Â鶹ÊÓƵ

---

Podcast: S9 Ep. 5
Date: February 23, 2026
Title: LU Moment: Who are the LU Ambassadors? | S9 Ep. 5
Host: John Rollins

---

JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to The LU Moment, where we showcase all 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. If you've ever attended a high-profile event here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, chances are you were greeted by one of our amazing undergraduate students in a red blazer. The students in these red coats are our Â鶹ÊÓƵ Ambassadors. Today on the podcast, I've got Clara Schreck and Jacob Smith joining me on the show. Welcome to you both.

CLARA SCHRECK: Thank you for having us.

JOHN: Glad to have you. We also have a third guest in the studio, Evie Clifton. Tell us your title really quick.

EVIE CLIFTON: I am coordinator of Alumni Affairs, but I also have the privilege of being advisor to the Ambassador program.

JOHN: She does an amazing job. So let’s go ahead and hear from Jacob and Clara about the Ambassador program. If you had to give an elevator pitch, what would you tell people?

JACOB SMITH: Man, I would say that you represent the student body at professional events. You get opportunities to network with professionals—not just in your area, like your major—but with a lot of very successful alumni from the Beaumont community who went to Lamar.

JOHN: That’s a great description.

CLARA: It’s a perfect description. It’s also an opportunity to really develop your leadership skills, get out of your comfort zone, and learn new things. You learn how to make small talk, which is super important in any type of field you go into. You learn how to lead other people and how to be led, which I also think is super important. Yeah, it’s just a really great opportunity to become more of the person you want to be.

JOHN: Couldn’t agree more, and y’all do an amazing job. How many of y’all are there? About 20?

JACOB: Something like that—20 to 10.

EVIE: There’s 50?

JOHN: 50? I was way off.

JACOB: Oh, wow. I didn't think it was that many. That's crazy.

JOHN: Well, y’all all do an amazing job. So, Clara, you’re a senior psychology major about to graduate in May—congratulations! A little early, but congratulations to you. And Jacob, you’re a junior mechanical engineering major. So why don’t you both go ahead and introduce yourselves.

JACOB: Ladies first.

CLARA: Alright, hey! Well, my name is Clara Schreck. I’m a psychology major, and I’m from Beaumont, Texas. I graduated from Hardin Jefferson High School in 2022—so, not that long ago. I’m involved in several organizations here on campus. My biggest ones are Alpha Chi Omega, so I’m a sorority member. I’m an active member of the Catholic Student Center, where I’m part of the leadership team. I’m also on the leadership team for a couple of other organizations.

JOHN: That’s what it sounds like.

CLARA: And I work at the Office of Alumni Affairs as a communications intern.

JOHN: Okay, awesome. So, you work with Evie a lot?

CLARA: I work with Evie and Shannon, yeah.

JOHN: Awesome, great. They have a great staff over there, for sure, and Jacob, what about you?

JACOB: So, my name is Jacob Smith. I came here in 2020, which is longer than Clara has been here. I graduated from Port Neches-Groves High School. I started off as a nursing major actually, and I switched in 2022 after completing a full semester in the nursing program. It wasn’t my thing—I respect anyone who can do it—but my dad’s a mechanical engineer, so that was always in the back of my mind. Since 2020, I’ve been involved in a lot. Most of my involvement from 2020 to 2024 was in leadership programs. I was a New Student Orientation Leader and later promoted to Student Coordinator, basically managing and training the orientation leaders. I was president, treasurer, and held several other positions in my fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, for four years. I also tried out for Lamar football as a walk-on for a semester, which was really fun—it’s way different from high school football, much more competitive. I’ve done a lot of other things too, just not coming to mind right now—mostly leadership programs. But now, I’m trying to get more involved in mechanical engineering stuff. Since I’m getting closer to graduation, I need to focus more on professional experience. For example, I’m part of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Association of Rocketry. We’re building a rocket to compete in a competition in North Texas. It’s going to launch pretty high—about 50,000 feet in the air, which is really exciting. I’m also involved with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. So yeah, I’m just trying to get more involved in engineering now.

 

JOHN: Okay, so let’s go ahead and talk about y’all’s involvement with the Ambassador program a little more in depth. Clara, if you want to start, tell us about your role, the role of an Ambassador, and what a typical event looks like for you all.

