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Podcast: S9 Ep. 29
Date: November 02, 2026
Title: Â鶹ÊÓƵ gears up for Cardinal View
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all of the great things happening with Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty, staff, students, and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. Cardinal View is coming up on Saturday, Nov, 7, and today we've got a couple of people who know a thing or two about making Â鶹ÊÓƵ feel like home. Joining the show today, we've got Alexia Read, Assistant Director of the LU Welcome Center, and Araceli Jasso, LU Crew Specialist. Welcome to the show.

ALEXIA READ: Thank you for having us. Yes, thank you. We're excited. We're also excited for Cardinal View coming up.

JOHN: Yes, that's right. So, Alexia, let's start with the big picture. Cardinal View is Â鶹ÊÓƵ's largest open house event. We know that, but what makes this event more than just a giant campus tour?

ALEXIA: So, at this event, you can do so much more than just tour campus. So, we offer tours often throughout the year, but Cardinal View is just twice: once in the fall and once in the spring. So it is an opportunity for students to not only tour campus if they haven't had that opportunity yet, but they can also meet with different departments. They can meet with student orgs. They can dine on campus. They get some discounts, some freebies. Always take advantage of the freebies that you can get, and that's the biggest thing with Cardinal View. And you're able to actually picture yourself on campus and see what LU has to offer you. There's so many different opportunities between scholarships, between majors, between ways to get involved that we have a little bit of something for everyone.

JOHN: Very well put. You know, I like that was your elevator pitch, right? You gave it real quick. I love that though because we'll get into more of the details a little bit later. So, but before that, let's have both of you. Let's get to know our guest, right? Let's have you both introduce yourself. So, Araceli, let's start with you. I know you're balancing college life, LU Crew, Cardinal View now, all the things. So, give us the rundown. How did you end up at Lamar, and what made you want to get involved on campus?

ARACELI JASSO: Well, you know, I'm originally from Beaumont, and I'm growing up here. Been here my entire life. I never really had another decision beside Lamar. You know, ever since I came here, everyone has made me feel welcome. It's a big community, and I'm absolutely like happy to be here.

JOHN: So, from the community, you said which high school did you go to around here?

ARACELI: Well, previously Ozen High School, but now Beaumont United.

JOHN: Okay, yeah, yeah, lots of changes over there. Well, awesome. Well, we're glad you ended up at Lamar, and now you're helping other students potentially end up at Lamar, right? So that's awesome. So Alexia, what about you? I know you've had quite the journey at the Welcome Center in particular, with several different positions, so let's hear from you.

ALEXIA: Yeah, so I am also local to the area, but I went away for college, and then I kind of fell in love with Welcome Center and the events and that kind of stuff with higher education and making people feel welcome. And so I was searching for jobs when I moved back home and got a position as the administrative specialist with the Welcome Center, and then was in that role for a little bit of time. Then moved to the tour coordinator, so I got to make people feel welcome every day. Work with our lovely tour guides, LU Crew, and then most recently in May I moved to the assistant director position. So now I oversee Cardinal View and then help wherever else I can. But I absolutely love it, and I've been here with Lamar. All three of those positions total. I've been here for two and a half years, so lots of movement.

JOHN: Yeah, but I mean, clearly you like the area you're in, right? The movement has taken place. You're in the same realm, right?

ALEXIA: Yes, I absolutely love it.

JOHN: Yeah, awesome. So I know you're overseeing Cardinal View this year, and like you told me, this is your sixth Cardinal View to be a part of. Okay, that's exciting. So let's go ahead. You know, you're already a pro, right? So let's go ahead and talk details, date, time, location, and tell us more about Cardinal View.

ALEXIA: Yeah, absolutely. So Cardinal View is going to start officially at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 7, and that's going to be when we have check-in, and then it'll run until about 1 p.m. We've got a lot of different things happening on that day. We kind of start with an academic showcase, campus and community resources, so students can see what we have to offer as far as academics and resources, and then we kind of move throughout campus for the rest of the day, where we have student orgs and some sessions in the Setzer Student Center, and then moving out to the quad for our campus tours and then our college sessions. So you get to go check out whatever different department or program that you're interested in, and then that kind of sums up the day for Cardinal View. But we do have a little add-on this year. We have a football game against SFA that afternoon at 3 p.m. So any student that attends will get a free ticket to the game. I love that yes, yeah, and guests get a discounted ticket as well. So hopefully we can get them to stay around. I think it'll be a good game.

