A&M-Victoria to spotlight principal, licensed professional counselor during Alumni Banquet
This year, Texas A&M University-Victoria will be hosting its Homecoming festivities in the fall semester, starting a new tradition of aligning Homecoming with soccer. As part of this tradition, the university will celebrate two of its alumni who have made significant contributions to their communities.
Krista Wilkerson, principal at Schorlemmer Elementary School, will be honored as the Distinguished Alumna of the Year during this year’s Homecoming Alumni Banquet. Alongside her, Baylea Wagener Cramer, a licensed professional counselor, will be honored as the Young Alumna of the Year.
The Alumni Banquet will take place on Friday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. inside Galvan Community Hall at University North, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St. The event is open to all university alumni, their guests and university supporters. The reception will commence at 5:30 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. dinner. Tickets are priced at $35 per person, and guests are encouraged to RSVP by Oct. 19. The link to the registration can be found at: https://tamuvalumni.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=2073296.
“Krista and Baylea are two great examples of the best that the Jaguar family has to offer! They have proven themselves to be dedicated in pursuing their education, building meaningful careers, and supporting their communities,” said Amber Countis, A&M-Victoria vice president for advancement and external relations. “They are amazing ambassadors for the university, and I am excited to honor these two this year at our first fall Homecoming.”
Wilkerson graduated from A&M-Victoria in 2008 with her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood through Sixth Grade, and in 2018 with a Master of Education in Administration and Supervision with a concentration in educational leadership.
For her, being named the Distinguished Alumna of the Year serves as both a humbling and unexpected experience. It is less of a personal accolade, and more of a reflection of the teachers, students and families she has served throughout her career, she said.
“I do what I do because I love it,” Wilkerson said. “This award is an incredible honor, and I hope it serves as a reminder to my children, my students and fellow educators that the work we do and the difference we make truly matters.”
Wilkerson’s calling to teach did not begin in a classroom. Early in her career, she worked as a paralegal for an ad valorem tax law firm in Amarillo while attending West Texas A&M University. After her husband’s job transfer moved them to South Texas, she continued in the legal field in Houston, but over time the work felt like it no longer was the right fit, she said.
“I came home one day, and I told my husband I always wanted to be a teacher,” Wilkerson said. “My husband said, ‘Do it,’ and I never looked back.”
She went and completed her basics at Victoria College before enrolling at A&M-Victoria, drawn by the university’s welcoming and student-centered atmosphere, she said.
As a nontraditional student, already married and raising a young child, Wilkerson anticipated that returning to school would be difficult. Instead, she found supportive professors and classmates who made the experience feel a little more manageable and meaningful, she said. The faculty in the education program, in particular, were great because of their ability to model the kind of teaching and leadership she wanted to bring into her own classroom.
“The professors were amazing, and I learned so much,” she said. “And even the students in my classes, we began to form a little family.”
Wilkerson began her career as a substitute teacher in the Victoria Independent School District before becoming a classroom teacher at Vickers Elementary School in 2009. At Vickers, she taught kindergarten for 9 years and 3rd grade for 4 years before taking a position at Torres Elementary School as an assistant principal, followed by her appointment as principal at Schorlemmer Elementary School, where she is now in her second year.
Over the course of her career, shared leadership, relationships and empowerment remain at the core of her leadership philosophy, she said. Anyone has the potential to be a leader, she said. As part of her advocacy, she actively works to support paraprofessionals, encouraging them to pursue teaching careers and connecting them with opportunities such as the VISD BRIDGE Program, an initiative that allows paraprofessionals to work full time while earning their bachelor's degrees.
Wilkerson’s leadership extends beyond her own campus. She also serves as the Region 3 president for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, where she advocates for and supports school leaders across 35 districts.
“I always said that as a teacher, I had 24 kids to love, encourage and support. Now, as an administrator, I have more than 400 students, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to make a difference in each of their lives,” Wilkerson said. “I truly have been so lucky. Every leader I’ve met in my life has grown me in so many different ways.”
When Baylea Wagener Cramer arrived at A&M-Victoria more than a decade ago, she was a driven student-athlete looking for a place where her efforts would truly matter. Now, the Young Alumna of the Year recipient is working as a mental health professional and business owner.
Wagener, who works as a licensed professional counselor and supervisor, received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from A&M-Victoria in 2011, after transferring from a Division I university in Arkansas and a junior college in Galveston. Driven by a college scholarship, she found her home at A&M-Victoria and joined the Jaguar softball team during its third year of the program’s existence.
“After I graduated, I immediately moved to a different city and started my career; my time at A&M-Victoria was kind of encapsulated almost, and it was over,” Wagener said. “I feel so honored, it feels like homecoming, it’s like a full-circle moment.”
On the field, Wagener served as a pitcher for the Jaguars. What stands out most from that time, she says, is not just the grind but the relationships forged with her teammates. The shared challenges that came from training and competition created lasting bonds and a strong sense of camaraderie that she’ll remember for life, she said.
Her interest in mental health began early, when she was just a school-aged child participating in a peer mediation program in elementary school. Working alongside school counselors and student mentors sparked a lifelong commitment to supporting others’ emotional well-being, she said.
After graduating from A&M-Victoria, Wagener continued to advance her education while working full time as a case manager. She earned her master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 2014, followed by a doctorate of philosophy in counselor education and supervision from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2018. Along the way, she also served as an adjunct professor at A&M-Kingsville from 2020 to 2025.
Today, Wagener is the owner of Wagener Counseling & Consultation, where she maintains a multifaceted practice. Her work includes clinical counseling with clients, clinical supervision for provisionally licensed counselors and a range of speaking and consultation services. She specializes in trauma and PTSD, emotional disturbance, and mood disorders. Additionally, she is an active community leader, having served on the steering committee for Leadership Corpus Christi and participated in Leadership Corpus Christi Class 51. She was also recognized as third place for Best Licensed Counselor/Psychologist in The Bend Magazine’s 2026 Local List.
Those with additional questions about the banquet may contact Alumni Relations at 361-570-4869 or email alumni@tamuv.edu.
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.