Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Doug Klembara Texas A&M students Stephanie Burns and Audrey Koehler and Texas A&M Qatar student Mais Taha stare at a photograph they just took together after meeting at the student welcome feast. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Doug Klembara Student Body President Mark Gold and Abdullah Abdalla laugh together inside of the Texas A&M campus in Qatar, after Abdalla finished giving the campus tour during the Student Leadership Exchange Spring Break. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Doug Klembara Abdulrahman Al-Kuwari poses in the national Qatari thobe. Kuwari is a junior petroleum engineer at Qatar. [Click to enlarge]

Howdy and Asalom Alaikum,

This has truly been an incredible year! It has been one of the greatest honors and blessings of our lives to have been charged with serving and representing the students of Texas A&M University. There is no better picture of our unique spirit than the Aggie Family standing and supporting one another, even from halfway around the world.

Texas A&M College Station and Texas A&M Qatar have formed an incredible bond over the past few years, in spite of the obvious differences. Separated by thousands of miles, millions of gallons of water, numerous time zones and a few thousand students, there are a myriad of challenges that come with trying to build and strengthen the relationship between these two great Universities. In order to help address these challenges, a leadership exchange program was created to allow students from both places the chance to experience their sister University halfway across the globe. Over spring break, 16 students from each institution took part in this life-changing adventure.

Upon arriving in Qatar, the College Station students were greeted with a traditional "Howdy!" Over the next few days, we experienced the Qatar campus, various cultural museums and tours, dining options from all over the world, camel rides in the desert and the most gracious, friendly student body apart from College Station's. Although everything around us was new and different, the care we were shown was definitely that of the Aggie Family. As we spent more time with the Qatar students, we learned that the traditions of the 12th Man, Run for the Ring, Gig 'Em, Silver Taps, Reveille, Muster and many others were practiced in the Middle East. In fact, as we observed the men's basketball team compete against the faculty members in a friendly scrimmage, we actually performed an Aggie yell in Arabic. Their love for A&M was inspiring, and although the culture was different, the Aggie Spirit was just as strong in Qatar.

On the return trip, the 16 Qatar students flew back with us. They stayed in Houston for a few days and immediately rushed to the Galleria for their first dose of American shopping. After two days, they came to College Station and were greeted with performances from Fade to Black, the Aggie Wranglers, Apotheosis, Hard-Chord Dynamix and many other talented student groups. The next few days were spent touring campus, visiting the engineering buildings (because Qatar is only an engineering school), meeting various members of the Texas A&M community and, of course, more shopping. They took one trip to Austin to visit the capitol before returning to College Station for the last night of their stay. On that night, the group, along with the College Station students, visited Sul Ross, the Century Tree and a number of on-campus fountains before ending the night with s'mores grilled at Spence Park.

Although this is only a glimpse of the full experience we each had, there is no doubt that the bond between our beloved Universities will continue to grow. Texas A&M is making a global impact every day, and there is nothing more powerful than serving alongside a group of Aggies thousands of miles away. We each have faced a number of trials this year, but it is with eagerness and excitement that we continue to serve together so that one day, everyone may know what being an Aggie truly means.

Thanks, Sucran, and Gig 'Em.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools