SENIOR 30S
GRADUATING STAR MEMBERS SAY THEIR GOODBYES PAGE 5
LIFE & ARTS
SPORTS
RUNNING MAN JOGS RATHER THAN SPRINTS
DEFRAEYE DISCUSSES HER JOURNEY TO TEXAS STATE
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TUESDAY
December 2, 2025 VOLUME 115 ISSUE 16
UNIVERSITY
FEATURE
LIFE’S QUESTIONS ANSWERED:
pastor and TXST lecturer retires LAURA WALKER | STAR PHOTOGRAPHER
Texas State Communication Studies senior Devin Prophet (left) greets pastor Jamie Bouzard (right) between classes, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, at Texas State. Prophet said Bouzard helped him find his place on campus by leading him to Black student organizations.
By Rae Knight Life and Arts Contributor
Every week, a sign near The Stallions appears reading “Let’s talk about anything.” Next to it, pastor and university seminar lecturer Jaime Bouzard waits to talk to those who stop by with the questions life may throw at them. After over 18 years of offering advice on The Quad at Texas State
and working at the United Campus Ministry (UCM), Bouzard is retiring at the end of the 2025 fall semester. Since last month, his sign now has an addition that reads, “But make it soon. I’m retiring next month.” “I am retiring because my wife is my best friend and I’d like to spend more time with her, we both retired to spend more time together and because I can,” Bouzard said. Bouzard has worked for different
ministries throughout his 40-yearlong career. In San Marcos, he is one of the two pastors at UCM, where he leads worship and communion, provides free lunch every Monday and does retreat work. Devin Davis, UCM ministry intern, worked with Jaime professionally for three semesters. She organizes social events and manages social media for the ministry. “[Jaime’s] presence is definitely very important,” Davis said. “He’s
that face that when I walk in the door I know he’ll be there. I think that he is like the grandpa of the UCM. When you’re around Jaime, you can’t help but smile and laugh because he’s not going to let you do anything other than that.”
SEE BOUZARD PAGE 8
UNIVERSITY
Course audits could impact spring classes By Ryan Claycamp News Editor
According to documents obtained by The Star, ongoing course audits could cause some courses currently scheduled for spring 2026 to be canceled. Courses will be required to go through four
separate levels of approval in the auditing process. The four levels are faculty review, department chair/ school director approval, dean approval and administrative approval. “Any course in phase 1 that is scheduled for spring 2026 semester that is not approved at any level will not be offered in spring and will require further
review,” Texas State Provost Pranesh Aswath wrote in a memo to faculty. “Any course not approved by the deadline for the 2026-2027 academic catalog will not appear in the catalog.” Documents previously obtained by The Star suggested that class offerings would not be changed until the 2026-27 academic year.
SEE COURSES PAGE 2 FOOTBALL
CITY
San Marcos PD addresses crime increase downtown By Jakob Salsgiver News Contributor
the regular season with 1,113 receiving yards on 80 catches and nine touchdowns, all career highs for the junior. Sparks’ season has been one for the books as he is rewriting program history. Sparks is the first Bobcat receiver in the program’s FBS era to surpass 1,000 receiving yards, and has tied the school’s single season reception record. Entering the bowl game, Sparks is 155 yards away from the single-season receiving yards record.
As crime downtown increases, the San Marcos Police Department is deploying a series of strategies to address rising violent crime downtown. San Marcos has experienced a significant decrease in crime compared to the state average. According to San Marcos Chief of Police Stan Standridge, from 2022 to 2024, Texas saw an 11% decrease in violent crime, compared to San Marcos’s 46% decrease. Instead, data provided in an email to The Star by the SMPD Crime Analysis Unit detailed a nearly 39% increase in violent crime seen only at The Square, that may have had a negative effect on the perception of violent crime as a whole in San Marcos. Amanda Graham, associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology, said there has been a noticeable decline in crime in the city of San Marcos since 2021; however, fear of crime might have increased among citizens due to recent shootings downtown.
SEE SPARKS PAGE 9
SEE CRIMES PAGE 2
AYDEN OREDSON | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Texas State junior wide receiver Beau Sparks (11) is lifted by teammates after his second touchdown against Eastern Michigan, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, at UFCU Stadium. The Bobcats beat Eastern Michigan 52-27.
Sparks shines bright in 2025 season By Luke Landa Sports Reporter
In the brutal Texas heat long before the college football season began, Texas State junior wide receiver Beau Sparks was running routes and perfecting every aspect of his craft. These workouts showed the true competitive nature that Sparks possessed and laid the groundwork for the kind of season he aspired to have. “The work that we put in during the summer set us up for success,” Sparks said. “[My confidence] came from the summer for sure.”
The confidence appeared early, as Sparks’ hard work over the dog days of summer shined when he opened the season with four receiving touchdowns against Eastern Michigan. The game set the stage for Sparks to become a game-changer week in and week out. Sparks was the leading receiver in six of the 12 games played this season and the second leading receiver in the remaining six. After showing flashes of potential as a sophomore, Sparks burst onto the scene as one of the most reliable playmakers in both the Sun Belt and all of college football. He led Texas State in