College Station

Major: Business Marketing

Future plans: Undecided

School activities: DECA, four years, one year as an officer and state finalist two years; National Honor Society, parliamentarian; National Technical Honor Society, Volunteer Income Tax Association, American Sign Language, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Real Youth church group, president; Volleyball, four years varsity and senior captain.

Class rank: Top 5 Percent

Inspiration for academic success: My mom has always been my inspiration because she was valedictorian of her class and obtained her master’s degree. She always pushes me to give it my all and strive to be the best that I can be. Knowing that she did it makes me want to get my master’s degree as well. It doesn’t feel like it’s an impossible task and now it’s just something that I have always wanted to do and graduate with. Whenever I have doubts about myself or I just want to give up and not study she encourages me and explains how it is hard and stressful, but it will pay off, in the end, knowing I did my best.

Life challenges: One of my biggest challenges in high school is probably being able to keep up with all of my academics and other activities. Being in AP and Dual Enrollment classes, academics are very stressful and involve a lot of time studying and finishing assignments. The workload is very heavy and requires a lot of time, but so do other activities. I’ve had to learn how to balance them and do my best in both, not just going through the motions and doing average. It has taken a lot of time to figure it out and I have failed many times, but whenever I fail or make a mistake, I do my best to learn from it so I won’t do it again.

Importance of participation: I love being involved in many extracurricular, but I would have to say that a few of my favorite are varsity volleyball, DECA, NHS, and VITA. Being on varsity for four years is so much fun, but it also gives you the perfect opportunity to be a leader on and off the court. After playing volleyball with Coach (Becky) Woods, I have realized that age is not an excuse for anything. No matter what grade you are in she will always push you to be your best and expect you to give it your all no matter what grade you are in. As a DECA officer, Ms. (Mindy) Quiroz is always pushing us to do what is best for our school chapter and trying to make us independent. Of course, she is always there if we need help and has to approve what we want to do but has given us the opportunity to make decisions on our own.

Balance of academics and school activities: Being in a lot of extracurricular activities is one of the best things about high school, but it also takes time away from academics. I’ve had to learn how to manage my time so I can get all my work done, but also participate in school activities. As soon as I get an assignment from a teacher, I write it down on a sticky note with the due date right next to it. Then I stick it on my wall in my room right above my desk, so that every time I sit down to do homework, I see it right there in front of me. It gets stressful at times, but it is definitely worth it.

Career goal: My goal right now is to major in business marketing and I’m not exactly sure what I want my career to be, but I think being a marketing manager would be a perfect job for me. When you are a marketing manager, your main job is to make your products or business stand out from all the others. You want consumers to see your product or business and I’m going to buy something from there, or that product is amazing. Marketing managers can be managers for all types of companies like Dell, Apple, Chick-Fil-A, or Target. Marketing managers are one of the main reasons that they are so popular.