Faculty and students worked together to build the campus. It was not unusual to see students building cooperative housing with NYA grant money on University land. When the student builders eventually graduated, they were bought out by new undergraduate students who would earn their room and board by helping to maintain the house.

     As they built the little school the students also built school traditions, especially in athletics. The football team became a powerhouse almost immediately. A highlight of the 1934 season was the game where TCAI was beating Texas A&M, a much larger school. With only three minutes remaining in the game, and with the Javelinas leading 14-7, the Aggies scored one last time.  Thus, the game concluded with a tie. The Javelinas had fought hard, led by a favorite player called “Teddy Bear” Barnes.  Barnes faded in those last few minutes, though he appeared well and health and even played in other games. Two weeks later, he suddenly died. He had a brain tumor, but fought on hoping to see the team win this game against the much bigger school. He truly exemplified the fighting spirit of a Javelina. As a pack animal, a Javelina is usually timid and quiet.  He will not attack unless the offender intrudes upon his territory or threatens his pack. So too are the students of this school. The dominant culture is polite, quiet, some might say timid, but, willing to fight for the community and for the good of the entire group. The Javelina is tenacious.  So too has been the will of the people who built this school.

     Another crisis loomed in the late 1930s: the threat of a war replacing the devastation of a Depression, meant that the school now had to deal with a new crisis. Throughout the first fifteen years of its existence, the student population grew. But, as war approached the young men and women, and the faculty prepared to go to fight that war or to stay and prepare others to fight in World War II.  In 1940 the Board of Directors of the College adopted a resolution to notify national authorities that all college facilities would be put at the disposal of the Government in the National Defense program.   On campus there were civilian courses in civil defense and military courses in engineering and agriculture to train those who would go to fight. The engineering program was also gaining national fame for its excellence.  The faculty also began extension courses within the community. 

1941-1950 continued