Profile
- Route: Sierra
- Ride Year: 2019
- Hometown: Southlake, TX
- School Year: Senior
- Major: Plan II, Finance, and BHP
- Email: chandlergroves@utexas.edu
About:
Hey y'all! I'm a fourth-generation Longhorn from Southlake, Texas - a suburb outside of Ft. Worth. I grew up traveling to Austin for Longhorn football games and visiting my older sister when she attended UT a few years before me. She convinced me to be Longhorn, and I've never doubted that it's the best decision I've made.
Please follow this link (https://goo.gl/forms/2IdFj18IdB5sqCRo2) if you'd like me to ride for someone you love who has battled cancer. I'll dedicate a day of my summer ride to them. To Alaska and back!
Why I Ride
I chose to apply for the 2019 Texas 4000 team just after my grandfather passed away from cancer in the summer of 2017. Watching my dad struggle with the passing of his own father, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I saw my mom support my dad with compassion and empathy in the months after my grandpa died. Her empathy and my dad’s strength inspires me to show the same love and support to my family and friends.
My mom's dad passed away from leukemia in 2001. He married my grandma (Mia) while they were undergrad students at UT, and I can’t help but think of Mia and my grandfather walking across UT's campus back in the 1960s, a full half-century before I would decide to attend their alma mater. I was too young to remember the days after my grandpa passed away, but I still feel his presence in my family each time we are together.
I’m named after my great-grandfather, Bohn Hilliard (my full name is Chandler Bohn Groves). He was the captain of the UT football team in 1934 and Southwest Conference player of the year (hopefully I inherited enough of his athleticism to bike to Alaska…). His impact on UT’s campus inspires me to have impact of my own. Bohn passed away of liver cancer before I was born. While we never met, I feel incredibly fortunate to carry his name.
Finally, my mom survived breast cancer before I was born. When she speaks of her fight with cancer, she always turns to the topic of my sister and me. She describes how she wants to inspire us to do good in the world, to make our communities a better place to live. Texas 4000 is my way of doing just that.