Welcome to Brazos Matters.

I'm student contributor Gracie Dolan.

Texas A&M boasts a wealth of opportunities for students to sharpen their careers, career skills outside of the classroom and KAMU Studios happens to provide some of those opportunities for a handful of students each semester, including myself.

You may have seen my face or heard my voice on Brazos matters over the last few months, but there's more students just like me that lend their time to make the content we produce across our TV and FM platforms possible.

KAMU wouldn't be the same without our dedicated student workers.

So we have we have two graduating seniors.

Joining me today to tell us a little bit more about their time spent here in Ireland.

So with us today, we have KAMU student employees Tabina Hassan and Alisha Patterson.

Thanks for taking the time to be here with me today, guys.

Thank you for having us.

Of course.

So to get us started, we can start with you, Alisha.

How about you just briefly tell us a little bit about yourself and explain your role here at KAMU?

Sure.

So I'm Alisha Patterson.

So my role here at Kamu is in administration.

So basically working with, like the paperwork and filing all our logs or our TV and FM logs, taking donations, writing those in our spreadsheets.

And then like, a lot of like scanning and printing and all that type of stuff.

Your major, what you want to do with your life after we're done in a few weeks.

Right.

So I am a food science major, and so after graduation, the plan is grad school.

So that's kind of like where I'm at right now.

Not too sure what's after grad school, but.

Yeah.

In doing that, how about you?

My name is Tabina Hassan.

I'm a senior MIS Major here, and I work as a production assistant.

So my role basically involves going to midnight yells, graduation, All of the academic events that we have here on campus and just helping out, being like a hand on deck.

And then whenever I'm here at the office, I work on editing and just making videos and as for post-grad, my plan is not really completely set in stone.

I like potentially could go to grad school and or I could move.

I really want to move to New York.

That's kind of the biggest thing.

Yeah, New York has that pull.

But yeah, so that's kind of what the rough plan is for post-grad.

Awesome.

Well, I don't have anybody to ask me, but I'll answer myself.

I'm a journalism major, minoring in sports management, and I also have no idea what happens after May eight.

So we'll see what comes for all of us.

So now to get into kind of the meat of everything, has there been anything during you guys is quote like Aggie experience that's exceeded or has fell short of your expectations while you've been here?

Either you can start early so you could start again if you like.

So when I was thinking about this question, I thought it was kind of funny.

Like something silly, I thought was that exceeded my expectations with the amount of free stuff that A&M gives us.

Like they always have like t shirts to hand out or like free food to hand out at their events.

So I thought that was kind of cool to have that opportunity to collect like A&M shirts.

Like, it's so funny cause I feel like now, like my wardrobe is only like A&M t shirts that I got for free.

Yeah, but other than that, like also the free resources that they have.

So like all the de-stress events or like the social support group events or the career growth event, those are definitely like very like good character development and you get to meet new people, which I really like loved about, you know?

Yeah, I love that to be.

Now, one of the things that really exceeded my expectations during my time here was getting to work as a production assistant at KAMU You I remember when I saw the like the job posting in my email, I didn't think it was real.

I was like, no way.

I would just actually get to work at like a real TV station.

And even like once I got the job, I was like, Is it really going to be like a TV station?

Like, what kind of does that entail?

And so when I actually got to like the studio for the first time, this was like way back when we were still in like the, like the other station.

And I got to see, like all the sets and like the different studios that we had in there.

I was like, wow.

Like, this is actually like a full production assistant, like, experience.

So kind of how comprehensive that and hands on the experience of being a production assistant and like really getting to explore the film and media space was something that really exceeded my expectations because honestly, like at first I didn't realize like how real that experience would be.

I kind of felt the same way about like getting started at KAMU It's funny, I knew that I was doing my internship and I knew kind of what all it would entail, but my time it gave me, it was also exceeded my expectations.

And also like on the other side of things, I feel like it's been so it's so easy to get plugged in.

And I'm You were kind of talking about that.

Alisha There's so many opportunities here.

It's like crazy.

There's like thousands of student organizations and like, not even counting the, like, events and stuff that they hold.

So that's been like a very lovely part of my core Aggie experience is just how easy it is.

Like I was transfer student.

So I waited my two years and then I came here and I was like, Okay, I don't really know what I'm going to do next, but it's so easy.

It's like they draw you in with all the stuff, whether it's like student employment opportunities or like the sports stuff that you were talking about or organizations.

It's like also encompassing.

They really try and get everybody involved, which I've loved personally next time and ask you something that's like a little bit more personal.

College is undoubtedly a time of a lot of change going on, like with who you are, chapter of growth, if you will.

And I know I've certainly changed a bunch since my freshman year and even since I started at A&M as a junior.

So I'm wondering if you guys are able to like see that change within yourself versus like who you were as a freshman and who you are now?

Like kind of what's helped that change develop?

You think?

Alisha I've definitely been able to see some change from freshman year to now.

Definitely within like how much, how less overwhelmed I get because like, I felt like coming in as a freshman and just like getting your class assignments, trying to find like your group of people that was like very overwhelming for me.

And I was just like, my goodness, I'm not going to find anything to do.

