March 2024 College News

in 2008 and has worked as a Dispatcher, Dispatch Supervisor, Fire Fighter, Deputy Constable, and now serves as a Training Officer, Mental Health Officer, K9 Handler, Victim Services Liaison, and Instructor at Texas State. Pawfficer Brady is Texas State’s first K9 Therapy Dog. Together, their efforts in mental health advocacy and public service align perfectly with the theme of resolve. Officer Marsteller's talk focused on their partnership and how she and Brady have helped individuals and communities in crisis both on our campus and beyond including being dispatched to help during the aftermath of the Lahaina fire in Maui. [5] Christine Norton is a Professor of Social Work at Texas State University and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor. Christine is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, a Certified Clinical Adventure Therapist, and a Certified Experiential Therapist. Dr. Norton helped launch Foster Care Alumni Creating Educational Success (FACES) at Texas State and created the Foster Care Adventure Therapy Network to share nature with youth and young adults with lived experience in foster care. She is a highly published author and a leading social work scholar in the field of outdoor therapy, and has presented her research and conducted trainings and workshops nationally and internationally. Dr. Norton’s talk focused on current research about the physical and mental health benefits of nature and provided a call to action to G.O.S.L.O.W. This acronym stands for Get Outside, Seek beauty, Listen to what nature is saying, Observe what you are seeing and feeling, and Widen your perspective. Dana Swann serves as the Executive Assistant at Texas Commission on the Arts. She is the direct administrative support person for the agency’s nine commissioners and serves as the agency’s Accessibility and Disability (ADA) Coordinator and as the Liaison for the Creative Forces Initiative. She has considerable administrative experience, including organizations like the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council, City of Austin, and The University of Texas System. She recently graduated Magna Cum Laude in Communication Studies from Texas State University and is now pursuing a master's degree. Dana aspires to teach communication at the college level and finish writing her book. Her talk focused on overcoming grief and loss and how she cultivated resilience and tenacity and continues to embody the spirit of resolve. ENTERTAINMENT AND PERFORMANCES OF TEDX: Mesal Quartet , a student led group of trombone musicians, kicked off the 2024 event in the lobby and led the audience into the Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. Members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, one of the oldest members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council performed a stroll routine and informed us about their organization's 40 year history. [6] Comedy Duo featuring Gabe Cortez and Garrett Buss , both alumni of Texas State University, helped the audience to recognize the benefits of humor for building resolve. Los Gatos 512 , an eight-piece salsa ensemble comprised of Texas State current students and alumni, brought the high energy and enabled the audience to embrace Hispanic music and culture during the break. Two students ( Cameron Monroe Thomas and Eric Shawn ) performed moving pieces from their Young, Gifted, and Black showcase led by Aaron Brown to start off the second session. CIM-TEYA (Creation in Motion - The Touring Ensemble for Young Audiences) is a dance company made up of Texas State dance majors and minors directed by Kaysie Seitz Brown . They performed two pieces - one about normalizing and overcoming stigmas associated with dyslexia and one set to Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off." VocaLibre , an auditioned choral group directed by Craig Aamot, performed two powerful pieces and blew our audience away when closing out our 2024 event! College of Fine Arts and Communication | 9 around the globe, in the fields of high-rise wood buildings, hospital design, dementia and elderly friendly design, and interactive architecture. His talk focused on his research team's progress on developing design interventions for hospitals and elderly care centers that reduce the number of injuries and increase our resilience as a species as we grow older. Mateo Gutierrez is a self-taught artist whose hand- embroidered art challenges the ingrained violence in American culture. Mateo brings to light forgotten tragedies, defying society's short attention span. His work confronts issues of identity and outsider experience, exhibited across the nation. Currently based in Austin, Texas, Mateo continues his thought- provoking exploration of American culture and its profound impact. His talk focused on a series of hand- embroidered paintings that contain juxtaposed images by photojournalists of people crossing the US-Mexico border and of people after mass shootings. Through his art and TEDx talk, Mateo challenged the ingrained violence in American culture. Stacy Johnson is the CEO and founder of the non- profit organization, Central Texas Table of Grace. After entering the foster care system at the age of two, Stacy Johnson spent the next 14 years moving from foster home to foster home, dreaming that someday she would open a children’s shelter and help other kids like herself. In 2014, she opened the doors of Central Texas Table of Grace, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter services to foster children and administers a Supervised Independent Living program for young adults aging out of foster care. Stacy is the recipient of several awards, including NBC’s KXAN recognizing her as the “Most Remarkable Woman of the Year” in Central Texas. Her talk focused on her experiences as a child in foster care and how those challenges fueled her resolve to help other kids in foster care and those aging out of the foster care system. Stacy encouraged the audience to think about how we can enact the Power of O.N.E. (Offer, Nurture, Empower) as an antidote to high ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores. Kendra Marsteller and Pawfficer Brady are members of the Texas State University Police Department. Kendra has served as a University Police Officer since 2018 and has worked in a variety of first responder roles during her career. She started as a Victim's Advocate 4 5 6 Kristen Farris served as the Event Director and TEDx License Hold Kendra Marsteller and Pawficer Brady gave a talk focused on their parnership Kappa Alha Psi performed a stroll routine and informed us about their organization's history. 8 | March 2024 | College News