25-04-2025
WT honors six students lost during 2024-25 academic year
CANYON — With campus flags lowered and the chapel filled to capacity, West Texas A&M University paused Friday, April 25 to remember six students who died during the 2024-25 academic year.
The 42nd annual student memorial service was held at the Joseph A. Hill Memorial Chapel, followed by a reception. Organized by the university's Student Government Association, the event served as a tribute to the lives lost and a reminder of the university's commitment to honoring its community.
'The Student Memorial is a heartfelt and meaningful tribute to honor the lives of WT students who have passed,' said Student Body President Kyal Browne, a senior agribusiness major from Waxahachie. 'It serves as a reminder that every Buffalo is part of our WT family. Their presence is deeply missed, and their impact will never be forgotten.'
The six students remembered were:
Jesus Jose Alaniz, a senior sports and exercise science major from Roma;
Kaley N. Bilyeu, a freshman nursing major from Pampa;
Elyjah J. Black, a senior biology major from Amarillo;
Trevor C. Gibbs, a junior accounting major from Ballinger;
Matthew P. Loyd, a junior music education major from Amarillo; and
Jodi Vance-Furlow, a senior sports and exercise science major from Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Browne said the event held personal significance for her after the loss of her friend, Trevor Gibbs, shortly after she took office as student body president.
"Throughout this year, his memory has been a driving force behind this event," she said. 'I don't think I fully understood the meaning it held for families until I experienced that loss myself.'
Scholarships of $350 each will be awarded for the 2025-26 academic year to students pursuing similar fields of study as those remembered. Recipients include:
Kylie Velasquez, sophomore sports and exercise science major from Amarillo, in memory of Alaniz;
Betha Riddley, senior nursing major from Amarillo, in memory of Bilyeu;
Ava Olivas, sophomore biology major from Seminole, in memory of Black;
Kami Drinnon, junior accounting major from Vega, in memory of Gibbs;
Christofer Gaspar, junior music education major from Amarillo, in memory of Loyd; and
Arantza Covarrubias, sophomore sports and exercise science major from Roy, New Mexico, in memory of Vance-Furlow.
Students must maintain a GPA of at least 2.5 and participate in extracurricular or community service activities to be eligible for the scholarships.
Chris Thomas, WT's vice president for student affairs, said the memorial was originally created in 1983 by students and remains a student-led tradition.
'It's a human thing, and WT is a human place built on the lives of those who came before us and those who will come after,' Thomas said. 'In order to live, we have to honor the dead.'
Thomas said the university works to match scholarship recipients to the hometowns and majors of the students being honored, preserving their academic legacies.
'Sometimes it's easy to find a nursing student from Amarillo, but other times we expand the search to find someone within the same academic college to carry on that legacy,' he said.
Thomas added that hosting the memorial inside the chapel for the first time in years added emotional weight to the ceremony.
More: WTAMU Hill Chapel reopened after $1.5 million renovation
'To be back in that hallowed space and see every seat filled — it shows how much these lives meant,' he said. 'It's both humbling and healing to be part of a moment that turns grief into purpose.'
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: West Texas A&M holds memorial for six students lost during 2024-25 school year