JOHN: Yeah, I love that y'all are offering that because I think we've done that before, where maybe like a basketball game was the next day or something. And we passed out flyers, but I love that you're offering a free ticket for anyone who attends.

ALEXIA: Yes, we want to make sure students have the opportunity to see the full picture of what their life on campus can be like, and that includes free tickets to games.

JOHN: Yeah, that is the full picture for sure. Okay, so let's talk about something that prospective students and families will definitely want to hear about, which is the tuition credits? What should students know about these opportunities?

ALEXIA: Yes, tuition credits. Those were something that was previously very similar to our scholarship opportunities. But what's really great about them is they are directly applied to your tuition, so furthering your education here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. And they're just drawing opportunities, and you get entered to win by a lot of different opportunities. The first one's going to be just coming to the event and checking in. You get automatically entered into a $500 check-in tuition credit for that. We've also got a $500 invite a friend. So if you invite a friend to come to Cardinal View, or you are the friend that's invited, both of you get entered to win for that $500 tuition credit, and then we've got a $750 one that is see it all. So if you check in, if you invite a friend, you are able to enter into that for everything that you do. So both of those, you get two entries, and then we also got a couple of extra entry opportunities. If you are a transfer student that is choosing to attend Cardinal View, you get an automatic extra entry into the check-in tuition credit, and then we've also got one for students that either apply on at Cardinal View or the day before or any time before really, and you will get automatically entered into a second or a second entry into the $750 see it all tuition credit. So lots of great opportunities.

JOHN: Great opportunities, and for potential tuition. I mean that that's amazing.

ALEXIA: Yes, anything that you can get free and like you furthering your education.

JOHN: And you're not asking for a lot. Early check in or bring a friend. I mean these are easy asks. So I love that so much. So thanks for explaining that. I think that'll be great for the listeners and readers to hear about that. So, Araceli, you have a very unique perspective because you are a student as well as an LU Crew member. So, in your opinion, you know we can show people the colleges, we can show them the classrooms, all the great things happening on campus. But what do you think really gives someone that “I could see myself going to Lamar” kind of feeling?

ARACELI: I feel like definitely coming to Cardinal View mainly because you do get to engage with the active Cardinals. Yeah, you get to see your perspective and imagine yourself here. So I just think it's a very great opportunity for those students to make those connections and start taking care of their next steps as well.

JOHN: Yeah, what should prospective students make sure they experience while they're here on campus at Cardinal View?

ARACELI: Definitely taking care of their next steps, imagining themselves here, knowing where they want to go, what departments they want to speak to. That's going to go a long way, especially like imagining themselves here.

JOHN: Yeah, I love that, and it's in the name, right? Cardinal View come, come catch it for yourself. And we've got the marketing campaign. See for yourself right now. So, like you said, imagine yourself on campus. This could be you in six months, one year, two years, however you know, however long. But let's stay on the student side of things for now while we're speaking with you. I know you're part of the LU Crew, so let's talk about you know y'all help give visitors kind of that firsthand look at Lamar, part of the Welcome Center, and obviously we call that the front door of campus, right? Welcome to our home. So when Cardinal View rolls around, how does your role change as you help welcome a whole crowd of future Cardinals to campus?

ARACELI: You know, it definitely is a lot to take in at first. It is my very first semester as specialist, so just being in this position and seeing things differently definitely has taken its toll on me. But you know, I'm very excited for this event. I'm very excited to have all these guests on campus and just helping navigate them or navigate their experience here.

JOHN: Yeah, I love that. So, Alexia, you've seen Cardinal View from the planning side, obviously, and then you've watched plenty of students and families experience it for the first time. So, what's one of those moments that reminds you of why this event matters?

ALEXIA: For me, it's seeing the students walk out, and you can tell that there's that light bulb where this is something that I could actually do. This is something that I'm interested in doing. There's a lot of students that aren't necessarily as interested in coming to Lamar, but they're like, "Oh, I'll get get free stuff, or my friends going, or something like that." And you can see them kind of shift that mindset by talking to the departments, talking to the current students, and just seeing life on campus, and you can kind of tell those students that were not as happy to come at the beginning, or are coming for different reasons, and then they're leaving and they're excited and they want to come back, and that's the biggest thing to me that I absolutely love seeing, and you really see they actually, you can tell they got something out of it.

