{"id":46278,"date":"2022-05-11T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=46278"},"modified":"2022-05-11T10:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T16:51:10","slug":"tarleton-graduation-speaker-changes-direction-for-her-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-graduation-speaker-changes-direction-for-her-masters\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton Graduation Speaker Changes Direction for Her Master’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"7101\"
Cassie Samuelson<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, May 12, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 The decision to attend Tarleton was easy for Cassie Samuelson. She grew up in Stephenville and her parents studied at Tarleton, so staying home was the logical choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deciding on a career and the educational path to get there was more challenging, but only slightly. Life put many of the answers right in front of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassie will tell her story Friday when she receives her master\u2019s degree and makes the keynote commencement speech in the university\u2019s 9 a.m. graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After getting her bachelor\u2019s degree in music in 2018, she realized her passion lay in mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI worked at a nonprofit for a bit, and during that time I also was actually in my own counseling for personal growth. I have always been a big advocate for mental health, so the program at Tarleton was a natural fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has a spot waiting for her in a private practice in Frisco upon graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says her master\u2019s program prepared her well for growth as a mental health professional. She even served as an intern at Tarleton\u2019s Student Counseling Services on the Fort Worth campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy professors have been hugely supportive, not only at the professional level but on a personal level,\u201d she said. \u201cI also think Tarleton does a really beautiful job of setting students up for success with internships and things along those lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCaris Thetford, my supervisor, and Dr. Beck Munsey, department head for the counseling program, have been amazing. Those are my two go-to humans at Tarleton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassie\u2019s commencement speech will emphasize the importance of living fully in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiving in the present without sacrificing the goodness of the moment is something I have struggled with,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of work to learn that lesson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I think a lot of students face, going from their bachelor\u2019s to their master\u2019s degree, to really lean into staying in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life after college is \u201ckind of scary,\u201d she acknowledged. \u201cI want to encourage students to keep their feet in today and things should be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decision to attend Tarleton was easy for Cassie Samuelson. She grew up in Stephenville and her parents studied at Tarleton, so staying home was the logical choice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,423,425,427],"tags":[430,431,439,446],"class_list":["post-46278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","category-science-health","tag-academic-affairs","tag-administration","tag-division-of-health-sciences","tag-division-of-student-engagement-success"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2022\/05\/7100-300x200.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Administration<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>","Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Administration<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>","Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 11, 2022","modified":"Updated on May 11, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 11, 2022 10:51 am","modified":"Updated on May 11, 2022 10:51 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Graduate in cap and gown smiling in front of a brick wall.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}