Each month, Texas State University President Dr. Kelly Damphousse sits down with faculty members, staff, students, alumni, and community members for a conversation about all things TXST — the past, the present, and the bright future of the university.
Part of the TXST Podcast Network: https://www.txst.edu/podcast-network.html
- When you really find your group and you find your people, it changes and it becomes like, oh, I'm excited. Like I'm excited to go to class. I'm excited to go to this football game. And it just gives you kind of different perspective on college. It's not just, you know, just classes. It doesn't have to be that way. It's also a home. And that's kind of how I see San Marcos now. And so when I go home for the summer for a week, I'm like, oh, I'm excited. I miss my friends. Like I miss the river. I miss all the things that I was doing during the school year.
- I think one of the victories we see sometimes is with students go back to visit their parents and they say, "I gotta go home to San Marcos," when San Marcos becomes your home, right?
- Yes.
- Yes.
- I gotta go home.
- My home.
- Because you're now, you're now, you're adulting, right? Now, you've got your own home, and you start to build your own family and network and so on. Hey, Bobcats, Kelly Damphousse here, president, Texas State University. And welcome back to "The Current" podcast. We're back now with a couple of students who are gonna share about their experience about being a first-generation student. So we have Alexa and we have Sage here. Why don't you guys first tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you're from? What your major is, and so on?
- Hi, my name is Alexa. I'm from Houston, Texas. My major is in education, early education. I have two minors, a minor in military science and one in Spanish. So I'm planning on commissioning active duty after I graduate college and then potentially becoming a Spanish teacher. My, you know, finish up that contract. I guess a little bit about me, outside of my job as a peer mentor, like working on campus, I'm also in the Gold Star Society, so I really enjoy involving myself with the community, not just Texas State, but like San Marcos as a whole.
- Yeah, for our alumni who are watching and listening, the Gold Star Society used to be called the Student Foundation.
- [Alexa] Yes.
- And so, it's kind of the ambassadors for the university for presidential events. And so, we love the Gold Star Society.
- Yeah, I love it. It's my first year on it, and I'm excited for all the future events. I know we kind of help out with the athletic department as well sometimes at the football games.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And it's just been a blast getting to know all the alumni as well, like the Strutters from when LBJ was inaugurated and everything.
- It's really interesting.
- Yeah, it is.
- It gives you a lot of insight about the university, the history of it, and so on. And get to see, like a lot of students don't realize what happens at a university. They think about classes and maybe football games, but don't realize all the other stuff that goes on with alumni relations and bringing VIPs on the campus and so on. So you get kind of an insider's perspective as a Gold Star Society member.
- I do.
- Yeah.
- It's amazing. I love it.
- Cool. Sage, what about you?
- Well, hi, my name is Sage Drinkard. I am a digital media innovation major here at Texas State. I'm a junior. I am originally from Liberty, Texas. It's a little small town, like an hour away from school.
- One of my best friends is from Liberty, Texas.
- You're lying.
- No, no. Yeah.
- I've never met anyone who just like knows where that is around.
- Yeah. Yeah, she loves it. Audra McCleod was her name back in the day.
- Oh, my gosh.
- She's Audra Wilkinson now. But yeah, she talks about Liberty all the time, so.
- That's incredible.
- Yeah.
- I love meeting, every time I meet someone who knows, I get so excited. I'm like, oh my gosh, you know where that is.
- Well, you know, there's pride in your hometown, right? Like if, and you know, I'm from Canada originally. If I ever run into someone from Canada, like, holy cow, tell me more, you know? And so.
- Yeah, I feel like around here that would definitely be crazy.
- It's pretty rare, but anyways. Yeah.
- Yeah. Outside of here, I have, I actually just recently got employed as a First-Gen Initiative. I am the design and marketing assistant up there now. So that's been something I started recently. I've had a lot of fun. Super fun there.
- Talk about, first off, your journey to Texas State. Why did you end up coming here and then maybe your transition from high school to college as a first-generation student? Sage, we'll start with you.
