The Tarleton experience keeps State Representative Burns’ family coming back

BY JAXON HANSARD / Sports Editor

1899 is a special year for Tarleton State University as that is when the school was founded. Throughout its 125 years of existence, the agricultural school has produced some very successful people, for example, DeWayne Burns. 

Burns is a State Representative for District 58 and is an alumni of Tarleton himself.

The Tarleton experience is what keeps bringing people from the Burns family to Tarleton as he has had a family member in school at Tarleton since the 1960’s. 

Burn’s parents and other family members attended the university in the 60’s then he went to Tarleton in the 1990’s where he would meet his wife Jennifer. Later on, their kids would attend the purple and white school. 

Burns’ parents planted some family roots just down the road in Cleburne where the representative would grow up and all the family members would end up gravitating back because of the family farm. Stephenville was the “perfect distance” from Cleburne. 

“It’s an important employer for our region and, as well. So I became even more plugged in as the only alum to make sure that Tarleton was given its due respect and treated fairly by the legislature when it came to funding and things like that,” Burns said.

Burns applied and got accepted to three schools (Texas A&M, Tarleton, and Cornell University) but after a year of college station he was ready for the smaller town feel of Tarleton with some influence from his future wife. Ever since his return and later on Burns children would pick Tarleton, and he has been keeping his eye on the smaller school while being a lifetime member of the Tarleton Alumni Association. Burns made it his mission to give back and make sure that the university would get its fair share of funding. 

“When the tuition revenue bond bill came through, Tarleton was left out of it completely, and so I of course spoke to the chair of the committee and the speaker and anyone who would listen and said we got to make sure Tarleton is a part of this,” Burns said.

The bill was changed and Tarleton was able to get part of the millions of dollars from the revenue bonds. The money secured from the bonds was able to help build the campus in Midlothian, improve the Fort Worth campus and help the Stephenville campus.

Tarleton has always been referred to as the “best-kept secret in Texas” but with continued growth, it is possible that it is outgrowing that status. 

“Well I would say it definitely was, but I think the secret’s out. I don’t think it’s a secret any longer,” Burns said. The exponential growth we’ve seen with student enrollment has led to some milestones. Tarleton was one of only a couple schools may be in the country to increase enrollment during COVID.”

The proximity to the metroplex has been one of the biggest factors, along with the Fort Worth campus, for Tarleton’s growth. Good problems are still problems as the school has been trying to combat the record-breaking number of students by getting bills and plans passed to build more dorms, parking and buildings to better the campus overall. 

“You’re always going to have growing pains. That’s what I would call them,” Burns said. “Increased traffic, harder to find a parking place and some of the local establishments are busier now which is a good thing for the business owners and maybe inconvenient.”

The Tarleton experience for the state representative that kept him and his family in the university for years was the biggest reason for love of the school and what it stands for. 

“You are a person with a future, and the people that are helping to prepare you for the most part care about that and are invested in that and invested in each student,” Burns said.