KAMU has provided the best in news, educational programming and entertainment for Texas A&M University and the Brazos Valley since 1970. Throughout the decades, KAMU-TV and KAMU-FM, Aggieland’s PBS and NPR member stations, have also taught and trained students who seek to be journalists, show hosts, storytellers and production team members. In fact, almost half of the current KAMU staff are student workers who are learning and creating.

In honor of National Student Employment Week (April 13 – 17), we’re showcasing our dedicated students and the work they do for our viewers, listeners and readers. From administrative work to livestreaming events such as Aggie Muster and Midnight Yell Practices, KAMU is grateful for these talented Aggies.

Administration

Madison Hudson ’27
Start Date: February 2026
Major: Education

Ring, ring. Who is it? That’s Madi, the voice you hear when you call our station. As the KAMU student receptionist, she answers a lot of questions from our supporters and others in the community. From filing documents and shipping packages to greeting guests, Madison keeps our office organized.

Fun Fact: Madison is an Aggie Wrangler and was featured in a recent Ella Langley music video.

Marketing

Elizabeth Drake ’26
Start Date: February 2023
Major: Agricultural Communication & Journalism

Kendall Tyler ’27
Start Date: May 2025
Major: Communication

Our student marketing workers are the familiar faces you see throughout the community, hosting the KAMU table at events like First Friday in historic Downtown Bryan. This dynamic duo also designs and posts the fun and informative content you see on social media.

When Elizabeth first started at KAMU, we were still located in the Moore Communications Center – our longtime home near the south end zone of Kyle Field until Moore was demolished in 2024 – making her the station’s longest-serving student worker. She makes the fun graphics on our social media sites. You may also recognize her voice from the promotional holiday programming posted every time there’s something to honor and celebrate.

The other half of the student marketing team is Kendall, who, in addition to designing social media graphics, writes countless social media captions and schedules every post that shows up on your feed.

Fun fact: Elizabeth and Kendall have the cutest desk geese with homemade paper outfits for every holiday.

Content Production

Kelsey Cornell ’27
Start Date: October 2024
Major: Telecommunication Media Studies

Avery Foster ’26
Start Date: May 2025
Major: Journalism

Kazzandra Romero ’28
Start Date: May 2025
Major: Communication

Victoria Taylor ’26
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Journalism

The content department is made up of four individual powerhouses. These girls get a little taste of every department, but at their core, they are storytellers. With the most diversity in their respective roles, they share the same passion that’s presented in different ways.

The articles you read on our website are written by Kelsey and Kazzy. Kelsey designs our monthly newsletter content by selecting the best shows to be featured, writes copy and creates graphics, which are also featured on our website. She also led the rebrand for KAMU’s student video podcast segment, “Student Perspectives,” and serves as the lead producer.

Kazzy takes the lead when it comes to another one of our podcasts, “Inside Political Science.” As producer of IPS, she’s in constant contact with the hosts, manages pre-production logistics and oversees post-production operations. Along with producing her own “Student Perspectives” episodes, she helps her peers with content development for the segment. Kazzy also edits promotional PBS special programming videos posted on social media.

Although she’s only been here for a few months, Victoria has the most unique role of the four. She is our semester-long journalism intern (and former Aggie Swim Team member) who helps with all things “Brazos Matters.” Getting hands-on experience in pre-production and post-production, Victoria is constantly conducting research for new episodes, reaching out to community members and potential guests, organizing pre-interview meetings, writing questions and scripts, co-hosting episodes and selecting social media clips to highlight. She’s constantly learning new techniques for the podcast realm.

Similar to Victoria, Avery began at KAMU as the summer journalism intern, but the team quickly realized her capabilities. As an official student worker of KAMU, she plays a key role in bringing KAMU’s stories to life on social media. She produces and edits engaging video content for our platforms and still contributes to “Brazos Matters,” helping highlight important stories and voices from the community.

Fun fact: KAMU Associate Executive Director Jay Socol refers to each student by her initials: Kelsey Cornell (K.C.), Avery Foster (A.R.F.), Kazzandra Romero (K.R.), Elizabeth Drake (E.M.D.) and Victoria Taylor (V.G.T.).