- Oh, well, originally, I actually was not going to come to Texas State. I originally was gonna go out of the state. I was gonna go to Arizona 'cause I have a lot of family there. But you know, we were looking at it and out-of-state tuition-
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- is really expensive. And so, I was kind of stressed, and it was a little last minute. I was like, "Where am I gonna go?" And I had a few options, but Texas State really stuck out to me, you know, when I went and toured, I was like, "This campus is beautiful."
- Yeah.
- This is where I need to be. Also, something that really did stick out was, you know, first-gen. It's very first-gen inclusive here.
- Yeah.
- And I found that when I was looking at a lot of other colleges, they weren't, they didn't really gear towards first-gen just like Texas State did. So that's why I went with Texas State. The journey to get here was tough. I will or will say, it was kind of, you know, none of my family knew anything about going to college. Even filling out a college application was kind of tough. And then, you know, I got to college and I was like, wow, you know, it's like this big scary thing. Like what do I do now? How do I make friends? But yeah, yeah, that was my journey.
- You figured it out? Yeah.
- Yeah. I'm figuring it out. I'm having a great time now.
- You're still figuring it out, right?
- I'm still figuring it out. There's still so much to figure out, you know?
- Alexa, what about you? What's your story of getting to Texas State?
- So really quickly I wanna answer, like, I kinda wanna respond to what you just said. So I have a lot of mentees that are first generation.
- Yeah.
- I have a whole section that's first generation and a lot of them struggle with a lot of the things that I, myself, was struggling with. Obviously, like finding friends, finding a community. A lot of 'em ask me questions about registering for classes and situations like that. And I always tell them, like don't stress out because I was the same way. Like, I honestly didn't have, I feel like I didn't really figure things out until my second year. I feel like that's really true. I found myself at Texas State. I actually didn't know where I wanted to go. I had no idea if I wanted to go to college or what colleges to look at. And so, when I came here, I applied. And when I visited, it was honestly the environment that really gave me an idea that I could envision myself here. It was just beautiful. And again, like you were saying, the first-generation program was really well. And on top of that, I'm military connected. So I came here after attending all my basic training, like all my military training. And Texas State has one of the best transitional programs for students who are military connected. And that's not something that a lot of schools have. So not only was I getting assistance through like military, but also first-gen, like financial aid. It just had so many programs, and I feel like none of the other colleges that I applied to had like all the things that I was looking for, like Texas State did.
- Most of us don't have it figured out. We're still trying to figure things out. The other truth is that you mentioned is we have so much help for people, if people would just ask for help, we could help them out. I don't know how many times a student has messaged me on social media and said, "Hey, I'm outta money and I'm gonna have to drop out." And I said, "Oh, lemme connect you with financial aid." And every single time, I'll always say like, "Let me know how it turns out." And they'll write me back say, "Hey, thank you for connecting me. I got this all figured out, and I'm gonna be back in school in the fall semester." But I think about this like, how many people didn't ask me for help or didn't know that they could reach out to not just the president, but also to anybody else, a peer, or a professor, or a staff member? Because we do have, I think, a real sense of ownership of student success here. And I'm glad you see that because that's really important for us, not just to have the biggest freshman class every year, but to have the biggest graduating class. The only way you can graduate a lot of students is to retain students and help them through that transitional period. Do you remember, maybe a challenge like your first semester? Like specific, I wish I'd known that, or I probably would've had it if my parents had gone to college, it might've been a little different for me? That really kinda stood out your first, like the first entree, maybe the first week, or the first semester, or the first year of college.
- For me it was definitely reaching out to my professors
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- and my CIs like the educational, like academic support. I see that a lot with freshmen this year that a lot of them struggle with classes or adjusting to the pace of college classes, and they kind of suffer in silence. A lot of them do.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- But professors, they have it usually in their syllabus. They'll have the times that they're available in their office hours. And those are times that they wanna help you. I mean, I've noticed anytime I go to a professor in my office hours, I've never had a horrible experience. Like they're genuinely passionate about what they're teaching. I mean a lot of them have studied that. They have doctorates.