And I'm like going to be overloaded with work.

But I think just like as time went on and just like just being more like assured, like within myself and just like kind of getting into the emotion of how like, college worked.

It made me like less stress, less overwhelmed with like, the situations that I'm put in, like the class work or like meeting people because it all comes in due time and like, we're all here for a reason.

That's kind of like my help, my thought process too.

So like, everything's going to happen for a reason.

So that kind of helped me, like, decompress and like, not get as overwhelmed, like throughout my years here for sure.

Yeah, it's a big transition process for sure.

Even as you go on throughout, even past your first year to be not breathing.

I really like that answer.

I feel like I agree with that a lot.

I think that college kind of teaches you to be a little bit more relaxed and realize that things are, you know, more relaxed than like we first think they are.

I think one of the biggest ways that I've changed over the course of college is realizing how important relationships are in our lives.

I think coming into college, I was very like achievement oriented and I need to hit the next milestone and do this and accomplish that.

But kind of shortly into college, like I became really close friends with my roommate, my current roommate, and that's been such a rewarding relationship in my life, in such a rich relationship in my life, and kind of that relationship and even some of the other relationships that are formed by like joining organizations, like I'm in a business or on campus called DSP and then 180 consulting and some of the friends that I've made do that and like the things that they've taught me have been so invaluable in my life.

And so kind of the biggest change I would say is realizing that even though achievements are important and it's good to have like these individual accomplishments, what's a lot more important is making sure you have a strong and rich community around you.

And I think that's a very like A&M thing.

I think A&M really enforces community and the strength and the people around you.

But I it was just lucky to really get to experience that and just being surrounded by such great people who taught me so much to know.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I feel like I've had the same experience I used to be.

So, okay, I accomplished this.

What's next?

Okay, what's next?

What's next?

And then I did my time at Blinn, got my associates, and I came to A&M and I was like, It's time for something different.

It's time to not work towards something that's like on paper or achievable.

It's time to work towards something on the inside.

And I too got involved in organization as soon as I got here.

I'm in a women's organization and a service organization, and both of those have like provided so much value to like my life and like has shaped who I have become since I've been here and like, truly, like, wouldn't change that experience for the world.

It's like, so valuable, the things that they provide for us here.

so my last little question, anything you'd go back and change if you could?

A hard one.

I know.

I don't even know how I would answer that, to be so honest.

I don't think I think everything kind of like, works itself out eventually, but I don't know.

It's hard trying to think about what you would change if you could, Yeah, that is a hard one.

I stumped you.

Would it, I feel like there's.

There's such a little that I feel like I would change because, like, I genuinely.

I feel like sometimes I look at college and I'm like, Wow, that was perfect.

I think that, like, maybe this is a little bit of a deviation from the question, but I would love to go back and, like, relive my freshman year when I lived in the dorms because my mind was like, so different.

I feel like so much like younger.

And I didn't really think about, like, important things, like full time and like, jobs.

Maybe I would like, go back and start thinking about that a little sooner because then maybe I would have had to answer for you for question one.

But, yeah, so maybe that's what I would change.

Maybe I should have become a little bit more professional a little sooner, but yeah, yeah, for sure.

Alisha I think like two opposite of that.

Like probably just be more relaxed and like kind of like going with the flow of everything because like as a freshman I was just like, like y'all were like a team, like, got to get this and all this type of stuff, but like, just, like learning to, like, be relaxed and be okay with like, where you are, like, be present.

I think that's the one thing I would change.

Like going back to like my freshman year, I feel a little bit the same way.

I think freshman year I was to like, go, go, go, go, go.

I just got here and I need to do everything and I need to know everything and I need to be involved.

But it was kind of hard not actually being an A&M student first, but I get that.

I feel like I just needed to like, my goodness, chill out.

Like you've got four years.

Like, I wish that I would have like, soaked it in more is is how I feel now.

Obviously like two weeks to graduation.

It's like, my gosh, you just want to cry all the time.

Or at least that's how I feel.

But I don't know.

You get you get that phase where it's like, I wish I remembered more.

I wish I, like, cherish more is the way that I feel about it.

well, do you guys have anything else you want to add about your experience since you've been here?

Anything of note I keep, I keep stumping.

You.

I feel like I would just reiterate kind of what you guys said in your, like, last answer to really soak it in and be present in the moment.

This is such a special time.

And even though what happens next is really important, this time is very different from any other time of your life, so it's important to cherish it.

Yeah, I completely agree.

You can't like compare the importance of what we do now to the importance of what we're going to do after May 8th, ninth and 10th.

It just it doesn't line up the same.

So we got we got to soak in it.

I've been trying to make everybo Well, that's the end of everything.

Thank you guys for being here.

That's all Brazos Matters is a production of Aggieland's Public Radio 90.9 Kamu FM.

Our show today was engineered and edited by Matt Dittman.

All Brazos Matters episodes are available on YouTube and on podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart and Amazon, also on the NPR app and the KAMU website.

We'd love for you to rate review and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

I'm Gracie Dolan with Tabina Hassan and Alisha Patterson.

Thank you guys again, so much for being here.

Thanks for watching and listening.