It is that time of the year again for many high school students. For juniors, it is time to start thinking about what colleges to apply for, and seniors are beginning to make their decisions on which school they will attend for the Fall 2023 semester.
Choosing the right university is a difficult decision to make. Having to find a school that accommodates your interests, cultivates a great community, on top of preparing you for your career goals is no easy feat. However, Texas A&M University helps in that decision making process with one of its largest campus-wide events called Aggieland Saturday.
On February 11, 2023, Texas A&M University hosted thousands of prospective and incoming students, along with their families, to show what the school has to offer. Departments, student organizations, and volunteers band together to showcase the various programs and resources available to accommodate a diverse student body. The overall goal of Aggieland Saturday every year is to provide another opportunity to learn more about what makes this university special, and this year was no exception. The Department of Residence Life (DRL) is just one out of the many operations working this event to present what student life at this great institution has to offer. Alexis Broussard, the Program Coordinator for the Department of Residence Life Tours defines Aggieland Saturday as “a whole university-wide effort within the Division of Student Affairs and other student resources to put on a picture of what life at Texas A&M would be like if they choose to become a student here.”
The Department of Residence Life Tour Guides work hard every day to provide the best experience when showcasing the seven on-campus residence hall styles to prospective and incoming students. They aim to not only give information to their visitors, but also share their own stories as previous (or current) on-campus residents and as a member of the student body to encourage incoming freshmen to live on campus. Although Broussard and her team host hundreds of guests each week, Aggieland Saturday hosted thousands of people in one day. This, as you can imagine, required lots of planning and coordination across campus.
Broussard stated that this planning process took around 10 months and needed a great deal of communication between not just the DRL but also other departments across the campus. “More communication was happening from a committee experience level for visitors where we were all able to collaborate … then go to our different departments and then equip our departments to better show and exhibit the Aggie Spirit” said Broussard when asked about coordinating for this event.
However, it was not just the tour guides preparing for the big day; many Residence Life Representatives contributed to making sure the day ran smoothly. Whether it was organizing merchandise, putting up signage, or assisting on tours, the entire department contributed to this operation and its goal. When asked about what she wanted our guests to take away from these residence hall tours she stated, “a clear picture of what living at the heart of Aggieland is like and how special of an opportunity that can be with all of the initiatives, amenities, and I think accessibility that comes with living on campus.” In total, the DRL hosted a total of 3,578 guests between all the on-campus locations. Northside saw roughly 1,689 visitors, Southside had roughly 1,379 visitors, and the White Creek Apartments saw about 510 visitors.
The DRL along with the rest of campus hosted another successful Aggieland Saturday and hopefully every guest that visited got to understand what it means to be a part of the loud and proud Fightin’ Texas Aggie family!