TXST students and faculty help preserve veterans’ stories through TexVet Legacy program

Behind every service record is a human story. While families keep their late veterans' memories alive, Texas State University faculty and students are joining the effort, transforming family interviews and photos into enduring digital history.

Through the Texas Veterans Legacy for Tomorrow (TexVet Legacy) initiative, student veterans are meeting with family members and friends of veterans who are buried at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cemeteries across Texas to share their stories. First launched in 2024 at TXST, the VA recently renewed a $286,985 grant for TXST to continue the work, along with seven other universities, organizations, and foundations across the country.

"Every service member was a family member or someone’s friend first."

Family interviews, which are recorded on camera at Alkek One on the San Marcos Campus, in person in their homes, or through virtual meetings, are uploaded with photos to the Veterans Legacy Memorial and the Texas State University Digital Repository for legacy preservation. The stories may also be used in audio tours at the VA cemeteries where the veterans are buried.

“It’s been very educational and comforting to see how veterans and their family members are respected in this process,” said Dr. Katherine Selber, professor in the School of Social Work, cofounder of the Veteran Advisory Council, and co-principal investigator of the project.

With the new funding, the team will also create 13 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills-aligned lesson plans for K-12 students, expand its TXST open educational resources page, and widen its teacher network. In 2027, the TexVet Teacher Fellowship Program will host a summer institute to prepare Texas K-12 educators to guide students in researching and preserving the stories of veterans in their communities.

Dr. Kelly Clary, associate professor in the School of Social Work and senior faculty fellow at the Translational Health Research Center, is the grant’s principal investigator. Clary and Selber’s project team includes eight faculty and staff members, external consultants, and a seven-member community advisory board. 

“I am a veteran family member, and I remember going to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery when I was in high school and the impact that it had on me to see how special those ceremonies are,” Clary said. “That personal piece bleeds into the professional piece as a social worker who believes storytelling can be healing, inspirational, educational, and hopeful for an individual. I’m honored to do this work.”

The TXST team trained nine student veterans and military-connected students in trauma-informed interview practices to effectively connect with veteran families. Family contacts are sourced through events, word of mouth, networking with veteran organizations, flyers in communities, and social media outreach.

The first round of the TexVet program demonstrated its value to families and communities.

Jacob Goffnett heard about TexVet in 2024 and thought it would be an opportunity for him, his sister Janelle, and his dad, Lawrence, to share the story of his grandfather Cecil, who is buried in Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery in Mission.

“I had never heard some of the stories my dad told about my grandpa that day,” Goffnett recalled. “I only knew my grandpa afterward, so it was nice to have a fuller picture of who he was, what my dad’s motivations were for going into the military at the time, and how it produced this lasting legacy. It was a pleasant experience to have seen my dad talk about my grandpa in that way.”

Raymond Davis, a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in criminal justice, is a student veteran research assistant for TexVet Legacy this year. He spent two decades in the U.S. Air Force with stops in Korea, Montana, Florida, Missouri, New Jersey, and Texas.

After enrolling at TXST, Davis found a LinkedIn post from Clary looking for student workers for her Fentanyl Education, Support Training, and Awareness (FESTA) Program. After interviewing for the position, she learned he was a veteran and recommended that he get involved with TexVet Legacy.

“I want to give back to those who came before me,” Davis said. “Sharing stories of past veterans with other folks helps me heal.

Davis said visiting the national cemetery increased his motivation to preserve the stories of veterans.

“You think about how many of these interred veterans never had their stories told,” he said. “I was already up on doing it, but now I’m up more because there are so many stories that need to be told for our veterans’ legacy to continue.”

Joshua Honigberg is another student veteran helping with TexVet Legacy. He enlisted in the Army when he was 19 following the 9/11 attacks. During several deployments in highly active regions, Honigberg was hit multiple times, requiring 30 surgeries and procedures.

“It broke me between my physical health being as poor as it was at the time and experiencing ontological shock, which is essentially the breaking of someone’s identity,” Honigberg said. “Who I am, what I am, what I pride myself on. . . It was the realization that I’ll never be back to the man I was.”

Once Honigberg was medically retired from service, he slowly recovered from his injuries. He adopted his dog, Dexter, and had him certified in mobility and assistance with traumatic brain injuries. He calls Dexter his “best friend and my buddy,” who helps him comfortably socialize and communicate with others.

Through it all, Honigberg maintained a passion for advocating for people. After attending Austin Community College, he enrolled in the School of Social Work at TXST and found TexVet.

The experience he has gained through TexVet helps him with his goals of completing veteran outreach and becoming educated on federal research grant applications in the hopes of establishing his own nonprofit after graduate school.

“Every service member was a family member or someone’s friend first,” he said. “The memories of veterans stay alive not by thinking of who they were when they were on patrol but thinking of who they were when they weren’t. That’s what this project does.”