Service, leadership and honor are values held highly in the Corps of Cadets. It aspires to keep tradition alive through the recruiting of young men and women striving for excellence and a sense of purpose standards cultivated at a young age by the Aggie Eagle Program.
This weekend, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets hosted its annual Aggie Eagle Program Weekend. The program, opened to Eagle Scouts and recipients of the Stars and Stripes Award and the Girl Scout Gold Award, is designed to give incoming students the chance to really experience what the Corps of Cadets has to offer.
Scouting and the Corps of Cadets share a lot of values and principles, said Assistant Director of Corps Recruiting Michael Hudson. Being dedicated to a program and investing in an important value system is something that the two organizations share.
The program is designed for about 100 perspective students who are Eagle Scouts, Gold Award winners for Girl Scouts and Stars and Stripes Award recipients. Hudson said that several factors are taken into account in the application process for the program and that selected students get a real insight into what the Corps is all about.
The Aggie Eagle Program is a two-day event that helps students and parents learn more about the campus, financial aid and Aggie and Corps traditions. Attendees of the program are given a total immersion into all that the Corps has to offer, including running through the Corps obstacle and leadership course. And to make things even more enjoyable, they are taken to a baseball or basketball game.
The Corps of Cadets and service and leadership programs such as Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the United States of America share various outlooks and standards when it comes to scouts and recruits. They work to create an atmosphere that shapes young boys and girls into men and women of leadership and virtue.
Kyle Forbes, sophomore biomedical sciences major spoke of how being an Eagle Scout helped him develop a true sense of service to others, a value that he has carried on into college.
I logged in over 250 hours completing my Eagle Scout project in South Dallas in one of the worst neighborhoods in the nation, Forbes said. I had 30 volunteers, donations from my community and friends, and remodeled a 109 year old church.
Selfless service is only one of the many positive virtues that are instilled into Scouts. Chris Spachholz, sophomore wildlife and fisheries major said that scouting really gave him a sense of direction in life and a goal oriented mindset.
Scouting has given me the ability to know what I want to do with my life, said Spachholz. It introduced me to the outdoors and gave me a love for protecting and preserving it. Also, being a Scout has taught me to stick with my goals.
The leadership, communication and professional skills that are learned by being a Scout will only be strengthened and tested further in the Corps of Cadets, according to Hudson.
I can personally say that the habits that are learned by young men in the Scouting program and the Corps of Cadets will go on to serve them well in the professional world and for all their life, Hudson said.