Today@Sam Article
Commencement Spotlight: Devin Glass
Dec. 8, 2022
SHSU Media Contact: Campbell Atkins
Each semester, the Commencement Spotlight series highlights graduating Bearkats with a “can-do” spirit through challenge and service.
Devin Glass
Spring, Texas
Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences with minor in communications
To Devin Glass, service is more than an obligation; it’s a lifestyle. As an active military member and firefighter, you’d be hard-pressed to find an individual graduating this fall who personifies Sam Houston State University’s motto more.
“I come from a family with a military background, so I have always had a drive to serve,” Glass said. “Upon joining the Army in high school, I knew I had a passion for service, and that’s why I decided to become a firefighter.”
Glass was able to join the Army National Guard as a junior in high school through a special program and participated in basic training his junior and senior years. Upon graduating high school, he participated in EMS training at Lone Star College and earned his associate degree, all while working full-time with the Houston Fire Department. He was both the youngest firefighter and paramedic when he was first appointed.
His degree transferred over to SHSU and went towards his bachelor’s in applied arts and sciences. He also minored in communications.
Glass came to SHSU in the fall of 2018. His biggest conflict of duties came in 2020, when he had to serve for a month and a half in Austin.
“The structure of my degree plan was only offered at Sam Houston,” Glass said. “I could not have gotten my degree anywhere else in the time I did here. My professors were extremely flexible, I never had one turn me down when I asked for accommodations due to my involvement in the military or fire department.”
Like a true fireman, Glass will continue to charge onward in the face of a challenge. He has decided to further his education by attending the Master of Public Administration graduate program at SHSU in the spring. He attributed this decision to one of the captains in his department.
“You could tell he was a very smart guy, and he mentioned in passing that he had his master’s,” Glass said. “That is not very common in the fire service, so we began talking and he mentioned he earned it from Sam Houston State in the same program. He spoke very highly of it and found it very engrossing. It centers mainly around aspects of public administration and creating policies that can really influence government. I immediately took it to heart and decided it was something I wanted to do.”
Glass will continue his duties as a soldier and full-time firefighter when he begins graduate school in the spring. He hopes to work his way up the ladder in those two fields but also hopes a graduate degree will open more doors for him in the field of public service in the future.
- END -
This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office:
Director of Content Communications: Emily Binetti
Communications Manager: Mikah Boyd
Telephone: 936.294.1837
Communications Specialist: Campbell Atkins
Telephone: 936.294.2638
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu