Bio

Me about to go pick up my date for the junior prom.

My name is Eduardo, but my friends call me Eddy.  I’m 18 years old and I am a freshman at THE University of Texas at Austin.  I am a Journalism major at the Comm School and this is my story.

On July 5, 1994, I, Eduardo Ramon Garza, was born into a loving Mexican-American family.  My mom, Rosario, and dad, Eugenio raised me in an oven called Laredo, Texas.  I grew up an only child, but I shared my dad with my older half-brother, Kenny, and half-sister, Veronica.  They were all grown up by the time I came around, in fact, I’m only 3 months older than my niece, Mindy, 3 years older than my nephew, Sergio, and a whopping 11 years older than my nephew, Buck (all 3 are Kenny’s kids).  Only until recently, did I pop out of the oven and into the great city of Austin.  However, I traveled a road much longer than three and a half hours to get here.

Like much of my friends, I was out and about on a ranch before I was potty trained.  No, I didn’t actually live out in the country, but most of us in Laredo were no more than an hour’s drive away from our ranches.  I could fire a rifle by the time I was 7 years old and killed my first deer when I was 8, another great tradition in South Texas.  I knew how to fish before I knew how to kiss a girl, and I even learned to drive on the private back roads I knew so well. 

I don’t remember much about my pre-school, First Class Learning Center.  My memory kicks in at around kindergarden.  I entered Mary Help of Christians School in kinder and I didn’t leave until my 8th grade graduation 10 years later.  I had the time of my life in Mary Help (that was even our 8th grade class song, “Time of Your Life” by Green Day).  I met 50 of my best friends there.  Our class was never bigger than 50 and we bonded better and longer than any one else I’ve heard of.  We played basketball together, we went camping together, and we went to mass together.  We had so much fun during our time together, or at least as much fun as we could have with our parents driving us.

While I was in the 5th grade, I met my first love, the electric guitar.  I took lessons frequently for over a year and a half until I had the confidence to try out for a Christian-rock band that our music teacher was starting at Mary Help.  Mr. Chavez loved my try out performance and selected me to be his lead guitar.  During my last two years at Mary Help, I came to be known around school as “Eddy, the guy with the guitar solos.”

I thought life couldn’t get much better than it was at Mary Help, but I was proven wrong when high school came around.  I jumped from one private school to another.  I enrolled at St. Augustine High School, the only private high school in Laredo, in 2008.  I met more great friends and remained close to my class of only 120 throughout my years in high school. We were so close that we still consider ourselves to be one big happy family.  

It was during high school that I found my next love, golf.  In June 2008, I saw Tiger Woods win the U.S. Open with a broken leg.  His performance lit a fire in me and I was taking my first golf swings a month later.  I grew as a player for four years until my senior season came around at St. Aug.  The greatest moment of my golf career came last March when we won the TAPPS 5A South Region Championship and qualified for the State tournament. 

While I had blast in high school, there were a few down times.Within the span of 10 months, covering my junior and senior year, I lost two of my greatest teachers.  On December 25, 2010, my grandmother, Lupita Guajardo,  finally succumbed to brain cancer.  My dear grandmother had taught me so much about God and life in general.  She was a great woman and I couldn’t help but bawl like a baby at her funeral when the hundreds in attendance gave her a standing ovation.  On October 6 2011, my beloved cousin, Andy, lost his fight with leukemia at young age of 22, and believe me, it WAS A FIGHT.  Andy taught me so much about life and inspired me.  There I was, the shy kid, speaking at his funeral to crowd of hundreds about Andy, cancer, and life itself with all the confidence in the world.  While their passing has left a gaping hole in my heart, Andy and Lupita pushed me farther than I thought I could ever go.  

The next great moment in my life came last April, when I received a letter in the mail from no other than the University of Texas.  “Congratulations...” is all I remember reading before I started jumping for joy.  I’d visited the campus before.  I had seen the Tower.  I watched on TV 8 years ago as Vince Young galloped his way into Texas legend, and the Coach’s Trophy presentation.  Now, I would be able to call that university my own. 

So there you have it, my life in 905 words.  I’m good guy, or so I like to think, and my friends say I can be pretty funny too. If you see me walking around campus be sure to say hello.  I’ll probably look at you awkwardly at first because I don’t know you (if we haven’t met yet), but don’t let that discourage you! 

Hook ‘Em Horns! \m/