At Texas A&M, congeniality rivals football as the ultimate passion—and the school is far more successful at it, too. That’s because kindness is rooted in the institution’s core principles. These are just some of the hallowed traditions that serve as a de facto guide to Aggie etiquette.
12th Man
With the Aggie football team decimated by injuries during a 1922 clash with the Praying Colonels of Centre College, coach Dana X. Bible called student E. King Gill out of the stands and asked him to suit up in case Bible couldn’t field 11 players. Today, Aggies celebrate Gill’s readiness to help by standing throughout games and hosting the annual Big Event, the nation’s largest single-day student-run service project.
Hissing
True Aggies would never dream of showering a nearsighted official with boos. That wouldn’t be polite. Instead, they “hiss”—an act inspired by the school’s century-old “Horse Laugh” yell, which originally ended with a mocking ha, ha, ha. The Aggie faithful eventually replaced that coda with a kinder display of criticism.
Enjoying this article?Howdy
A&M is arguably the only university with an official greeting: Howdy. No one is exactly sure how it became part of the vernacular, but starting at Fish Camp, a three-day freshman orientation, new students are encouraged to utter the salutation to everyone they pass on campus. This is especially true of
visitors—even if they’re wearing that ugly burnt orange.
Aggie Bonfire
A&M’s most famous tradition, the Aggie Bonfire, required harvesting thousands of trees in total. In 1991, the school began sowing what it reaped through Replant, a student-run program that restored Bryan-College Station’s landscape with fresh saplings. Bonfire ended after a deadly collapse in 1999, but Replant has grown beyond Aggieland: Its volunteers helped repopulate Bastrop State Park following forest fires in 2011 and the Blanco River after historic floods in 2015.
Aggie War Hymn
During the singing of the school’s fight song, “War Hymn,” Aggies wrap their arms around the shoulders of their neighbors—whether they know them or not. They then start swaying in unison. The gesture, halfway to a hug, is a physical link that underscores that all are welcome in Aggieland.