CLARA: Oh, there’s actually no typical event that an Ambassador works at, which I think is really… I mean, there actually isn’t. There’s an infinite variety of activities you can do as an Ambassador. It could be a more formal event where you’re shaking hands—kissing, not really kissing babies, but shaking hands—meeting people, very high-level donors, that kind of stuff. Then there are other events, like one I worked last semester where I volunteered at the food bank with some alumni. You get to meet quite a variety of people—you meet millionaires who graduated from Lamar, and you meet other alumni from Lamar as well. It’s really cool to see the diversity of people that Lamar graduates. So, like I said, there’s really no cookie-cutter “this is what an Ambassador event looks like.” We also work for departments other than just Alumni Affairs. We do events for the Engineering Department, the Theatre Department—lots of different things. So it’s not specifically alumni events, though many alumni attend the events we go to. There’s a very, very wide variety of events that we work.

JOHN: You kind of plug in wherever you’re needed, right?

EVIE: The president’s office uses them a lot.

JOHN: Yeah, that’s why when I started, I said high-profile events, because, I mean, yeah, you’re right—but then you also have those random one-offs, like volunteering at the food bank with the alumni board or whoever. So y’all just kind of plug in wherever and help out. Like I said, look for those red coats—you’ll always know when they’re around. So, Jacob, what about you? What’s your experience been like?

JACOB: It’s been great. I was recruited in the spring of 2022 by some friends who were already in the program. I really wanted to join because there’s a red coat that you get to keep—that was what I wanted. But, yeah, it’s a cool red coat. I actually learned and gained a lot of experience that I didn’t expect. I didn’t think I’d make all the connections with local alumni, even alumni from my fraternity. Many of them are really big donors to Lamar and attend all these alumni events, and I got to connect with them, which I thought was pretty cool. I’ve also gained a lot of lifelong friends. There are so many really cool people in the program—some several years younger than me now, because I’m a little older—but it’s a lot of friends that I can say I’ll keep for the rest of my life.

JOHN: I love that—and I love that you bring up the networking piece of this. You mentioned small talk earlier, Clara, and you have to work all of that in when you’re around donors and alumni—and sometimes even at the presidential level, whether it’s the Board of Regents, who’s in town this week, and who I’m sure y’all have been interacting with. You have to have that networking side to what you’re doing, because you’re greeting people, having conversations, and guiding them into rooms, you know.

EVIE: We had you teach a session on small talk and networking.

JOHN: On the power of listening, yes!

EVIE: Uh-huh.

JOHN: Yeah. I really enjoyed that. I love that you bring it up because I think it’s a very important part of what y’all do. You might be networking with engineers who may need to hire someone a year or so from now, whenever you graduate—so definitely planting those seeds now. I love it. Do y’all have a favorite memory from your time as Ambassadors?

JACOB: One of my favorite events that I was ever part of was the opening of the new intramural field. I got to help cut the ribbon with Dr. Taylor, the SGA president, and a few other Ambassadors. I just love the field because I play on it every semester. We won an intramural championship last fall for 7 on 7 Flag Football—fun fact! I just love that field. I think it’s one of the greatest projects Lamar has ever done, and it’s definitely going to bring a lot of attention in the coming years. I loved being part of that grand opening.

JOHN: Yeah, it’s so nice, too. So, Clara, what about you?

CLARA: My favorite memory? My favorite memory is definitely going to the TMEA conference with some of the other Ambassadors and with Evie. We hosted an alumni event there for all the music educators from across Texas who attend the convention. Hands down, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in college. It was great to grow closer to my fellow Ambassadors, and we had a really good time exploring San Antonio. But it was also amazing to meet other music educators. I’m not a music educator myself, but I’ve been part of the Southeast Texas music program for years, so it was really cool to meet people I had always heard of—like well-known figures from Southeast Texas and all that. I also got the experience of being the photographer for the event, which was something I never thought I’d have the chance to do. It really sparked my interest in event photography, and it gave me a whole new appreciation for event photographers. Brandon Gouthier does all the photography for Lamar, and every time I see him, I have mad respect—because that is not an easy job!

JOHN: He's been “in the biz” for a long time.

CLARA: And I think that was also a really cool thing, because going to that event and working the photography, I got to talk to Brandon Gouthier afterwards at a different event. I was telling him about my experience, and since then, we’ve had a connection that we didn’t have before. We were able to have a conversation that was deeper than just, “Hey, how are you doing?” It was more like, “I actually see and appreciate you.” This experience that the Ambassador program has given me—that’s another cool aspect of being an Ambassador.

