Photos and Story By Olivia Garza '24

The transition to college can be a challenging time. Most Texas A&M University students can benefit from a listening ear to talk to during this period in their lives. Sydney Tetzlaff ‘23, a psychology major from Houston, Texas, is one of those listening ears on campus. Sydney volunteers for HelpLine, an organization that provides after-hours mental health support for Texas A&M students in need of telephone, peer support, information, crisis intervention, as well as for support those concerned about students.  

“We give a listening ear for people who maybe don't have someone and we like to make people feel heard,” Sydney said. 

Sydney joined HelpLine her freshman year. She knew before coming to Texas A&M that she wanted to be a part of an organization to get involved on campus and make new friends, but she wasn’t sure what kind of organization that would be.  

 Instead of having to search for that organization, HelpLine found her. The organization’s director, Susan Vavra, was Sydney’s namesake at Fish Camp and introduced her to HelpLine. The HelpLine is staffed by undergraduate, graduate, and former students of a variety of majors and backgrounds and is supervised by Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) at Texas A&M.   

“I think HelpLine was a really big part of me finding my sense of belonging, especially because this was the first organization that I joined and it was my first experience really meeting a new group of people and kind of having a purpose”  

This feeling of finding her purpose helped her through her own struggles. Sydney’s parents moved out of state her sophomore year. The sense of belonging she had in HelpLine helped her find her footing in a period of change.  

“I always had those people to fall back on,” she shared. 

Through building relationships with other Aggies, Sydney has learned to put herself into other people’s shoes. She plans to use the experiences at Texas A&M and with HelpLine to help others through their struggles. After graduation, her goal is to become a physician’s assistant.  

“It just has helped me to be more empathetic. I feel like it's really helped me learn how to be there for someone, even without saying anything,” she shared. 

HelpLine can be reached at 979-845-2700 from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, and 24 hours on weekends.