{"id":50742,"date":"2024-05-07T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=50742"},"modified":"2024-08-15T17:39:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T22:39:07","slug":"third-generation-texan-to-speak-at-friday-commencement-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/third-generation-texan-to-speak-at-friday-commencement-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Third-generation Texan to Speak at Friday Commencement Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014\u00a0Tristian Saxon\u00a0has been around Tarleton State University\u2019s Stephenville campus almost his whole life. Long enough, it turns out, to inspire a commencement speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will deliver that speech at spring graduation exercises at 9 a.m. Friday, sharing his experiences as a third-generation hometown student before he accepts his diploma and a degree in wildlife sustainability and ecosystems with a concentration in wildlife management and ecology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saxon hopes to attain his longtime goal of becoming a game warden and is following the educational footsteps of his mother and grandmother, who both earned Tarleton State degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTarleton State was always in the cards,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were both big influences in my choosing a university. My grandmother (Phyllis Adams) was an assistant professor, and my mother (Lauren Saxon) took me to her classes and labs here when I was just a baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTarleton has been intertwined with my family forever. As a kid we would ride bikes around campus, walk or meet people here. Campus was a big part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He describes his early experiences as a Tarleton State student as similar to that of most of his peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started by going to class, going to work and then going home. But a buddy of mine would drag me to Wildlife Society meetings, and that\u2019s when I really got involved in student life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Involved might be an understatement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wound up volunteering in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, working hand in hand with the college on university projects. He became an officer in the Wildlife Society and earned President\u2019s List and Dean\u2019s List recognition every semester of his college career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Saxon
Tristian Saxon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Wildlife Society won Student Chapter of the Year at the recent Texas conference where members, Saxon included, competed on plant identification and quiz bowl teams. His participation also led him to volunteer at outreach events, major-related conferences and networking opportunities with alumni. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His extracurricular activities and education neatly dovetail with his career goals. \u201cMy classes have been very hands-on and experience based. I was able to participate in white-tailed deer captures, turkey captures and assist with graduate research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His chance to speak at Friday\u2019s commencement ceremony was an unexpected bonus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was not a goal,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cMy department faculty took a vote on students they felt would best represent the department, and I got an out of the blue nomination. I decided that since I was nominated, I was going to take advantage and do the best I can.\u201d His speech will revolve around a student\u2019s common college experiences, including group projects, meeting new friends, getting prepared for research, internships and extracurricular activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014\u00a0Tristian Saxon\u00a0has been around Tarleton State University\u2019s Stephenville campus almost his whole life. Long enough, it turns out, to inspire a commencement speech. He will deliver that speech …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":50744,"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],"tags":[436],"class_list":["post-50742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","tag-college-of-agriculture-natural-resources"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2024\/04\/Saxon_2024-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/a>"],"unlinked":["College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2024","modified":"Updated on August 15, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2024 8:00 am","modified":"Updated on August 15, 2024 5:39 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Young man in a purple shirt and cap, smiling outdoors.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50742","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\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}