Repurposed with a New Purpose

Amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday college life, hundreds of Texas Tech University students pass by the Dairy Barn, unaware of its profound history and present-day purpose. However, 50 years ago, many students’ lives, and educations, depended on the Dairy Barn.

A recent high school graduate from a rural West Texas town stepped onto the Texas Tech University campus in fall of 2000 – the turn of a new century. She knew three things: she loved agriculture, she enjoyed politics, and she had absolutely no idea what she wanted to be when she “grew up.” Yet, there she stood, meeting with her academic adviser, “all grown up.”

As a kid, Brandon Ray would head up to Palo Duro Canyon once or twice a year to visit his grandparents’ ranch that has been in the Ray family since 1948. When Ray realized he could go to college at Texas Tech University, only an hour and a half from the ranch, he knew that was where he was meant to be.