Texas State University has a catalog of courses in a broad range of majors and concentrations, but students who are looking for experience outside of the classroom must find those opportunities on their own.
Many school departments are staffed by undergraduates and grad-students who seek major-related job experience. However, students who don’t qualify for work-study, or have little time for it, must still find a means to gain experience for their resume.
Established in 2020, the MakerSpace on the first floor of the Alkek Library is a workshop that has high-tech machinery that students and even working professionals likely don’t have at home. Metalworking equipment is on site, as they have soldering stations, CNC routers, laser cutters, and a water jet. For students who like to work with fabric, sewing machines, embroidery machines, and an inkjet press are available. No prior experience is necessary, students can book a training session time-slot to become familiar with what they went to use. All of the equipment is free to use, and materials like 3D printing filament, wood and sheet metal are available for purchase at-cost. It is highly recommended that students learn to use Adobe Illustrator, because most of the equipment requires vector path instructions to operate.
Madison Campbell, senior at Texas State University, receives embroidery machine training from Isiah Garcia, a student worker, in the Alkek Maker Space on Saturday Nov 12, 2022. The embroidery machine is free to use, and students can bring their own thread if they need specific colors. Photo by Niles Davis. 
Grant Wendt, senior at Texas State University, laser cuts a wooden lantern in the Alkek Maker Space for Intro to Theatre Production Design, a prop-making class on Saturday Nov 12, 2022. The Maker Space is available for students of any major to build things for classwork and personal projects. Photo by Niles Davis. 
Sylvan Davis, 19, of Katy, Texas, plays Beat Saber in the Alkek One VR room during the Bobcat Day campus tour on Saturday Nov 12, 2022. Photo by Niles Davis. Bobcat Day is an opportunity for prospective undergraduates to see what Texas State University has to offer as they are guided through campus by a student representative. 
The 5-axis CNC mill is available for students to use to gain experience with metal fabrication at the Alkek One Makers Space at Texas State University. This piece of equipment requires a free-of-charge four-hour training course. Photo by Niles Davis. 
Sanding sticks charge in their docking stations in the metals room at Texas State University on Nov 12, 2022. The Metals Guild is a club at Texas State for students interested in learning to express their creativity with metal. Photo by Niles Davis. 
A wax figure holding a book melts in the sculpture studio at Texas State University on Nov 12, 2022. The studio is available to sculpture club members to make extracurricular work. Students are encourgaged to use found materials as their basis when beginning a sculpture to save money. Photo by Niles Davis. 
Ariel Burke, senior in the sculpture program at Texas State, rubs paper mache onto her interactive thesis piece in the Joan Cole Mitte building on Saturday Nov 12, 2022. Burke’s sculpture, made of steel, chicken wire, and paper is intended to be wall-mounted upstairs in the gallery. The gallery often has open-calls for exhibitions for non-art majors. Photo by Niles Davis. 
In the sculpture club, students make dysfunctional objects with recycled materials on Nov 12, 2022. With used parts, students can build pieces for exhibitions on a budget. Photo by Niles Davis 
6653 A plaster body cast made by Ren Blank, senior in the sculpture club, dries on the table in the plaster room of the sculpture studio at the Joann Cole Mitte art building on Nov 12, 2022. The sculpture club is open to students of any major to learn to use materials in dedicated spaces to avoid making a mess at home. Photo by Niles Davis. 
Students shoot monologue videos in YouStar Studios at Alkek One on Nov 12, 2022. There are three recording studios with constant lights, green screens and a camera that records directly to a thumb drive for easy filming sessions. Photo by Niles Davis.
William Cates, manager of the Alkek One MakerSpace, says that some people change their major because they find something that they’re interested in, or they realize that they don’t like what they were studying at all. Cates is an Austin Community College graduate with a robotics degree, and even he tinkers with the equipment to find new ways to use them.
“We have students from everywhere,” said Cates. “The retention here is fantastic, and the only reason some students stop coming as often is because they have a full course load over the semester. But then they come back after four months with all of these projects they want to get started on.”
Elizabeth Hambleton is an audio specialist who runs workshops for students to learn to use the Adobe Suite, a critical skill that some majors only skim through.
The Joann Cole Mitte building for the school of art and design houses a plethora of spaces for students to work as they concentrate in studio arts like ceramics, drawing, printmaking and more. The study abroad program, open to all majors, is going to Florence, Italy in 2023. Attendees who complete the coursework gain their foreign language credits and an art history credit.
Once a student takes a class in a particular field, they retain access to the equipment they learned to use. The printmaking room features etching presses, paint and storage for paper prints. Jeff Dell, professor of the printmaking class, says that the class is useful for designers K-12 educators, and commercial shirt shops.
“‘You should to art school because it makes life more meaningful,'” said Dell. “My mom told me that.”
For students who only want to dabble in the arts, joining a club is an approach they can take to learn what they want without risking a GPA dip. As of 2022, there is a photography club, metals club and sculpture club among others. Flyers are posted in building entryways and many all of them have a social media page. Bekah Porter, teacher’s assistant for the upper-level sculpture classes, said joining a club will get you closer to professors who are exited to help students with their work.
Students have great perks included in their tuition outside of the obvious free gym and library book rentals. A breakdown of the 2022 semester tuition fees show upwards of $3,00 go towards other expenses. New clubs pop up often while others die out, so it does take some asking around to find group leaders and communities of go-getters, but most fields of study are covered by the official student organizations website. If a club is unlisted, a student can apply to create their own organization in which they will be supplemented by a team of officers who seek the same sort of community.
