Tag: Aggie Moms

Shout-Out the the Aggie Moms

Posted in College Years, Texas A&M UniversityTagged , , , Leave a comment
Tri-County Aggie Moms

If you ever want to feel like a million dollars…walk into a room full of Aggie Moms! You’ll be greeted with the biggest smiles, the biggest hugs and the biggest congratulatory remarks…..even if the most notable thing you’ve done recently was to wake up and walk into this room.

Allow me to back up. At the end of each semester and right before finals the Tri-County Aggie Moms and other various Aggie Mom Clubs throughout the state of Texas set up tables in the MSC and hand out goodie bags to all the Aggie students of the Moms. Each club has their own designated area and it’s neat to see the creativity each club puts into their goodies bags. You see anything from laundry bags, to coolers, to backpacks stuffed full of “goodies” that are sure to make us BTHO finals!

Now the Tri-County Aggie Moms Club is quite large and yesterday the last count I had, they handed out 135 goodie bags! Yes, 135! (Tri-County has a strong Aggie presence….WHOOP!) Even with a number that large, this is no downstream operation. As I sifted through my bag this evening I stumbled across homemade goods, notepads, pens, and what I consider the “good snacks”….like what you hoped you would find in your lunchbox in elementary. And of course you’re sure to find a koozie to keep that water cool while we study or for celebration purposes after finals are behind us…..it’s multipurpose! It’s fair to say our moms are the best! In fact, it’s pretty neat to walk into this huge room and see all the different tables and you just know to go to the one that takes up most of the room and has the most moms surrounding it.

But if for some reason you don’t spot the Tri-County Aggie Moms table immediately, one of the moms will spot you. Not just the Tri-County Moms, but every mom in that room keeps close tabs on who is walking through that door. Two seconds later you hear, “OHHHHHH LOOKS WHO’S HERE!!!! WE’RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!”….on and on and you’re greeted by a million hugs! Each semester I give my mom a hard time because I tell her handing out these goodie bags is so mom-ish.

By no means am I complaining, I love it! It doesn’t matter if it’s your mom and it’s expected…there is no replacement to seeing and hearing how proud your mom is of you! Seeing their energy gives me that extra push of motivation I need at this point in the semester. Not to mention they spent the previous evening putting together all these bags, woke up and drove 100 miles the next morning, and spend the entire day in Aggieland greeting each Aggie with just as much excitement as the previous. Y’all are the best!

Outside of the goodie bags, our Aggie Moms do a lot behind the scenes throughout the semester such as various fundraisers, socials, and dinners that honor scholarship recipients and graduating seniors. They play a vital role in making our college experience the best it can be.

Additionally, I feel that the Aggie Moms Club it is a great support system for each Mom. Some are empty nesters, some just sent their first kid to college, and others fall somewhere in between. I had the opportunity to speak at one of the Tri-County Aggie Mom meetings back in October and I attended the meeting in its entirety. Of course the sole focus was their college student(s) and you could even pay a dollar to brag on your kid! But a recurring theme that was prevalent throughout the meeting was the bond these moms share. They understand one another and are there to help one another, just another fine example of the uniqueness of being an Aggie.

So as I wrap up studying for finals, munch on some chips from my goodie bag, and reflect on the 6 Aggie Mom visits I’ve experienced and their constant support of me throughout my time in college I want to give a heartfelt thank you. We don’t always make y’all’s job the easiest, but y’all sure make it look easy!

Thanks and Gig ‘em to ALL the Aggie Moms!

The BEST moms ever!
That’s a lot of bags!
Bags, bags and more bags!
We LOVE our Tri-County Aggie MomsMoms 🙂

Speaking to the Moms

Posted in College Years, Texas A&M UniversityTagged , , , Leave a comment
Tri-County Aggie Moms Meeting- LaGrange, TX

The other night, I spoke at the Tri- County Aggie Moms Meeting. I was excited to have this opportunity as in high school I competed at numerous public speaking contests and ever since I got to college I have had no reason to speak besides the occasional project presentation (not even sure if that counts). Anyways, I prepared my speech, practiced, arrived at the meeting, and was greeted by the most receptive crowd…..a room full of moms, Aggie Moms to be more specific. I believe I could have stood up there and not said two words and they still would have clapped. Gotta love moms.

However, besides the typical adrenaline rush during the speech and the “feel good” emotion that follows a speech when you get a round of applause I came to the realization that I was no longer speaking for an award and telling people what they wanted to hear nor was it a script that someone else had prepared. I was telling these moms what they needed to hear and from firsthand experience.

The general theme of my speech was finding an internship and what I learned from it. However, I didn’t just jump into how great of an experience it was and how everyone should do an internship and how once you complete your internship that magically qualifies you as on your way to a “bright future”.

Instead I thought about who I would be speaking to, Moms, who whether they admit it or not think about their children away in college 24/7. So I began back at the first semester of college when I along with most other freshman thought that college just wasn’t for me, the struggle of adapting to a new “independently-dependent” lifestyle, and that I failed my first college test ever. I saw the nods the in the room from the “veteran” college moms and the face of relief from the “new-to-college” moms. I then progressed to talking about getting involved and how creating a network of peers is so valuable before diving into the actual internship. I wanted to stress how it is all a process and your child is not the only one that can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was there.

Then the fun part began. I was able to show that we all grow up, figure it out, and march towards building our future. It was the most rewarding feeling to have middle age women taking notes on what a twenty year old was saying. I shared the different avenues I went through when finding an internship and the value in doing an internship.  My goal was not to make moms stop worrying about their children, but to reassure them that it’s all a process and they are not the only ones feeling the stress when their kids go off to college. My second goal was to inspire these moms to inspire their children to step out of their comfort zone and take a proactive approach in making the most of their time in college and laying a solid foundation for their future. Judging by the nods in the room and feedback after the meeting I feel like I met these two goals.