- Yeah.
- You know, they dedicate their job to that. And so, a lot of them, they want to help you. And on top of that, when you go to those office hours, they get to know you. Like they see that you're trying. They see that you're putting in the effort. And I think as a freshman, I was just really intimidated. I didn't really know how it would go. I thought that I would be like, I guess, criticized and judged and like, they'd be like, oh my God, how do you not know this? But I've never experienced that. And this, like on SLAC, too, and Math CATS, I mean it's like students who are math, like math-inclined. They're math majors.
- Different from me, right? Because I'm not math-inclined. Yeah.
- And they wanna help you, like they want to help you, and I feel like it's really the student that is scared, and I was scared and I couldn't ask my parents for help. And it kind of feels like you're alone when you don't really reach out.
- Yeah. I remember being so nervous about around faculty and sometimes people do that. Like they'll come and see me.
- Yeah.
- Like the other day, I got in an elevator and a student got on and she looked at me and she said, "I'm so nervous right now." And I was like, "What are you nervous about?" "I've never been in the elevator with a president before." But even for just a professor, how intimidating that was.
- Yeah.
- And then to recognize that they're just, they're a mom, or they're a sister, or a daughter, or a husband. They're just like regular people who went down a career path and got a Ph.D. and are experts in a field, but they're normal people. And we do have these office hours. I always call 'em the loneliest hour of the week-
- They are.
- 'cause no one ever comes to visit.
- Yeah.
- And so, I remember when a student would come in, I'd go, "Holy cow, a student is actually here." And I'd clear a spot space for them in the chair, and we'd sit and talk about stuff, and that allows the student to create a relationship with the professor. And I'm not talking about like grade changes and how that might affect your grade, but it does, I think, change the relationship between you and the faculty member when you actually go see them outside of the classroom. So, Sage, what about you? What tough experience you had when you first got here?
- I would say for me, it was definitely the same thing. Reaching out, having the courage to reach out.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And understand the resources that I have around here and actually using those to my advantage. Yeah, I've always, I think just this year, actually I've gone out of my way to get to know my professors-
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- and reach out. I didn't even do it last year, but I've noticed such a big difference now that I've done it, like this year. You know, I can just like chit chat with my professors.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Or sometimes I'll just go to their office hours and be like, "Hey, how you doing?" The biggest thing is like reaching out.
- Yeah.
- Because everybody wants to help you, you know? Nobody wants to see you fail. They wanna see you succeed. And I wish that is something I realized my freshman year.
- You're right on target there. I think sometimes people think that students are a burden to a faculty member.
- [Sage] Yeah.
- But the exact opposite. I mean, they could be, you know, making a lot more money out in the public, you know, in the private sector, but they're here for a reason. And many of them, many of our faculty, are also first-generation students. And so, they, oftentimes, will see themselves in the eyes of their students when they come in and go, you know, someone helped me get here. I'm gonna invest in someone else as well. And it's not just our faculty, by the way. We have staff members all over the campus who are similarly disposed to like pouring themselves into a student that maybe just needs a little push.
- [Sage] Yeah.
- Yeah.
- [Alexa] Yeah.
- So tell me a story, maybe of an experience. You're over the hump now. You're getting closer and closer to graduation now,
- [Alexa] Right.
- and you're always saying like, you're going to talk to your professor, now, you're taking more classes in your major and so on. That kind of makes sense, too, but maybe a story where you're like, I've got it figured out like now I know what I'm supposed to be doing here.
- When I started here, I was a business major, and I remember my freshman year being like, "This is not what I want."
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- This is not something I like. I was like, "What can I do?" You know? One thing I really love about Texas State is the variety of majors offered.
- [Kelly] Yeah, yeah.
- And so, then I switched to electronic media and I was like, this is still not it, you know? So then I heard about digital media innovation. I was like, OK. Yeah. So I started doing digital media and everything, I don't know if this like makes sense, but everything has felt right since then.
