BOBCATShadow allows Texas State students to intern for a day with various employers and partners. Registration opened on June 1, and the programming will take place on August 22 and 23.
This is the second year Career Services will host BOBCATShadow. The event connects students to companies and alumni for a hands-on learning experience in their respective industries and careers. Students can expect to gain numerous benefits such as informal interviews and shadowing daily tasks, regardless of major or career plan.
Yakima Anderson, career experiences coordinator, said the program is one of the first steps in planning out a student’s future.
“It allows students the opportunity to either continue on their degree pathway or if they want to make changes,” Anderson said.
Career Services connects students with employers to learn their experience and find more about what their degree means before they cross the stage.
“One of our students made the comment she learned more during her one-day shadow than she did in the three semesters she’s taken classes,” Anderson said. “I thought that was a very bold statement to make but probably bold and true.”
Anderson estimates 50% of all community partners in BOBCATShadow are Texas State alumni. One of them, Michael Hufschmid, a Comal County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) supervisor, graduated in 2010 with a criminal justice bachelor’s degree. He is excited to partake in BOBCATShadow again, seeing it as beneficial for students and the community.
“It offers exposure for the student and then it helps us gain those connections, possibly getting someone’s attention and interest to work for us,” Hufschmid said.
Hufschmid urges students to participate in as many programs similar to this one as they can. He thinks it provides something Texas State physically cannot offer students in their classes, and clarification about their future career.
Alumnus Yvonne Troyano, a supervisor for Comal County CSCD, graduated with a criminal justice bachelor’s in 2009 and a master’s in 2011 and will work with BOBCATShadow. She thinks programs like this can help encourage students who may undergo similar interests in their college career.
Troyano praised the connections BOBCATShadow created in the community in and around San Marcos. She said a student who participated in the program now has a job at the CSCD, and it started with BOBCATShadow. To her, networking within the community represents the pride students and alumni have for Texas State.
“It does solidify the pride our school has and how we are not just striving academically, but striving for success,” Troyano said. “I think it is kind of imperative to keep that going because it’s a legacy of Texas State.”
Applications for BOBCATshadow are open until June 30th. To learn more about BOBCATShadow, visit https://www.careerservices.txst.edu/bobcatshadow.html
