STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 For Josie Fladager, finding a community and a place that felt like home made all the difference. That\u2019s what led her to Tarleton State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She will talk about her educational journey as the student commencement speaker at Friday\u2019s 3 p.m. graduation ceremony, during which she will receive a master\u2019s in agricultural leadership, education and communications. This will be her second degree from Tarleton State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before deciding on where to attend college, Fladager considered other universities, but what set Tarleton State apart for her was the campus culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I came to Tarleton State it felt more like home, more like a community,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I walked the campus, I knew this was where I needed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A native of Anson in West Texas, Fladager comes from a family with ranching history. Growing up riding and running barrels, heading to Tarleton State to pursue her education and compete on the rodeo team seemed like a natural fit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI started as an agribusiness major,\u201d she said. \u201cI took several business classes in high school and my mom was the business teacher, so I was comfortable in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comfort was not enough, however, when she realized a growing passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a high school senior, she had worked as a freelance journalist writing event recaps for the WPRA News, <\/em>the official publication of the Women\u2019s Professional Rodeo Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d been doing that for a couple of years, and I liked the business program,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I realized it wasn\u2019t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I liked writing, but I didn\u2019t really know what ag communications was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI changed my major when I felt I was being called in a different direction. By the time I finished the first semester in ag communications I had taken a couple of basic courses. On the advice of my equine certificate advisor, Dr. Trinette Jones, I applied for an editorial internship with the American Paint Horse Association and got it. I worked in the Fort Worth Stockyards and the Will Rogers Memorial Center that summer and loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since switching her course of study, Fladager has been heavily involved in equine media and western event production, including an internship with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, four years in public relations and rodeo production at the Utah Days of \u201947 Rodeo in Salt Lake City, and as office help and secretary for CK Productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides being on the Tarleton State rodeo team, she has been a non-competitive member of the stock horse team, a graduate teaching assistant in agricultural communications and a challenge leader for the Paradigm College Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When composing her speech, Fladager drew upon lessons she\u2019d learned at Tarleton State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cComing to Stephenville was a special moment in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I left home my mom told me, \u2018Make a life of your own.\u2019 That\u2019s a big part of college, and I think that happened when I changed my major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe entire process has been a testament to God\u2019s faithfulness. I don\u2019t know who I am to be speaking to 10,000 people, but that\u2019s where He put me and I want to be faithful in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 For Josie Fladager, finding a community and a place that felt like home made all the difference. That\u2019s what led her to Tarleton State University. She will …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":54737,"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":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,421],"tags":[431,432,436,437,438,440,441,439,465,445,446,447,452,456,457,458,459],"class_list":["post-54736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-featuredstories","tag-administration","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-agriculture-natural-resources","tag-college-of-education","tag-college-of-graduate-studies","tag-college-of-liberal-fine-arts","tag-college-of-science-mathematics","tag-division-of-health-sciences","tag-division-of-research","tag-division-of-research-innovation-and-economic-development","tag-division-of-student-engagement-success","tag-dr-sam-pack-college-of-business","tag-mayfield-college-of-engineering","tag-stephenville","tag-tarleton-state-fort-worth","tag-tarleton-state-online","tag-tarleton-state-waco"],"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\/2025\/12\/Fladager-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Administration<\/a>","Alumni<\/a>","College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/a>","College of Education<\/a>","College of Graduate Studies<\/a>","College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/a>","College of Science & Mathematics<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>","Division of Research<\/a>","Division of Research, Innovation and Economic Development<\/a>","Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/a>","Dr. Sam Pack College of Business<\/a>","Mayfield College of Engineering<\/a>","Stephenville<\/a>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/a>","Tarleton State Online<\/a>","Tarleton State Waco<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Administration<\/span>","Alumni<\/span>","College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/span>","College of Education<\/span>","College of Graduate Studies<\/span>","College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/span>","College of Science & Mathematics<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>","Division of Research<\/span>","Division of Research, Innovation and Economic Development<\/span>","Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/span>","Dr. Sam Pack College of Business<\/span>","Mayfield College of Engineering<\/span>","Stephenville<\/span>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/span>","Tarleton State Online<\/span>","Tarleton State Waco<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 months ago","modified":"Updated 4 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 10, 2025","modified":"Updated on December 9, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 10, 2025 10:00 am","modified":"Updated on December 9, 2025 10:10 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Josie Fladager","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54736","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=54736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54738,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54736\/revisions\/54738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}