JOHN: I love that story—and the connection, and how it helped you grow and make these connections beyond Lamar as well. Although Brandon, I believe, is one of our alumni, so that’s even better. He’s at all of the alumni events we hire him for—he’s fantastic. I love that you bring up TMEA, because our Wind Ensemble is there this week performing in San Antonio. Really, really neat. What a fun experience!

CLARA: I heard them play at our last concert, and I mean, just in chills, they’ve been working on the music they’re performing at this concert since last semester—which they don’t usually do. They normally don’t work on music for that long; you usually get only about half a semester per program. So the fact that they’ve spent a full semester and some change is…

JOHN: Lamar is doing some great things, no doubt—no doubt about it. So, Jacob, something you mentioned—I asked y’all for a little background just through email, and you said that you met your wife at Lamar. Do you want to talk about that?

JACOB: She was actually a biology major, and I was a nursing major, so a little different. She was a little further along than I was, but in the spring of 2021, we were both hired as orientation leaders at Lamar. That’s when my whole leadership journey began, and she was already kind of involved before then. Anyway, we grew really close, and later that fall, we started officially dating. We got promoted at the same time to Student Coordinators. In the fall of 2024, I proposed to her, and we got married about two months ago. She was also in Alpha Chi Omega—Clara’s sorority—so we were pretty involved throughout college together. She graduated in 2022 and is still getting her master’s right now; she’s working on an MBA. So yeah, I’m very fortunate to have met her.

JOHN: You know, the takeaway from that is: get involved.

JACOB: Get involved.

JOHN: So, Evie, let’s dive into some of the fun stuff—the criteria to become an LU Ambassador. And then also, you know, y’all are accepting applications for this program right now, I believe, through March 2, so tell us all about that.

EVIE:  So, I’ll just tell you the criteria for being eligible to become an Ambassador. You must be a full-time, officially registered Â鶹ÊÓƵ student in good standing. You must have completed at least one full semester at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. You must have at least three full semesters remaining at Â鶹ÊÓƵ after the application deadline, meaning you cannot graduate until December 2027 or later. You must have and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Also, in the application packet, you have to write a letter of interest, include your resume, and submit a recommendation form completed by a faculty or staff member. Always choose someone who knows you well—because you don’t want someone writing a recommendation that just says, “She came to class,” right? You want someone who can speak highly of you. Applications are located in the Alumni Office, which is in the Rudy Williams Building. That’s not a building students commonly go to, so I always say it’s near the duck pond.

JOHN: Next to the duck pond, right, yep – and that's Monday through Friday?

EVIE: Friday—well, ish—because we also have alumni events. I normally say 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., that way, if we’re out running errands on campus…

JOHN: So, Monday through Friday, 9 to 4, Alumni Affairs Office in the John Gray Center, Rudy C. Williams Building, Room 102. Alrighty, fantastic. So, is there anything else you want to bring up before we wrap up? Or, if there are potential Ambassadors listening, any last words for them—other than “stop by and sign up”? Any hopeful Ambassadors out there? Hopeful Ambassadors looking to sign up?

JACOB: Yeah, I would just say—don’t hesitate to do it. The longer you wait, college goes by in the blink of an eye. Don’t waste your time, because you’ll regret not doing something. I would say it’s better to regret doing something than to regret not doing something. Being an Ambassador—I wouldn’t miss any of this for the world, so do it while you can.

CLARA: Piggybacking off of that—when I became an Ambassador, it was for the red blazer. I saw the red blazer and thought, “That’s pretty sick.” I love that. And I genuinely, especially going into job application season and preparing for full-time jobs, have been reflecting a lot on my college career. The number one thing I’m most grateful for is joining the Ambassador program—not just the networking, which everyone talks about—but the personal development that comes from getting out of your comfort zone and doing all the random tasks that, at the time, you think aren’t really going to matter at all. Then you realize, “Whoa, actually, I wouldn’t know how to do this super-niche thing if I hadn’t done that one event with the Ambassador program two years ago.” Everything adds up, and especially when you’re applying for jobs or just trying to become a better person, you’re definitely going to be super thankful for the Ambassador program.

JOHN: Very well said by you both—it’s all part of the bigger picture, right? You’ve got to put yourself out there, and college is the best time to do it. So, Clara, Jacob, and Evie, thank you all for joining me on the podcast, and thank you for all that you do for our campus community. So that’s a wrap on another episode. Please make sure to search The 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.