- This clicked.
- I'm like, this is what I wanna do. I feel complete, and I feel like I'm on track now, and I have a better view of where I would like to go from here, what I would like to do after college now.
- You know, it's interesting, I saw a study a few years back where they gave students a piece of paper and a pencil and said, "Write down," these are like high school seniors. "Write down all the majors you can think of that you might major in." And like the typical list was five long. People thought, "Well, psychology and biology," and they're thinking of subjects, but not majors. Because you mentioned the breadth of offerings that we have like 200 majors and minors that are available here. Like there's, you probably never even heard of the major you're in now.
- No, I've never.
- Until you got here. And so, we typically think more and more about degree discovery plans that people can take classes here and there and then find the one, like not majoring too quickly.
- Yes, yes.
- Because sometimes you get locked in like, I gotta be this kind of person or a degree that's named after a job like accounting. Like that was my dad. The world's always gonna need an accountant, so.
- Yeah.
- "Do accounting." I said, "Dad, I don't like math." He said, "Don't worry about it, you'll figure it out," but you did what so many students have done, and you eventually discovered your passion and aligned that with a major. And that makes school so much more fun when you're doing something you love.
- It does. I will say like my, when I was a business major, I was like, I don't know if college is for me,
- Yeah.
- 'cause I was taking classes I wasn't interested in and I was like, I'll just stick with it. It'll give me, you know, it'll be a good degree to have. But I'm so glad like I found digital media because I feel right where I need to be.
- And there are students who start somewhere else and then say, "Oh I took a business class. Oh, I didn't even know I could do that. I thought I had to be really good at math and I'm not good at, I could do this or that." There's other, the sales and marketing and so on, that's in the college business. And so, what about you?
- For me, my freshman year, I feel like I was one of those students who kind of like rotted in bed a lot and I wouldn't go out, and I thought I was OK with that until, you know, later on I realized that it didn't have to be that way. And so, leading towards my sophomore year, I started to get more involved. I started to join more orgs, and I started to be more social, instead of just kind of closing myself off in class. I started to speak up. I was going to those dorm events. I was, that's when I joined ROTC. I just started to get outta my shell, started to get more social, trying to find new things to do. And the more time I spent kind of like investigating, exploring the community and campus, it started to seem more like a home. Because before that, it was kind of like, oh, I'm just here for campus. I'm just going to class and that's it. And when you really find your group and you find your people, it changes and it becomes, oh, I'm excited. Like I'm excited to go to class. I'm excited to go to this football game. And it just gives you kind of different perspective on college. It's not just, you know, just classes. It doesn't have to be that way. It's also a home. And that's kind of how I see San Marcos now. And so, when I go home for the summer for like a week, I'm like, "Oh, I'm excited. I miss my friends, like I miss the river."
- Yeah.
- I miss all the things that I was doing during the school year. And so, that's one of the things I never really expected to have here in San Marcos.
- I think one of the victories we see sometimes with students go back to visit their parents and they say, "I gotta go home to San Marcos-
- Yes.
- Yes.
- when San Marcos becomes your home, right?
- I gotta go home
- Because you're now, you're adulting, right? Now, you got your own home, and you start to build your own family and network and so on. I think you guys have got such great experience, but I'd love to ask you for a piece of advice for a future first-generation student. We talked about going to talk to professors and so on, and getting connected in small groups, but what would be one other thing that you would tell someone? So Alexa, we'll start with you.
- If I had to tell someone who was thinking of coming to college, I think a piece of advice I'd have is to, that it's OK to be intimidated. It's OK to be scared.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And those emotions are all normal, and that things will fall into place. You just have to give it time. Because I think a lot of people immediately, when they see challenges, when they experience something that they're not comfortable with, sometimes it's easier to kind of close off and like want, oh, this isn't for me and have doubts. But everyone has had that. Even people who aren't first-gen have doubts.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And it's just important to like power through, and that you have resources here to help you.