Production Services

John Cisneros ’26
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Telecommunication Media Studies

Latifah Adesina ’26
Start Date: August 2024
Major: Communication

Bomi Oyebiyi ’26
Start Date: June 2025
Major: Telecommunication Media Studies

Justin DeLuca ’27 (not pictured)
Start Date: June 2026
Major: Journalism

Jay Holsinger ’28 (not pictured)
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Visualization

Miah Burns ’28 (not pictured)
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Visualization

Kazuya Okada ’28 (not pictured)
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Electrical Engineering

Mariana Lucas ’29 (not pictured)
Start Date: January 2026
Major: Visualization

As KAMU’s largest student worker group, our student production assistants are the behind-the-scenes force that keeps KAMU running smoothly. Their everyday role consists of editing promotional spots for PBS programming and packaging commencement DVDs, bringing both campus tradition and national content to your home. In the studio, they rotate through key production roles such as operating cameras, running teleprompters, and monitoring audio to ensure every KAMU show and project is seamless.

Outside of the studio, they play an active role in broadcasting and streaming some of Texas A&M’s most recognizable events, including Midnight Yell Practice, commencements and Aggie Muster. Whether they’re managing camera shots, overseeing audio or assisting on the video control board, these students help capture moments that matter to the Aggie community.

Latifah is the longest-serving student production assistant at KAMU and has taken on an additional role as producer and director of “Gigs,” a platform where Aggie student artists can showcase their own original music and artistic abilities. Bomi is the lead editor for “Gigs” and has a strong eye for visuals, often capturing creative b-roll and unique shots.

Fun fact: Video production students work the most hours during football and commencement season.

Student workers are a vital part of KAMU – always have been and always will be. The passion and hard work our current students bring to KAMU will carry far beyond here, and we can’t wait to see where it takes them.

Published: April 10, 2026
Written by: Kazzandra Romero ’28 and Kelsey Cornell ’27

Texas A&M University senior Caroline McCall has sat in enough classrooms to recognize a moment a conversation breaks down. Someone digs in. Someone shuts down. The room gets quiet in a way that signals nothing good.

“I wish we could bring respect back into politics,” she said.

For McCall and senior Kathleen Parks, civil discourse isn’t just a theme for a one-day event. It’s something they’ve had to wrestle with in lecture halls, in leadership positions and in the everyday moments where differing opinions collide. On April 20, they’ll bring those experiences to the stage as moderators for Texas A&M’s Civil Discourse Symposium — an event built around a goal that sounds simple but rarely is: helping people actually talk to each other. The symposium will feature former Vice President Mike Pence as its keynote speaker.

John Sherman, dean of the Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, said the effort comes down to something fundamental in Aggie culture.

“What’s the first one in RELLIS? Respect,” he said, referring to the Aggie core values of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity and selfless service.” If we can’t engage in civil discourse, how can we have respect for one another?”

Hosted through the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School the symposium brings together students and national leaders at a moment when productive political conversation feels out of reach, particularly on college campuses.

Students also will moderate a bipartisan fireside chat with U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, but organizers say the focus remains firmly on students themselves.

That’s by design.

Parks, who is serving as Texas A&M’s student body vice president, said when the initiative came out and they started to plan the event, Sherman gave some advice.

“He wanted to make sure that students and their interests were at the heart of everything that we were doing and that this would be an event students really wanted to attend,” Parks said.

The result is a symposium that doesn’t just ask students to listen, but to engage to step into conversations that might feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar and even challenging.

For McCall, that kind of engagement is exactly what’s missing. Her concern is one shared broadly among students navigating a hyper-connected, highly polarized world. It’s easy, she said, to surround yourself with people who think the same way — and harder, but more important, to step outside that space.

“I think it is dangerous to be in an echo chamber of people who just have the same ideas as you,” McCall said. “America is built on different ideas, and those ideas make us stronger.”

That belief sits at the core of the symposium’s mission. Civil discourse, as organizers and moderators describe it, isn’t about avoiding disagreement it’s about learning how to move through it with intention.

Parks said her four years at Texas A&M, studying society, ethics and law, shaped her understanding of what civil discourse actually requires.

“I’ve gotten to practice civil discourse and learn its true value in every single one of my classes,” she said. “It is an invaluable skill that I think every student at Texas A&M should have.”

For McCall, it’s also about responsibility and what it means to participate in a system built on individual rights and shared dialogue.

“You have those unalienable rights, and you should exercise them,” she said. “Take a leading role as an Aggie and engage in civil discourse.”

That call to action extends beyond politics. Both students frame civil discourse as a reflection of principles more than politics.

“Remember your character, your respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity and selfless service when you approach everything you do,” McCall said.

