BLOGS

 

Tis’ the Spirit of Aggieland !

 

Howdy y’all! I guess I’ll skip right to the point here. The Aggie Orientation was a wonderful journey! Yes, not an experience, but a journey. As I woke up that morning, I had one thought in my mind, I am an Aggie now. I said “Howdy” to my parents and decided to keep myself from tripping over my own feet due to excitement. As I stood in front of the 2.5 ton solid bronze door, I took a deep breath and walked in and a smile just crept onto my face.

 

(Gig’em Orientation Leaders!)

 

 

Standing there at our reception was our wonderful team of Orientation Leaders, there with bright smiling faces, welcoming us in. Well, we also got Maroon and White goodie bags which were pretty cool as well but merchandise can never describe spirit right? After that I remember edging my way to the heart of the building when I looked at my name tag. Apart from my name and major, the card had “Loyalty” printed on it. As I spoke to others I realized that we all had something different printed on our name tags. Some had “Selfless Service” or “Leadership” or “Excellence” and when we presented our curiosity to the Orientation Leaders they said that it would all make sense later.

 

 

We all made our way to the lecture hall and officially began our orientation. After the presentations introducing us to Aggie traditions (which to no one’s surprise was pretty Texan), things got serious. We were asked to practice our Aggie Wildcat Yells. Now, this is where it gets tricky. I can’t really explain the excitement I felt as I let my lungs let out an Aggie-licious freshmen “Aay!” but I suppose that’s because there really is “a spirit that can ne’er be told”. We learnt that being an Aggie meant being faithful to all other Aggies, upholding the Cadet Honor, and most of all sticking together and being unified to achieve Excellence. Then we went on to the louder yells, cheering on the ol’ Texas A&M University Teams. After that, we all stood up and sang the Aggie war hymn together. (“Rough, Tough, real stuff Texas A&M!”)

 

 

For the rest of the day we split up into our groups, which incidentally were the mystery additions to our name tags. The groups; Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Respect and Selfless Service – The six Aggie Core Values, split up and went on their respective building tours and ice breaker sessions.

(Food for Thought?)

 

 

Day two was spent at the HBKU orientation but we were already into our Aggie spirit, so, as most of you already know, we showed up with our proud Aggies shirt. Day three was an extra fun day because of our laptops. Additionally we had presentations regarding the Aggie Code of Honor plus stress and time management. I realized that we got to know not only ourselves better, but also our upperclassmen. By this day lot of other seniors came by to welcome us and interact. I would just like to give a big shout out to all the A&M students out there! Not once did I feel like a “scared little freshmen”, on the contrary we were all shocked by how nice everyone was. We had joined a family; there is just no other way to describe it. 

 

 

 

 

On the last day of orientation, we split into groups by our major and interacted with the faculty and had various other presentations regarding safety, services, help desks, and so on. Before wrapping up the events at the University, we stood up and linked hands once again, to sing the War Hymn together, promising to stand strong and unified. We then proceeded to the Qatar National Convocation Center, where they welcomed us to the Aggie Family and presented awards to the upperclassmen. The event was inspiring to me.

 

 

All in all, I realized that the spirit of being an Aggie cannot be absorbed by merely playing games or watching videos. That spirit comes from interaction, be it with upper classmen or fellow freshmen. Once we enter through those doors, we are committed. Committed to being part of a family that strives for excellence. I have now finished a week here at Texas A&M University at Qatar and I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else in the world.

 

 

Gig’em Aggies!

Pavithra Manghaipathy

‘The loudest and proudest member of the fighting Aggie class of 2016, Aay!!!’