JOHN: They're leaving with takeaways. Yes, and they're interested in Lamar, and they may not have been. Exactly. Well, that's a unique thing about Cardinal View is you can kind of hone in on this is what I'm interested in. I want to go to this college's presentation because I want to specifically hear about this program, and that's really unique. I think I don't know that I don't know that maybe other colleges offer that, but I I don't really know how that works. But Lamar does, and we do a great job of it. So, and how many aren't there going to be student organizations there? I think you told me quite like dozens of them.

ALEXIA: Yes, we've got quite a few registered. They've got a little bit of time as of right now to finish registering, but we've got probably close to 60 to 70 student orgs that are going to be there, and so I'm really excited, and I'm sure they're excited to talk to students on campus. We've got lots of questions already from them about what can we do, and so they're excited as well.

JOHN: Yeah, what a great opportunity! Go table by table and just see what's available on campus. Yes, there's so many different things. Lamar has such a variety of ways to get involved, and so they should be showcased at Cardinal View. It could be Greek life, it could be athletics, it could be extracurriculars. There's all kinds of things going on, and all the colleges will be there, of course, representing and sharing their good information as well. So Araceli, let's talk to you one more time about you know you've navigated the student experience, right? You remember before you started college the nerves and the uncertainty and all that good stuff. So if there were students out there who are kind of like worried about taking that step, how could they make that transition feel less intimidating, especially if they attend a Cardinal View? Like, could they speak to other students or maybe the tour guides?

ARACELI: Yes, absolutely. I feel like coming to the event, it does open more possibility to ask questions. I feel like throughout my time here, I've really come to learn that there is no wrong question to ask. Yes, I feel like everything you know, does come into consideration. And again, you are going to have these one-on-one conversations with the active students. You're also going to get their perspective and their experience here at the university. And again, like I mentioned, my entire time here, I've really felt like this is a big community, and everyone is always so welcoming and very open to helping.

JOHN: Yeah, everyone's eager to help. And they’re easily accessible. I feel like I hear students say a lot that the student to faculty ratio is nice. You know, you may be in a classroom with 20 students versus University of Texas at Austin. You might be in a classroom with 100 or 300. You know, so that is nice for our students. They get to know their professors, and it's easy to get in touch with them and have a mentor. You know, they recognize you on campus, so I love that. So let's give the Welcome Center a little bit of love, right? So y'all are like we said, the first place people see when they come onto campus. So what kind of help can people find through the Welcome Center, and when should they reach out?

ARACELI: We do offer a lot of different help for our students as well as their families. We are the Welcome Center; we are the first spot for students. So, any question that they might have, they could always come in. We're always welcoming, or if they have a question, we do also work the phone queue. So, we're more than happy to answer the questions and just help navigate through their admissions process. Yeah, we do a lot with admissions, and then we also do our best to direct students across campus.

ALEXIA: So they, like Araceli said, we do operate the phone queue through our office, and so if someone calls in and they're not sure where to go, we will direct them, and just we want to be that friendly face, that person that's trying to help. Is really our main goal at the Welcome Center.

JOHN: Yeah, you all do a great job. I know I work in the Reaud Building right across the street, and I see y'all giving golf cart tours and walking tours and all kinds of stuff. Y'all stay busy, so yes, great job representing LU for sure. So let's talk essentials one more time: date, time, location, best way to register, and where can listeners and readers go if they want to learn more?

ALEXIA: Yeah, absolutely. So Cardinal View is going to start with check-in at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 7 at the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Center here on campus. If a student would like to register or to find out more information, they can visit lamar.edu/cardinalview, and then they can also always email us at visit lamar.edu with any questions, or give us a phone call at (409) 880-8888, and we're happy to answer as many questions as we can there as well. And we hope to have quite a few people on campus that day.

JOHN: Yeah, looking forward to it. Alright, so y'all heard Alexia. Save that date, Saturday, Nov. 7, and we hope to see you here on campus. So Alexia and Araceli, thank you both for spending time with me today, for joining the podcast, and we're looking forward to a great Cardinal View very, very soon.

ALEXIA: Absolutely. Yes, we're looking forward to it as well.

ARACELI: Thank you for having us.

JOHN: Thank you both. To catch the LU stories, just like Alexia and Araceli's, be sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs, and people right here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.