It’s a message that echoes far beyond the walls of the Bush School. In a national moment where headlines often highlight division, the Civil Discourse Symposium offers a different model, one rooted not in winning arguments, but in understanding people.

And that, Sherman suggests, is where real change begins — not in Washington, but in everyday interactions, in classrooms, conversations and campus events like this one.

Registration for the Symposium is open to current Texas A&M students. The event is scheduled for April 20, with opportunities to attend sessions in person or virtually from branch campuses and teaching sites.

For McCall and Parks, the hope isn’t just that students show up, but that they leave thinking differently about what it means to engage.

“I hope that people just remember that being a person of character comes before being somebody who’s political,” McCall said.

Published: April 8, 2026
Written by: Elizabeth Drake ’26
Video by: Bobby Etheridge

Texas A&M sophomore and College Station native Aiden Ross wowed ‘The Voice’ judges this week, advancing to the next round, which will be televised on NBC Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m.

In his third appearance in front of a national audience, Ross’s soulful performance of Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over” energized the show’s judges, the studio audience, and fans across the country.

“I was ready to give everything to the crowd. When I was announced as the winner, I was ecstatic and incredibly grateful, but I was ready to get on to the next round,” Ross said. “The farther I’ve made it in the competition, the more I’ve been like, ‘I really want this. I really want to stay. I really want to show them that I have more in me.’”

Ross’s recent success is the culmination of a somewhat unlikely path. His passion for music started when he was 4 years old, but it wasn’t until his junior year in high school that he began singing publicly. Then Ross first applied for ‘The Voice’ during his senior year at A&M Consolidated High School, but didn’t advance far into the audition process. Instead of being discouraged, the experience guided him to A&M, where he joined musical organizations like Hardcore Dynamics, a student acapella group.

“In hindsight, it’s been the best thing that could’ve happened,” Ross said. “I’ve grown so much as a singer, a performer and a person. That’s what led me to reapply my freshman year and to where I am today.”

When show producers called him back, Ross immediately booked a flight to Los Angeles. During his blind audition in September, he impressed the judges almost immediately: mere seconds into his performance, all four of the show’s judges spun their chairs around – a clear sign they heard something technically flawless.

“It felt like I had hardly even gotten a note out when I saw Snoop Dogg turn his chair, then Michael Bublé, then Reba McEntire, then Niall Horan,” Ross said during a recent interview at Aggie Park on the Texas A&M campus.

Soon, it would be time to choose a coach from the four superstars. Because he was drawn to Horan’s musical style and perspective, Ross trusted his instincts and joined Team Niall. Horan is a former member of the boy band One Direction and is now an award-winning solo pop artist.

“He writes and makes music that is most similar to the type of artist that I aspire to be,” the 20-year-old said. “He’s the youth of the show. It was the right decision for me at the right time, and it’s been a great experience.”

Aside from the support of the judges, Ross is grateful for the other contestants with whom he shares this intense, but extraordinary experience.

“The pressure of being aired in front of millions and millions of people, side by side, with the loving and supportive community that is ‘The Voice,’ gave me lifelong friendships.”

With all eyes on him, Ross has stepped onto one of television’s biggest stages, but he said he’s not giving up the small-town venues he loves.

“First Friday (the monthly event in Downtown Bryan) is one of the most special gigs I’ve gotten to play, and I hope to continue to play it, no matter what happens,” Ross said.

In fact, Aggieland continues to be where Ross feels the most love.

“I was astonished at the level of support I’ve received walking around at the tailgates and people coming up to me, sharing such kind and supportive words,” he said. “If you see me, say what’s up. I’m just a dude. It means the world to me, and I would love to talk to you.”

You’ll have a chance to see Ross perform live – likely to a larger audience than usual – at The Palace Theater in Downtown Bryan on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m.

Although his career is still gaining momentum, albeit under a national spotlight, Ross shared some words of encouragement for others seeking a similar path.

“I wasn’t motivated to play my guitar all the time or write songs all the time or to play gigs all the time, but to have the discipline to do something will take you so far beyond music.”

Regardless of the show’s outcome, Ross said he wants to finish his degree in Industrial Distribution Engineering while continuing to pursue his passion for music.

“The decision on what I do after the show is based on what opportunities arise,” he said. “If something in music pops up that is a viable opportunity, I will jump at it. If there’s a spark, I’m gonna fan that flame.”

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Bryan-College Station community, so I feel like it’s a joint effort,” Ross said. “I seriously am just so grateful to be where I am.”