My Experience as a First Year TTM

BY JOLEE SKINNER/Managing Editor

I went to Duck Camp before the fall of 2022 semester started. This is a camp designed for future transfer students and freshmen to get more acquainted with Tarleton State University and to make friends. 

I knew I wanted to put myself out there and get involved when I got to campus. 

Duck Camp was an awesome experience. Meeting new people, making friends, doing activities together and having fun. 

Having awesome Tarleton Texan Mentors (TTM’s) solidified my experience. 

Every group gets one Mama and Daddy Ducks to lead the group.

I had the best Daddy and Mama Ducks a camper could get. Clayton Dube and Brinley Kilpatrick made such an impact on me and I knew I wanted to be a TTM. 

More than 700 hundred students applied to become a  TTM last fall. The odds of me getting a callback for an interview didn’t seem that high to me. 

So, I was elated when I got the callback interview. The application process for TTM’s is different from a typical interview. 

We got to show our personalities and prove why we wanted to be TTM’s. Seeing my name on the 2023 TTM list for Duck Camp was indescribable. Fast forward to my first Duck Camp in August of this summer. 

The night before camp, I was excited and ready to meet the class of 2027. I couldn’t believe I had got to this point. 

The first day meeting all my baby ducks was amazing. All of them were nice and ready for camp. 

Duck Camp three and four were a blast. All the campers were so spirited and friendly. I’m not going to lie; camp was exhausting. We were running on six hours of sleep, exhausted from the heat yet having the time of our lives. 

They were all excited, nervous, homesick and were looking to me for guidance. I reminded them that even though this is a big change these are going to be the best four years of their life. 

Being a leader to these college freshmen challenged me in ways I have never been before. You are these campers’ first friends they make at Tarleton. 

It’s your job to guide them to be successful here. I told them that college is a fresh start to get involved, gain knowledge and make life-long friends. I was forthcoming with my campers that the first year is hard. 

You’re in a new environment, eating food you’re not used to and around people you don’t know. But if you get involved, make friends that make you better, work hard, college will go by in the blink of an eye. 

Being a TTM was one of the best experiences I’ve had in college so far. I grew as a leader, as a student and as a friend. I’ll never forget this experience. Duck Camp, we love it.