TTU Vet School classes begin; Denver City native proud to be part of inaugural class

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Monday was a special first day of school at the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo, the first day of classes in its history. After 50 years of determination to make the school a reality, 64 students entered the classroom. For one student, his whole life has been preparing him for this moment.

“Coming into the school you’re like, wow. This thing is huge and it’s really for all for us, all 64 of us,” student Kurt Marion said.

Marion is one of the hand-picked students to join the inaugural class at the vet school. His 8-5 class schedule is underway, with a focus on the basics.

“There’s TVs everywhere, there’s new machines that we’re using, 3d printers, whatever you can think of,” Marion said.

He grew up in Denver City, part of a farming family with a small cattle operation. He was in FFA and showed steers at all the major stock shows. His family had to load up their animals for at least an hour-long car ride to get them medical care, driving his desire to become a vet.

“I want to be the small town vet that everybody knows and everybody trusts to bring their animals to. And that’s kind of what I envision that, going back into that setting,” Marion said.

Last week, the class of 2025 got to know each other at orientation, touring the facilities and leaving their mark at Cadillac Ranch.

“I put my brand on it just for fun and we wrote veterinary symbols on there,” Marion said.

Marion completed his undergrad at TTU with a degree in Animal Science. He says the admissions process to get into vet school was intense, but he’s been gunning for Texas Tech the whole time.

He says his grandpa still gets teary-eyed thinking about his spot in the historic class.

“Sure, there’s probably going to be some learning curves, being as it is, being in the first of anything. But, I’m proud to be a part of it and to persevere for the next few students that come behind me,” Marion said.

Construction is still in progress on the west wing of the Amarillo campus, where the lab and research facilities will be. The official ribbon-cutting is set for October 22.

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