They've been through Fish Camp and can recite Texas A&M traditions in their sleep, but it becomes unmistakably real Monday for some 8,100 Texas A&M freshmen: The academic year begins, and they are Aggies.
Texas A&M marked that milestone Sunday afternoon with its
8th annual freshman convocation, a pomp-laden welcome to the new students that included a reading of the Aggie Honor Code by the Texas A&M student body president.
"An Aggie does not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do," said Jacob Robinson, as about 3,000 freshmen and their families and friends stood in Reed Arena.
Sure, the traditions are a bit unusual, said freshman Aaron Carpenter, who came from Azle.
"But that's what sets A&M apart," said Carpenter, who chose the university largely because of its reputation as an engineering school.
Deans asked students in each of the colleges to stand and be recognized, as clapping and whooping parents cheered on.
"Look around you -- all around you," said Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin to the Class of 2014. "Because we're all your family now."
Deborah Thomas, an assistant professor of oceanography, delivered the keynote address, urging students to value research and take the initiative to do original research under the tutelage of a faculty member.
"Texas A&M is one of the greatest research universities in the world -- and arguably the best research university in Texas," she said.
Carpenter's friend and fellow engineering freshman, Nathaniel Schaffer, also was excited about his new life as an Aggie, but it was tempered.
"I have mixed feelings," he said. "My physics class is at 8 a.m."
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