From his Twitter account, Brandon Formby reported the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and how it affected Texans.

However, before Twitter added that blue check next to his name, Formby was the editor for La Ventana and editor for The Daily Toreador, then known as The University Daily.

Prior to all this, Formby grew up in Plano and attended Collin College before transferring to Texas Tech in 1998. From there, he decided to major in journalism and was active with Tech’s Student Media from the beginning of his career.

Because of his natural storytelling abilities, Formby’s experience at The DT did not just help develop his personal career but also helped develop the careers of the editors who followed behind him. Kevin Cullen, former editor for The DT who now works as a UX/UI designer at The Charity Network, spoke about how Formby’s time at The DT inspired him nearly 10 years later.

“I do know, just basically from being at The DT, that (Formby) did a pretty incredible job (covering 9/11),” Cullen said. “So, when I was (the editor) there, I always had a copy of that 9/11 issue in the office. It was always a kind of cool legacy to look back at.”

Even though many of the editors who succeeded him at The DT were greatly impacted by his exceptional 9/11 coverage, Formby said he was nervous about going into the field of journalism after 9/11.

Despite this, Formby followed his gift for storytelling to Dallas after graduation. A few months later, he said he was hired at The Dallas Morning News in 2003 as a news clerk for the Southlake bureau for a year, after which he became a reporter for the Denton County bureau.

“It’s hard not to notice or hear (Formby),” Cullen said. “He’s a very forward person. He’s very, not out-there but very opinionated. He’s very good at what he does.”

During his time at Tech, Formby became widely known for his opinions columns. Courtney Brady, a former co-worker in the Department of Student Media and long-time friend of Formby, said he might have been better known as a columnist than he was as an editor.

“He kind of ran all over the place (with his columns), whether it was just his own personal stories that were funny or talking about campus issues,” Brady said. “And, he was pretty controversial, too. I would always joke with him because we couldn’t go eat pizza or get tacos without somebody coming up to him or knowing him.”

Brady said everyone who worked with Formby at The DT knew he would be a successful journalist. Ironically, they used to joke with him that one day he would most likely be a Tech alum featured in The DT.

“It just takes one conversation with Brandon to realize he has such a gift for communication and story-telling,” Brady said. “He is the real deal. And all of us who worked with him, all of his friends, we all knew that he was going to go really far in the industry.”

Formby said he accepted the position of urban affairs reporter for The Texas Tribune in 2016 after working for The Dallas Morning News for almost 13 years.

However, without the experience of working for Student Media, he said he would not be where he is today.

“It wasn’t like we were getting to pretend to be journalists. We were journalists (at The DT),” Formby said. “Everything from deciding what to cover, to how we covered it (and) how it came out on the paper or online, the students made those decisions. So, when I graduated and when I started at The Dallas Morning News, I had four years of being a journalist under my belt.”

Formby said working as an editor for both publications helped him understand what editors go through. Those experiences taught him, as a reporter, to be more thorough with his writing and to have a clean copy of his stories.

“It helped me be a reporter (people) could count on to do what reporters need to do,” he said. “I didn’t need help every step of the way. They knew they could count on me to go out in the field and get the important questions answered, and come back and turn the story around, and it would be in good shape.”

Formby also said one of his most memorable times at Tech was when the Red Raiders defeated Texas A&M, 21-19, at Jones AT&T Stadium in early October 1999.

“That was the game where everyone rushed the field, tore down the goal post, marched the goal post out of the stadium, marched it down the street, back to campus and to the Will Rogers (statue),” he said. “There was this huge crowd of fans going absolutely crazy.”

Formby said if there is one lesson students in the College of Media & Communication can learn from their time at Tech, it is to not solely take journalism classes but also work in the field of journalism. Students can get more practice working in the field than in class.

Even though students learn about journalism and writing in the classroom setting, Formby said working in Student Media allows aspiring journalists to get more practice in the field.

“The pace of Student Media prepares you for what it’s going to be like to work for a news agency after college,” Formby said. “The way to get a job is to show people what you’ve already done, and if you work for Student Media, you have that when you graduate.”