My name is Kelly Webeck. I grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana where I spent most of my childhood exploring the outdoors in the woods behind my house and playing in the cold winter snow. Nature has always been a fundamental factor in the activities I enjoy.

I have two older brothers who have had a dramatic impact on how I have grown up; both have strong opinions that continue to shape the decisions I make.

When I was twelve, our family moved to Austin, Texas where my mother got a job at UT. Here, I have grown and transformed into the person I am now. Over the years I have developed my love for photography. Through photography I am beginning to learn my place in my own community and through images I can see people and their interactions more clearly. With a camera I am able to translate the world I am within and it often feels that the images seem to will themselves out of me like an energetic, intuitive spirit.

My ride will be dedicated to a young girl I knew growing up. Her name was Megan Fiech. Throughout elementary school we shared classes and friends and together we dominated on the softball field. When she was ten years old she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem glioma. My first reaction when my mother, who was also Megan’s fifth grade teacher, told me, was a shocked laugh. After nearly a decade of guilt for that small sound, I have finally recognized my reaction as a child’s fear and first encounter with something far beyond her control, mortality.

In the classroom, my mom and her class brainstormed ways the students could help Megan through her treatment. They decided to make and sell art. This was the beginning of my art making and desire to create for change. Immediately I began showing my classmates and friends how I wove together beads and metal wire to create three dimensional beaded hearts that represented the strength Megan held within her and the will everyone possessed to help her fight. With the permission of our school principals and the parents of the students in the class, we used a part of the school day to create hearts and work on other activities to raise funds for Megan’s experimental treatment in Houston, TX. We sold pieces throughout the Lafayette community, in an art gallery and in a juried art fair, calling our creations “Art from the Heart”. Over the year, we raised approximately $20,000 from our artwork and other fundraisers.

At the time of Megan’s diagnosis, her original prognosis was four months. At the time only Megan’s family held this knowledge. She lived for a year longer than her doctors originally expected. Megan passed away during what would have been her sixth grade year, when I was a seventh grader. Because Megan’s family allowed the students in our school and the wider community to become a part of their valiant fight, we became different people than we would have been without taking part in Megan’s battle in the best ways we could. It is in Megan’s memory and honour that I dedicate my ride; she is a friend who remains close to my heart and soul. She was an inspiring athlete and student, and I know she would have enjoyed the physical, emotional, and very personal challenges of the Texas 4000. I know that Megan will ride with me in spirit.