Keela Blaschke has been part of the Bobcat family for as long as she can remember. The December 2024 graduate grew up visiting campus with her dad, Jayme Blaschke, who’s worked for Texas State University since Keela was only two years old.
Keela’s experience came full circle in December when she walked the commencement stage at Strahan Arena, earning her bachelor’s degree in English with her family cheering her on from the crowd. Jayme oversees media relations in TXST’s Division of Marketing and Communications, and Keela’s mother, Lisa Blaschke, is a photographer in New Braunfels.
“We’re really proud of her,” Jayme says. “She had so many opportunities to just throw up her hands and say, ‘I’m done.’ Each hurdle that came up in front of her, she dealt with it. She could have given up at any point, but she stuck with it. And I’m just ecstatic as a parent to see that.”
Keela remembers childhood visits to campus with her father, in particular spending time at Alkek Library. “Growing up, if I came with him to work, I’d sit down there and read for a bit,” she says. “It was a nice place in my memory.”
Those moments proved to be auspicious. Keela was a library aide during her senior year at Canyon High School in New Braunfels. At TXST, she worked at Alkek Library through most of college. And now, she’s employed as a librarian at the New Braunfels Public Library.
“Working at Alkek exposed me to the world of back-of-house library things, which is a lot more complicated than people realize,” Keela says. “And I’ve always just loved the atmosphere of libraries. If possible, I’d like to attend grad school for a degree in library sciences.”
The fact that Keela secured professional employment before commencement wasn’t lost on Jayme. “She got a job!” he says. “Her goal was to become a librarian, and now she’s been looking into master’s programs.”
Keela and her two siblings—Calista and Orion—got to know TXST as children when they accompanied Jayme to work and attended the LBJ Picnic at the president’s residence. But Jayme says he and his wife didn’t set expectations for their children to attend TXST.
In Keela’s case, she enrolled at TXST after attending Texas A&M University at Galveston for one semester and then deciding to move back home and start fresh.
In his media relations job, Jayme helps promote TXST’s strengths, including the breadth of support it provides for students. As a TXST parent, Jayme says, he’s witnessed that support firsthand.
"It’s almost cliche, but there’s a lot of talk that Texas State prides itself on being a big university that still has a small university feel,” he says.
“And it really does. Students don’t get lost in the shuffle. There’s a lot of effort put into retention of students to make them feel welcome and not overlooked. Keela found her comfort zone at Alkek—her coworkers, her supervisors. It’s great that students can find their place and not necessarily have to conform to some type of ideal. You can be your own person and still find your place.”
After the December commencement ceremony, the Blaschkes made their way to the San Marcos River for the traditional river jump. With warm temperatures, there were no excuses not to go for it.
“I liked it a lot,” Keela says. “It was fun being able to see the accumulation of four years of work and jump in the river.”
The moment also made an impression on Jayme.
“She came up out of the water with the biggest grin you ever saw, just smiling and laughing,” he says. “I’m glad she chose a place where she could be successful.”