After hearing of professor Lynsey Parsons’ ongoing health issues, Aggies in her class decided to give back.
Parsons, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, has been teaching at Texas A&M since August of 2016. Students in Parson’s state and local government class decided to start a GoFundMe page in her honor. According to the page, $705 was raised by 80 individuals at time of press.
Joshua John, horticulture junior and one of Parsons’ students, said supporting Parsons was the right thing to do.
“She told us that she’s traveling for treatments and that her lungs were deteriorating … and we were all taken aback and we felt pretty convicted,” John said. “Everyone hopped on board, it was not so a much one person thing … it was like all of us teamed up. … This is just yet another cool way of seeing the Aggie family at work.”
Izamar Favela Estrada, international studies sophomore, first suggested students sign a card for Parsons. After signing the card in Evans Library, Estrada said she began to think of other ways students could support Parsons.
“I got a poster and then people started coming … then they were like, ‘It would be [great] if we could contribute to her financially so she can go out on a night out or something and just have fun,’” Estrada said. “We didn’t see this as kind of a big thing happening.”
After sharing the GoFundMe page in the class GroupMe, Estrada said she was happy to see students willing to give.
“Within an hour or two hours we raised [the] $100 that originally was our main goal,” Estrada said.
Stolz said after exceeding their initial number, she decided to increase the goal on the GoFundMe page to $500.
“We actually collected a lot more than I thought we would,” Stolz said. “We didn’t think that we would get so much in donations so we just thought that we could give her something nice and then we got a lot more support for it than we thought we would … everyone’s been really generous.”
According to Stolz, showing this kind of support is a special part of being an Aggie.
“This has been a unique experience,” Stolz said. “I think that’s kind of a really great thing about A&M. A lot of people left comments on the GoFundMe like, ‘Well-wishes for Professor Parsons’ and so that was really nice because I think that will almost mean as much to her as the money people donated.”
John said he hopes more people decide to donate to the GoFundMe page, contributing to the long tradition of selfless service at A&M.
“For anyone who hears the story, it kind of reaffirms why we go to this school and why I think it’s the greatest place that I could seek a collegiate education from, … going to A&M is such a blessing,” Johnson said. “That’s the best part about Texas A&M, the people.”