2020 College Report

Trough a combination of a music scholarship, student loans, Mario fell in love for the frst time at 14 – with dance. to share their passion for dance. Mario became part of the NAME HERE, First Generation Student F i r s t gen / N e x t gen stor i es “A force to be reckoned with” is how her former professor Joey Martin describes Coty Raven Morris . Well put. Coty’s journey to Texas State is paved with overcoming obstacles, although she downplays her own challenges with a “but everybody has struggles.” Hers involved living with a multitude of diferent family members across Louisiana and Texas – sometimes not having a home at all and sometimes with families who simply took her in. She encountered drastic demographic changes from her predominately Black school environment to majority White and Hispanic ones in Austin. While living with her Texas guardians, she went to a Baptist church one Sunday and a Catholic church the next. She learned Jewish customs while living with a foster family. But music was always part of the narrative, and singing in church and school choirs was the best part. After eighth grade, she wound up in a summer choir camp at Texas State. “Summer camp was always special to me,” she says, “because everyone you met became your family. We were all connected to music making.” She attended that camp for four summers, was an intern after high school, then became the entertainment chair for the camps for the next six years. “I found out that I had choices,” she says, like going to college for music, which had never been part of the Morris family’s plan. So, of course, Texas State was the place to go. However, she recalls, she was not very “fnancially aware” of what going to college meant. 32 . COLLEGE REPORT 2020 MARIO FLORES First Generation College Student COTY MORRIS First Generation College Student Born and reared in Laredo, Mario recalls that when he was in middle school, he had the opportunity to sign up for the city’s communication and fne arts high school. It sounded compelling and he was interested in theatre at the time. “But I decided to give dance a chance,” he says, “and that’s when I fell in love with dancing.” When it came time for college, after a year of junior college in Laredo, he chose Texas State. “I wanted to grow on my own, away from home. I had friends there, and that made my parents comfortable with my decision.” A decision that took some time for his parents to accept was Mario’s choice of major, dance. His mother worked with the Laredo WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program, and his father was a captain in the Laredo Fire Department. Both wondered about a career in dance for their son. “But they supported me all the way, and they are now my number one fans.” Teir support included money they had put back since the day he was born to fnance his education and that of his two sisters. At Texas State, he performed with Orchesis Dance Company, a group that gives students of all majors a chance work-study, and Pell Grants she began to make ends meet. In her sophomore year, she decided to try making some money as a DJ, so she found some equipment on Craig’s List (“which turned out to be cheap, broken, or stolen,” she says) and started gigging for diferent organizations at Texas State. Working all night, then going to class did not do much for her grades, though. “I learned some hard lessons in the worst ways possible,” she jokes now. She graduated with a degree in music education and spent the next six years at high schools in Austin and Houston, where her choirs won numerous awards. She then moved north to seek her master’s in choral conducting at Michigan State. In April of this year while fnishing the degree, she accepted a director position at Crosby (Texas) High School, spending every chance she could Zooming and FaceTiming with new students. Recent national events have thrust Coty into a role she had not counted on. She was asked to give a presentation on diversity at a state conference of music educators earlier this year and was surprised when it drew a standing-room-only crowd. “Race relations have come to a tipping point,” she says. “People are hungry to know what they can do to make the changes we need.” She guides the necessary conversation with a program she calls Being Human Together. “We’ll see where this goes.” ■ - Written by T.Cay Rowe company’s artistic staf as the public relations coordinator during his senior year. He says he was able to stretch his comfort zone and try new dance styles. He also joined CIM TEYA, a group of Texas State dancers who go to elementary schools to teach non-dance concepts like math and geography via dance. Upon graduation in 2015, Mario moved to Houston. When fnding a job there proved difcult, he looked to New York City, where he landed an internship with Gibney Dance, a nonproft dance organization that supports artists and domestic violence survivors through a social justice lens from two locations in Manhattan. He worked his way up the ladder at Gibney and is now the senior manager of human resources. Ballet Folklorico is his dance avenue of choice, his community, as he describes it. “It gives me a chance to express my culture, my traditions,” he says of his work with Calpulli Mexican Dance Company. Te company provides afordable classes to Latino/a communities and was touring internationally before the coronavirus shut down travel. “After we perform, we interact with audiences,” he says. “Tey love the colors, the energy, the excitement of the dances. We make them happy, and I am happy to be part of spreading around that kind of joy.” ■ - Written by T.Cay Rowe F i r s t gen / N e x t gen . 33