“Curtain up! Light the lights!” Except getting the actors on stage isn't always that easy, especially if your high school theater is a former gymnasium. Just ask Micah Scott ’13.

Independence—that two parts heady, one part terrifying feeling you get when you first realize you’re a college student and more or less on your own—can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Aishia Brown ’12 loves to talk. Meeting new people? Not a problem. Speaking in front of a crowd? Piece of cake. But the Arlington, TX, native with the confident air and sparkling smile wasn’t always a self-described social butterfly.

Tall, calm, and confident, Andrew Howerton ’12 is a man with a plan—as in, he knows exactly where he wants his life to go and makes sure every step moves him in that direction. Take his choice of university, for example.

It seemed logical at the time. Karina Ogunlana ’13 was really into chemistry during high school. Even math was a snap. So when her father, cytotechnologist Olakunle Ogunlana, suggested she enroll at Texas A&M as a chemical engineering major, the San Antonio, TX, native thought she had found the perfect fit.

If there’s no quit in Aggies, there’s a whole lot of Aggie in Deshae Lott ’94 ‘99.

It’s not as if Adelia Humme ’15 was completely clueless about Texas A&M and its traditions. She is, after all, a third-generation Aggie.

Bottom line, every high school student scoping out colleges looks for the right fit—the right fit, as in, the perfect mix of academics and campus culture, not to mention the biggest bang for the collegiate buck. National Merit scholar Eric Blackman ’13 found the fit he was looking for at Texas A&M.

It all started at the movies. Well, sort of. Paul Kelly III ’12 was in his first year of high school when his family decided to travel to Texas A&M to visit his cousin, Nicole Minicone ‘09. Like most visitors, the Kellys swung by Appelt Aggieland Visitor Center, where Paul caught the video that would change his life.

Industrial engineers are creative folks. They look at everything from facilities to people processes and come up with ways to make life easier on everyone by improving efficiency. That’s what drew Daniel Magallanes ’10 to the field in the first place: He relished the chance to tap his imagination for ways to make things better. See, creativity could have been Daniel’s middle name.