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HOWDY AGGIES! My name is Marcia Drost and to introduce myself to you tonight I have built this
word search including 50 words that describe me. I was born in Arizona and moved many times due to my
father and later my husband Gary, being in the Air Force. Growing up I lived in CALIF, ALASKA, ARIZ,
ALABAMA, GEORGIA, MISSISSIPPI, FLORIDA, ILLINOIS, KENTUCKY, GERMANY, and TEXAS. Moving around state
to state was a lot easier since my twin sister was in so many classes with me. It was much harder for our baby
sis, not knowing someone every time we moved.
I graduated from Arizona State University a semester early, and began teaching in Jan, 1968. I taught
high school math for the next four and a half years, and earned a Masters degree when the National Science
Foundation offered me funding. That degree opened many doors along the way including teaching at several
colleges and universities. After marrying in March of ’73, the travels began again. We were stationed in SD,
ALA, MISS, South Carolina, OHIO, OKLA, NEW MEXICO, and INDIANA. Our son went to five different schools, in
five yrs, in three states between 6th and 10th grades. My husband retired from the Air Force in ’92 and we
chose to stay in Indiana to let our kids finish high school before moving again.
Our son left for Colorado Springs in ’93 to attend the Air Force Academy, and when our twin
daughters graduated two years later, they decided to attend Texas A&M University. When we came down for
the placement tests in June, I walked over to the Math Department and applied for a job. I started teaching
math here the same semester they began. Of all the colleges and universities I have taught at, this is by far
the best!
TAMU has given me the opportunity to work with students from around the world, and those
students have given me some of my favorite memories, from Fish Camp namesake, 1st pitch opportunities,
honorary guest coach, and most recently receiving the John J Koldus Faculty and Staff Achievement Award.
For 12 years, I volunteered as a Corps Academic Mentor, with Squadron 8 and then later with E-2, till the
program was cancelled last May.
Gary and I are big fans of sports here on campus: football, basketball, and baseball season ticket
holders over the years, and have attended other sports my students were participating in. We root for several
teams, ASU, K-ST, AFA and TAMU. I was only on one varsity sport in college, and that was the ASU Archery
team. Some of my favorite trips have been to Hawaii, Korea, and Barcelona, Spain where I saw a bull fight and
swam in the Mediterranean.
I have written several books, some about Calculus, several choose your own adventure type books for
our grandchildren, and several cookbooks that were gifts for friends. We were the sponsor for a Bombers
baseball player several years ago, who is now teaching Chemistry and coaching, Matt Passauer. We also
sponsor a Memorial Scholarship in memory of our daughter, Jennifer. I have usually worn a necklace with an
abacus that my husband picked up in Saudi Aribia, but recently wear a second necklace with her Aggie ring. I
am a Parkie, a common name for those with Parkinson’s Disease. Since my diagnosis, I have changed to part
time status teaching only 1 or 2 classes instead of 4 each semester. My office is in Blocker 247F, if you want
to reach me. My email address is marcia@tamu.edu or drost@math.tamu.edu . At the bottom of my
university web page, www.math.tamu.edu/~drost are photos of my family and more interesting facts about
what each of them are doing.
Update: Did you find all the words in the puzzle that I mentioned in the introductory talk, March 20, 2016?
Abacus, Aggie, Aggie Mom, Arizona, Author, Base, Baseball, Calculus, Cat, Cooking, Chip, Dog, Donor, Evil, 42,
Falcons, Fish Camp, French, Gary, Germany, Hawaii, Link, Logs, Marcia, Many, Marry, Math, Music, Par, Parkie, Paw,
Reading, Scholarship, Scouting, Sews, Shaw, Sine, Ski, Spain, Sun Devil, Talk, Tea, Teacher, Texas A&M University, Twins,
Wildcat, Will
Updated: 3/28/2016