This is a continuation of the interview that appeared in the spring 2015 edition of Visions.
The planning for Tech’s Centennial celebrations began more than a year and a half ago. Laura Clemons, ’88 English/journalism, has been leading the efforts with a team of about 100 people, including many other alumni.
Tell me about your history with the university.
I came here in 1979 to study English/journalism. In my sophomore year I was sure Tennessee Tech had nothing to offer me anymore. So I took five years off and very quickly learned I was wrong.
I came back in the mid ‘80s, graduated in ‘88. During my time as a student, the coolest thing I got to do was be managing editor of the Oracle. That changed my life because I knew everybody in the Public Affairs Office. I graduated Saturday and went to work Monday and was here for 18 years.
I decided since the Centennial was coming up I would talk to some people about coming back to work on this project.
What’s your favorite story from the past 100 years?
Oh, good night. I can’t do that. That’s impossible.
I have this chalkboard at home and anything I’m obsessed with is there. Right now it says ‘College is the great equalizer.’ When you come to a university you have the opportunity to level the playing field.
I’m interviewing people like Carl Owens who grew up at the height of the civil rights movement outside of Birmingham. I’m talking to Gretta Stanger who started the Women’s Center here. I’m talking to Leo McGee who was our first African-American senior administrator.
There are stories about people I did not have the fortune to meet. People who were here during the Depression, where it was 10 years before they could graduate because they needed to stop, go work, make enough money to come back, go to school for a year, stop, go back and work.
What is your favorite memory of your student days?
I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but it’s the one I remember first. There were four candidates running for ASB president and at the Oracle we were trying very hard to be unbiased.
One of these guys really wanted the job and was really not suited for it. He decided we had not treated him fairly in one edition. He called me at home at 2 o’clock in the morning to raise hell.
It taught me the power of the press. That was pretty flattering actually, finding out that what we did mattered.
When you’re not planning committee meetings and commissioning art and dealing with construction projects, tell me what you’re doing.
I’ve written a couple novels, none of which have sold. But I’ve given that up for the most part in favor of clay. I’m a potter. I learned how to throw pots to help create enough bowls for Cooking on the Square when that started.
I built my own studio and I tried to start selling at craft shows and galleries and that kind of thing. That’s my art for the past 15 years or so.
My husband and I and Don Calcote came up with this idea for what is now Cooking on the Square and pitched it to the Habitat board. Don was a potter, so we decided to make the bowls ourselves. We had probably 1,000 people show up but only 600 bowls. A woman went ballistic, ‘What do you mean you’re running out of bowls?’ For our anniversary, we took throwing classes.
What’s your least favorite part of doing all this?
Not being two people. I’ve been involved in two other anniversaries, one for the hospital and one for the Bryan Symphony Orchestra. This is the most ambitious and it should be because this is the biggest thing.
There are so many cool things we can do to mark this occasion. But it is a lot to keep on top of. Fortunately, I have more than 100 wonderful people helping.
Why did you decide to come to Tech?
I was born in Florida, moved to New York. I lived in a house with four girls. We were splitting the rent and all working two jobs and I still could not afford to go to college.
Members of my family had moved to Jackson County. They heard that Tennessee Tech was affordable. I came for a visit, got a catalog and I decided, ‘OK, I’m going to do this.’ I just got brave and came here and started all over again. And I stayed.