- You know, there was a famous saying back a while back that said, "Failure is not an option," but in college, failure is an option. You should try things and if they don't work, that's OK.
- That's OK.
- This is the time to fail, you know?
- Yeah.
- To try things and experiment. What was the term you used earlier about it was almost like you spent a lot of time sleeping in bed or something like that?
- Oh, I was rotting away.
- Rotting away?
- Yes.
- I love that, yeah. Get outta bed, right? Get off the video games, go see somebody.
- Try new things.
- Yeah, try new things.
- You know, we have so many 400 student organizations. If you don't find one you like, go start one. What about you Sage?
- My biggest piece of advice would be make friends.
- Yeah.
- And I know that's so intimidating, but once I really found a group of friends, like I've never felt more at home. And I think my friends have also been my biggest supporters.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And help, like my best friend, she's not first-gen, but she's helped me so much with so many questions I have. She keeps me on top of getting my schedule, like meetings with my advisors, like she is perfect, you know? That would be my biggest piece. Make friends because they are gonna be there for you in the long run.
- You know, you reminded me of a story when I was a, when I transferred, so I went to community college, and I was a prison guard for three years and went back to school. And when I went back to a school here in Texas, I was just completely lost. Like the first, like before school started, I didn't know what to do, where to go. I didn't have a schedule yet. This is before the internet. And my roommate said, "Have you talked to your advisor yet?" And I said, "What's an advisor?" And so, he rifled through my paperwork and said, "Oh, your advisor is Dr. Loveless. You should go talk to her." I said, "Oh, OK." Like I didn't have that safety net behind me as a first-generation student where my parents said, "Go talk to your advisor," and your peers actually, probably more than a staff member or a faculty member can really help you out. Even if they were first-gen, they've kind of gone through it and they kind of help you learn some things, so.
- Yep.
- Yeah.
- And then now, that's your responsibility, right? To help the next and you're already doing that.
- Yes.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing a little bit about your stories, a first-generation college student here at Texas State. I hope you feel what we're trying to do here is that we're trying to change people's lives, and we hope that your lives are being changed here. And then ultimately, you're changing the lives of the people that come behind you. And so, we're looking forward to seeing the rest of your Texas State story and seeing you walk across that stage at graduation. When's graduation set for you?
- December 2026.
- Alexa, December 2026. And Sage?
- I'm looking at May 2026.
- All right. A little bit earlier. And what's really cool is you guys didn't know each other before today and now you're like, buddies now.
- Yes.
- Let's exchange socials.
- Yeah, literally.
- Go to Kerbey Lane. Lunch is on me.
- Right?
- It's that easy. It's that easy to talk to people-
- It is, exactly.
- and make friends.
- Yeah, it is. Well, you guys are great role models, so. All right, now, my favorite part of the podcast is the final question here. So students have submitted questions to me here, and I have not actually looked at it yet, so I'm gonna pull this out. So this one says, "With regards to the university, what do you hope to accomplish by the end of the academic year?" Boy, that's a great question. One of the things we're really working hard on is becoming an R1 institution. So, and becoming an R1 or a Research One university and has a lot of moving parts to it, but the biggest thing that we're trying to do is increase the number of doctoral students we have at Texas State. So we had a number of doctoral programs already, so kind of putting a lot of resources into that. But we also started a number of doctoral programs as well. So this is the first year of some of those doctoral programs coming in. And I'm excited to see how many students we get into those doctoral programs to see the progress in those students working towards graduation. This past year, we graduated 71 Ph.D. students from Texas State and we've been averaging about 45 to 50 a year. So to make that jump from 45 to 50 to 71 in one year is exciting. I can't wait to see how many more students we have graduating with their Ph.D.s here next year. So that's something I'm really looking forward to in the academic year that'll be ending next May. Thank you for submitting those questions. I look forward to hearing more of your questions in the future and I look forward to sharing more about what's going on at Texas State. All right, States Up.