Spring Break
Traditionally Speaking | Aggies should maintain spirit, offer support unconditionally
By: Stephanie Rancier
Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Aggielife
As young as middle school, students proudly sport collegiate paraphernalia to declare their future university. Whether they're actually planning on attending that school or they just like the record of a particular collegiate football team, people inadvertently make assumptions about what kind of person an 18 year old is and will become based on his or her chosen institution of higher education. I was one of those kids who knew that I was going to Texas A&M at the ripe old age of nine. I defined myself as a future Aggie until one day during my senior year of high school someone asked, "What is an Aggie anyway?"
As a freshman at Fish Camp, I met a group of dedicated counselors that gave me a new appreciation for being fortunate enough to be able to call myself an Aggie. I had thought the 'Aggie Family' label was a nice sentiment, but I didn't yet fully appreciate the validity of that endearment. After meeting a cluster of substantially different counselors who banded together to spread Aggie traditions, I realized the Aggie community is like a real family - we may butt heads because we're all different, but we still support each other - or at least we should.
Aggies have been known for creating a friendly community that possesses an unwavering support for their fellow Ags. However, in my four-plus years as an A&M student, I've witnessed unfortunate falters in our Aggie ways. People don't say "howdy" much anymore, some A&M students don't even know what Muster is and now students and alumni constantly focus on the negative - our coach is disappointing, we don't have a perfect record and so on. Some members of the 12th Man have even threatened our quarterback with distasteful notes after being outscored in Miami and laughed at the team's comparison of football to war. What happened to the unconditional support for our Aggie Family?
By calling ourselves Aggies, we have the responsibility of maintaining our esteemed reputation, which means supporting each other in times of frustration. Since 2000, Aggies have been visually demonstrating their aggravation on shirts: "Let Him Play," "Reggie Who," "We Want Fran" and the recent "Fire Fran." As Aggies, we shouldn't demean ourselves like other self-proclaimed passionate Texas schools that give up on their team and define themselves by their number of wins. If we continue down a path of diametrically polar attitudes that vary from week to week, we may not be far from disregarding our other traditions as well.
Aggie traditions have remained steadfast for 131 years because of our dedication for enlightening each new Aggie generation. However, we cannot afford to assume that reciting yells and attending games is a sufficient representation of the Aggie Spirit. We need to remind ourselves that being an Aggie includes practicing all of our traditions and not succumbing to outside expectations.
"We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we. As true to each other as Aggies can be." We all know these words and sing them with pride, but we need to put them into practice in our daily lives by supporting our own Ags even when we may not agree with administrative actions. Constant focus on the negative distracts from our spirit, traditions and reputation. If we keep centering on what we do wrong, future Aggie generations could be seen as those cultish Ags who just want to win football games, instead of the compassionate family that is near unexplainable to outsiders.
As a freshman at Fish Camp, I met a group of dedicated counselors that gave me a new appreciation for being fortunate enough to be able to call myself an Aggie. I had thought the 'Aggie Family' label was a nice sentiment, but I didn't yet fully appreciate the validity of that endearment. After meeting a cluster of substantially different counselors who banded together to spread Aggie traditions, I realized the Aggie community is like a real family - we may butt heads because we're all different, but we still support each other - or at least we should.
Aggies have been known for creating a friendly community that possesses an unwavering support for their fellow Ags. However, in my four-plus years as an A&M student, I've witnessed unfortunate falters in our Aggie ways. People don't say "howdy" much anymore, some A&M students don't even know what Muster is and now students and alumni constantly focus on the negative - our coach is disappointing, we don't have a perfect record and so on. Some members of the 12th Man have even threatened our quarterback with distasteful notes after being outscored in Miami and laughed at the team's comparison of football to war. What happened to the unconditional support for our Aggie Family?
By calling ourselves Aggies, we have the responsibility of maintaining our esteemed reputation, which means supporting each other in times of frustration. Since 2000, Aggies have been visually demonstrating their aggravation on shirts: "Let Him Play," "Reggie Who," "We Want Fran" and the recent "Fire Fran." As Aggies, we shouldn't demean ourselves like other self-proclaimed passionate Texas schools that give up on their team and define themselves by their number of wins. If we continue down a path of diametrically polar attitudes that vary from week to week, we may not be far from disregarding our other traditions as well.
Aggie traditions have remained steadfast for 131 years because of our dedication for enlightening each new Aggie generation. However, we cannot afford to assume that reciting yells and attending games is a sufficient representation of the Aggie Spirit. We need to remind ourselves that being an Aggie includes practicing all of our traditions and not succumbing to outside expectations.
"We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we. As true to each other as Aggies can be." We all know these words and sing them with pride, but we need to put them into practice in our daily lives by supporting our own Ags even when we may not agree with administrative actions. Constant focus on the negative distracts from our spirit, traditions and reputation. If we keep centering on what we do wrong, future Aggie generations could be seen as those cultish Ags who just want to win football games, instead of the compassionate family that is near unexplainable to outsiders.
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