Page 11 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2023 - Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS

A Conversation

with the President
RENTAL LINE DR. LAWRENCE SCHOVANEC
FROM

GAME DESIGN by Calan Johnson
TO

Photo Courtesy of Texas Tech University
Josh Navarro knew he wasn’t meant to work at a car
rental company. It wasn’t his endgame.
very generation produces individuals who defy drama about a family in rural Virginia during the Great
Ever since he graduated from Texas Tech University in convention and reshape the contours of what is Depression and World War II. No matter how chaotic the
2015 with a bachelor’s degree in electronic media and Edeemed possible. Dr. Lawrence Schovanec is a day was, Schovanec remembered his family gathering
around the dinner table to eat all together. “Mom had her
trailblazer, a visionary, and a mathematician who has
communications, Navarro needed a creative outlet for not just embraced challenges but has turned them into seat, as did Dad; everyone had their assigned seat during
his newfound skills. steppingstones for success. In this feature, we peel back family dinner.”
the layers of Dr. Schovanec's life to uncover the blueprint
His potential didn’t go unnoticed by a fellow Red of a true paradigm shifter. When Schovanec’s father passed away at the age of
54, Schovanec’s mother still had nine children living
Raider, who directed Navarro to the opportunity of his Dr. Schovanec experienced humble beginnings, growing at his childhood home. No matter the challenges
dreams three years later. up alongside his eleven siblings on a small family farm the family faced, the love intertwined in the family
in Oklahoma. Dr. Schovanec’s father, in his thirties, made was unquestionable, and the importance placed on
the decision to attend Phillips University, a small school education was paramount. “There won’t be much left
Once Navarro plugged into video game development as Dr. Schovanec described it. “He would come in from when we’re gone," Schovanec said, quoting his father.
at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, he the fields, put on his finest suit, and attend what was “However, we promise to give you all a college degree.”
began to pack a punch. He has since levelled up as a called night school back then,” Schovanec reminisced. All of Schovanec’s siblings graduated from accredited
technical designer for video games such as Madden, Dr. Schovanec compared his upbringing to a television universities with bachelor’s degrees, some even with
Marvel’s Avengers, and most recently, Perfect Dark. series called “The Waltons,” an American historical master’s degrees.
Dr. Schovanec’s small-town education began in a two-
Each time his name passes through the post-game room Catholic school out in the countryside, with
credits, it’s not just a reminder of his top score, but that four grades in each room taught by one nun. Upon
From Here, It’s Possible™. graduation, Schovanec attended Phillips University in
Oklahoma. Even though Phillips closed in 1998, alumni
recently organized a reunion and invited Dr. Schovanec
LEARN MORE AT TTU.EDU to be the keynote speaker. “It really was an emotional
experience," he said. “Seeing faces that graduated in
the sixties, seventies, I think it really speaks to what a
university means to one's life.”

Dr. Schovanec holds a bachelor's degree in science from
Phillips University, a master's degree from Texas A&M
Photo Courtesy of Texas Tech University University, and a doctorate in mathematics from Indiana

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