A Firm Foundation

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Few have experienced “the OSU Family” as deeply as Skyla and Shayla Clift.

Skyla Clift came to Oklahoma State as the latest in a family line of OSU attendees:

•  Uncle George Clift, bachelor’s in animal science, 1979.

•  Dad Don Clift, bachelor’s in animal science, 1980.

•  Sister Shayla Clift, bachelor’s in sociology and in psychology, 2014.

And she came on a mission. All three had been named Seniors of Significance, which wasn’t lost on the Amarillo, Texas, native.

Clift experienced a freshman year perfectly in line with her goal. Her grades were perfect. She joined the Phi Mu sorority. Her campus involvement expanded, and friendships abounded. 

Then came a tragic November weekend during her sophomore year. Her parents had come to visit — first her in Stillwater, then head over to Tulsa to see her sister, who was working at an internship. But on Nov. 12, 2012, just after 12 noon on State Highway 33 west of Sapulpa, a pickup truck crossed the center median, hitting and killing Don Clift and Jana Turpen Clift in their SUV.

The events of the next few days are mostly a blur for the Clift sisters, but one thing is locked in both of their memories.

“I knew several people would come to the service. My roommates and some of my pledge sisters were already there with me,” Skyla Clift says. “When the memorial service happened, there were two full buses that drove down from Stillwater. Two buses of my OSU family.”

“It meant the world to me (to have the students attend). Even after most of my pledge class had graduated, they still came along with so many girls from other pledge classes,” older sister Shayla Clift says. “I remember walking into the giant auditorium at my home church and being amazed at how many people were there. I immediately found my Kappa Delta family, and I felt comforted to know that they were there.”

For the Clift sisters, that support made all the difference.

“That showed me that I had put a lot into this campus and even as a sophomore, the campus was there to give back when I needed them,” Skyla says. “It made coming back to school that much easier because I had so many people to be there for me and help me start to rebuild.”

The OSU family support went beyond their friends. University faculty and staff got Skyla through the semester.

“I was gone for a week planning the funeral and then the week of Thanksgiving break. I was able to come back and have dead week and finals and finish the semester,” she says. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the faculty supporting me and helping me. I had private conversations with professors who would go through an entire lecture in 20 minutes because that’s all the time either of us had, but I had to know the material because I was taking a test on it the next morning. They made it possible.”

For Shayla, who would graduate a few months later, support landed on the graduation stage.

“One of my dad’s closest friends and Farmhouse Fraternity brother, Rick Davis sits on the Board of Regents for OSU. When I walked across the stage at my graduation, he was there to give me a hug and whisper in my ear that my parents would be so proud,” Shayla says. “It is moments like these that confirm for me that my parents made a giant impact on the lives of people around them, and I really hope that one day my actions inspire others to help those that are close to me.”

The Clift girls are ensuring their parents’ legacy and impact will continue at OSU with the Don and Jana Clift scholarship in animal science through the OSU Foundation.

“OSU will always be a part of who I am. I spent six years there and made more friends than I can count. OSU gave me a family when I thought that the biggest part of my family was gone for good. You can’t take that away,” Shayla says. “I love the feeling of being back on campus and seeing all the changes. I will forever bleed orange, and I will tell anyone who will listen the same thing.”

Although the Clift girls had grown up loving OSU and the decision to attend wasn’t a difficult one for Skyla to make, what she has experienced in the two years since her parents’ deaths has been remarkable.

“It makes me very proud of my university. You decide on where you want to go to college and what I have experienced is not something you can ever foresee, but I know that had I not been someplace where I had such a community behind me, I would not have come out on top of that,” Clift says. “You never expect a tragedy like that and never know how it’s going to affect and change your life, but if you don’t have the right people around you, it can definitely take you on the wrong course.”

Clift’s course to achieving her goal took a challenging turn but her eyes didn’t veer.

“I knew what it took to be a Senior of Significance when I came to campus and what an honor it is to achieve, but to receive the award has meant a lot knowing that it is something I can share with my dad even now and continue his legacy,” she says.

In addition to being an OSU Senior of Significance, Clift was named one of the College of Education’s Top 10 seniors. She graduated in May 2015 with a bachelor of science in athletic training and will pursue a master’s degree while working as an athletic trainer at Dallas Baptist University.