More than 215 Bobcats celebrated internships, full-time jobs, and graduate school plans during TXST Career Services’ first Signing Day event before Spring 2026 Commencement.
Texas State University’s Career Services held its inaugural Signing Day event for students before Spring 2026 Commencement in late April, highlighting students who landed internships and full-time jobs or committed to a graduate program.
More than 215 students of all classifications stopped by the Shirley Harris Students Lounge in the LBJ Student Center and had their pictures taken. They also marked where they are headed on a map set up in the lounge.
“The idea is similar to a high school signing day when students sign their letter of intent for an athletic program,” said Amanda Ritter, assistant director of Internship Connections. “We wanted a way to celebrate our students who have committed to an upcoming internship or something after graduation.”
Graduating seniors had a chance to report their post-graduation plans to Career Services through the first destination survey. On the form, seniors answer questions about when they’re graduating, if they have a job or plan to attend graduate school, if they completed an internship while at TXST, and more.
Current students had a chance to report their upcoming internships as well. On their form, students answered questions about the organization they were interning with, what city they would be in, and what functional work they would be involved in.
Sean-Pascal Swift, mechanical engineering junior, is interning at Toyota Racing Development (TRD) through Aug. 14 in Costa Mesa, California, where he is focusing on hydrogen fuel cell integration development. His work spans multiple prototype projects, the main highlight being a hydrogen-powered Toyota Tacoma that covers electrical wiring, Controller Area Network bus communication, Arduino-based control system development, wiring diagram documentation in Visio, and MoTeC data display configuration.
“Signing Day was a celebration of what every student has put into their degree; it made me proud to be a Bobcat,” Swift said. “Interning at TRD is a huge milestone for me personally. Toyota has a presence across so many types of racing and new technology, and taking on an electrical internship this summer has expanded my skills in ways I couldn't have planned for in the classroom alone. I'm excited to bring everything I'm learning back to Bobcat Racing.”
Ariana Rider, applied math and physics junior, is interning for the University Nanosatellite Program through July 17 at the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she is representing the TXST Space Lab within the Department of Physics along with two other students.
Their objective is to design a mission demonstrating that a CubeSat in low Earth orbit can perform adaptive orbit control using on-board machine learning to drastically improve the characterization of differential drag for autonomous guidance, navigation, and control.
Their ultimate goal is to bring this advanced technical knowledge back to TXST to distill what they have learned and help build the foundation for a dedicated aerospace core at the university, along with sending our mission to space.
“The impact of this internship has been entirely life changing,” Rider said. “The true power of an experience like this goes far beyond a resume or LinkedIn boost; those are just side effects. It is about gaining the inner confidence and self-trust that you are truly capable of achieving your highest aspirations. This internship has provided me with invaluable knowledge, technical growth, and lifelong connections that will fundamentally shape my trajectory as an aspiring aerospace engineer.”
Christopher Quiroga, geographic information systems (GIS) junior, is interning at CapMetro in Austin through July 31 where he is supporting CapMetro's Access and Eligibility team by assisting with accessibility and improvement projects. He is conducting field assessments to evaluate pathway accessibility, using GIS tools to map and analyze spatial data related to transit routes and accessibility conditions.
“Attending Texas State's Signing Day gave me the opportunity to celebrate with students and staff and helped me feel excited about starting an internship and representing my school while doing so,” Quiroga said. “Completing an internship bridges the gap between the classroom and workplace. It will strengthen what I have learned so far in school and help prove that I can apply it in my work.”
With the data Career Services has collected from students like Swift, Rider, and Quiroga, they can discover internship trends, the sectors students are interested in, and build partnerships with those employers to provide more opportunities for TXST students.
An additional benefit to the self-report internship survey is the ability to research what percentage of internships are accepted that aren’t for credit.
“We know how many students are enrolled in an internship course because of how it’s coded, but we don’t know how many aren’t because it’s not mandatorily reported,” Ritter said. “If we can collect that data, there’s so much that we can learn and so much that campus partners can do with it to grow their internship programs.”
Using survey data, TXST can invite new employers to campus for various career fairs throughout the year or for info sessions to better connect with the appropriate colleges.
Information about the next Signing Day will be communicated through TXST’s Career Services in early 2027.