Outstanding Students ready to walk the stage
Eric Thust didn’t cross an ocean simply to earn a degree. He came to Texas A&M University-Victoria determined to test himself as a student, as an athlete and as a person far from home.
Thust of Germany was named the Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the College of Business. He will receive a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship. Along with Thust, Haoying Yang of China was named the Outstanding Graduate Student and will receive a Master of Business Administration.
"It gives me great joy and pride to recognize Eric and Haoying as our two Outstanding Students this semester," said Xavier Garza-Gomez, interim dean of the College of Business. "Their discipline, dedication and excellence exemplify the values we strive to instill in the College of Business, and I look forward to seeing the impacts they will go on and make both within our institution and beyond."
Each semester, professors from A&M-Victoria’s four colleges select outstanding students to be honored during commencement. A&M-Victoria will host three commencement ceremonies on May 16 at Faith Family Church, 2002 E. Mockingbird Lane. The first ceremony will be at 9 a.m. to recognize students from the College of Education & Health Professions and the College of Natural & Applied Science. The second ceremony will start at noon to celebrate students from the College of Business. The third ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. for students in the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences. A live stream of the ceremonies will be available at https://www.tamuv.edu/commencement/.
Raised in Karlsruhe, Germany, Thust first set foot in Victoria in 2024 as a junior and was uncertain about what life in a small Texas town would hold. He had already spent a little time in Tennessee before coming over to Texas and thought he understood what people meant when they said “country.” Victoria quickly redefined that word for him, he said. Yet instead of retreating from the change, Thust took the opportunity to understand a new place and the people who call it home.
“I was really happy to be recognized,” Thust said. “The award really meant a lot to me, but it meant more to my family. My grandma and parents in Germany, everyone was really happy.”
Soccer was the bridge that brought him to A&M-Victoria. With guidance from his mentor and then-head soccer coach Adrian Rigby, he found in the university not only a competitive soccer program but also a chance to grow academically, he said. Joining the Jaguars as a goalkeeper, he became a consistent presence on the pitch from his arrival through his senior year.
“My last game was very emotional, that was sort of like an ending to the whole story,” Thust said. “Every game, they felt amazing, and those are some of my best memories here.”
Academically, Thust didn’t begin in business. He started his journey as a psychology major before realizing that his real interests lay in the intersection of people, ideas and problem-solving. It was then that he decided to join A&M-Victoria’s College of Business.
“I really do love to learn more that just in a classroom,” Thust said. “I have a lot of interactions with professors, and I’ve had great, amazing conversations with all of them. I took all my papers and classes seriously and used them as an opportunity to grow myself.”
As he approaches graduation, Thust is already planning for his next chapter at A&M-Victoria. Rather than leaving immediately, he hopes to stay and continue his education and one day earn an MBA with either a specialization in artificial intelligence or computer science.
Throughout his time at A&M-Victoria, Thust said he has relied on his teammates as a strong support system, many of which are in similar situations as he is.
“As a soccer team, we really are family,” Thust said. “We’re a lot of international students that are all sort of in the same situation, far away from home but we really stick together.”
When Haoying Yang arrived in Victoria, she was stepping into more than just a new campus, she was entering a new country, a new culture and a new academic challenge.
“I am truly honored to be recognized as an Outstanding Student,” Yang said. “As an international student, you know, adapting to a new environment was a bit challenging for me, but I am thankful for everyone around me who supported me, especially my roommates.”
She completed her undergraduate studies from Kunming University of Science and Technology, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in finance in 2025. Building on that foundation, Yang chose to pursue an MBA at A&M-Victoria, drawn by both the academic opportunity and the accessibility of the program, she said.
For Yang, the transition from China to Texas brought inevitable challenges, but it was made easier because of a support system she has found here. Her closest support system has been her roommates, who turned what could have been a lonely holiday into one of her most cherished memories at A&M-Victoria.
“For Chinese New Year, my roommates surprised me by decorating our living room,” Yang said. “I was crying in seconds.”
As she prepares to graduate with her MBA this May, Yang said she is looking forward to walking the stage for the first time in her academic career. Her undergraduate institution in China did not hold a formal commencement ceremony, so the upcoming graduation at A&M-Victoria will be a milestone, she said.
Her academic journey will continue beyond Victoria. Yang has already been accepted into a Ph.D. program in finance at Texas A&M International University in Laredo with a goal to expand her expertise and open up additional professional opportunities in the field.
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.