It's That Family Feeling

Meredith Pinto ’07 had gone to every Silver Taps since she was a freshman, but the one held in February of her sophomore year had a completely different feel to it.  This time it was a lot more personal.  She had lost a friend to an accident just a few weeks earlier, and she and many of his other friends had arrived at the Academic Plaza early that night to remember him.  The rest is best told in her own words.

“As the minutes went by, more and more people came to silently stand next to us, until the entire Academic Plaza was filled.  As we stood there, Ryan’s family walked up and stood close together, looking at the faces around them.  I knew many of the people standing next to us didn’t know Ryan or me or any of the family members we enclosed.  Yet they were there, silently supporting us, upholding us and showing us that they cared about the Aggie Family.  That was the moment I realized how special this campus was, the moment I knew that the Aggie Family isn’t something that’s just talked about.  It is real, and it is powerful.”

And that, says Meredith, is what makes the Texas A&M experience one of a kind.

“The Aggie Family is unique to this school,” she says.  “It unites us in common bonds of love and friendship.  It holds us to high standards and does not allow us to fall.”

The Ties That Bind
Here at A&M, the bonds between students (current and former), faculty and staff have always been close and strong.  Those bonds can be traced to Aggieland’s earliest days when students, professors and even the University president shared quarters and hardships in the rangeland-middle of nowhere, seven miles from the nearest settlement.  The family ties haven’t weakened any in the 187 years since.

Meredith Pinto’s experience is a case in point.  Thanks to Fish Camp, she arrived on campus with a group of new friends and a healthy desire to get involved.  She jumped into the Aggie Family feet first, joining Freshmen Leaders in Progress (FLiP), then Change and Maggies, eventually winding up as a 2006 Fish Camp Co-Chair and 2007 Fish Camp Director of Development.

“Throughout,” she says, “I had the opportunity to find my niche and my best friends.  I built relationships and was able to lead, serve and impact other University leaders.”  So, in addition to getting to know her fellow Aggies through participation in various student organizations, she acquired valuable skills, abilities that would enable her to excel after graduation and to teach others to do likewise.  She also says she learned more about herself.

Of course, Meredith’s Aggie Family is an extended one, going way beyond her circle of friends and fellow student leaders.  There was Dr. Dale Pracht, the former Assistant Director of the Career Center, for example.  As Co-Chairs of Fish Camp Pracht, she and her partner enjoyed weekly lunches with the camp namesake, “picking his brain for advice about what we should do in our lives.  However, as I look back on it, I realize Dr. Pracht wasn’t just giving us advice, he was helping to mold us into the people we are today.  Through this interaction with a staff member, I not only gained a mentor and a friend, I learned that staff members really do care about students.  Every day, they put their hearts and souls into improving and impacting students’ lives.”

Biology professor Dr. Ginger Carney was another influential member of Meredith’s Aggie Family.  During the two and a half years Meredith worked in Dr. Carney’s research lab, a relationship was built.  The professor not only showed her student how to put into practice many of the techniques she learned in the classroom, she also took an interest in Meredith’s life and shared her excitement about future possibilities.  Meredith, on the other hand, drew Dr. Carney into the Aggie Family by helping her understand campus traditions, as well as the Aggie Spirit.

Enduring Spirit
The way Meredith sees it, the spirit is the glue that holds the Aggie Family together.  As Development Director for Fish Camp, she had ample opportunity to meet former students and talk with them about their time here.  And while she found the differences between A&M then and now fascinating, it was the former students’ spirit that impressed her most.

“They all still have the Spirit of Aggieland in their hearts, the same one I have in mine. When you meet a fellow Aggie, no matter how different the two of you are, you have one thing in common:  that spirit.”

Finally, we asked Meredith Pinto what one fact about Texas A&M she would share with a potential freshman.  Here’s what she said: “When I contemplated coming to A&M, I knew there was something special on this campus, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was.  Once I actually became a student and got involved, I realized there are traditions and a spirit here that are unique; they can’t be found anywhere else.  Once you meet people and find your niche on campus, you’ll learn that even a school with 46,000 students can be a small and welcoming place.”

Meredith Pinto ’07 is from Spring Branch, TX.  She majored in biology and is currently serving in Tanzania with the Peace Corps.

If you would like to know more about Silver Taps, please visit http://studentlife.tamu.edu/studentwelfare/silvertaps.html.  Information on Fish Camp is available at http://fishcamp.tamu.edu/.

Contributed by:
Kathy DiSanto, Communications Specialist
Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs