In honor of 100 years of service in Aggieland, the Texas A&M Women’s Club will celebrate its anniversary with a gala on Friday.
The A&M Women’s Club is a faculty- and community-based organization seeking to unite Aggie women with a foundation and friendships to last a lifetime. From 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, the Women’s Club will commemorate its 100th Birthday Celebration at the Thomas G. Hildebrand Equine Complex with special performances from the A&M Women’s Chorus and Lil’ Wranglers dance group, while raising funds for the Endowed Opportunity Award Scholarship.
Denise Parker, scholarships committee chair and co-chair of the anniversary committee, said this Friday’s festivities will bring friends together for a night of fun and fundraising.
“We’re anxious,” said Parker, Class of 1977. “We’re ready to celebrate 100 years, and we are looking forward to seeing old friends who may have moved away from the area, but they’ll come back and celebrate with us as well. We’ll also be bringing some entertainment to our members and recognizing some of our scholarship recipients.”
The night of, the club will attempt to raise $8,000 more to fund the next wave of recipients of the Endowed Opportunity Award Scholarship. The $25,000 scholarship is funded by the Women’s Club, managed by the Texas A&M Foundation and awarded to five high school students in the Bryan-College station community.
Across a century of social volunteering, interest groups and community involvement, Parker said the Women’s Club has maintained as much interest in helping B-CS as it has in its members.
“I believe that we just bring a camaraderie to any Aggie,” Parker said. “If they’re in our organization, on campus or worldwide, becoming their friend being and their support person as needed is just bringing the core values of an Aggie to the community. Our club is in-depth with those relationships, and we create good friends.”
As the club looks back on its years of A&M Women service, Parker said she is looking forward to what the next 100 years has in store.
“We want to bring more women into the fold from the Aggie community,” Parker said. “We all get busy in our careers and our family life, and yet there’s a lot of women associated with Texas A&M who would like to have a group of friends that they can count on. We would like to bring them into our group with support and help.”
Club Program Coordinator Sangita Sunkari said she is proud to be celebrating a century of women who helped other Aggies find their new home, just like her.
“I’m from India, and now it’s about 19 years for me in the U.S.,” Sunkari said. “When I was very new here, I was working at the university and I was still very shy, especially coming from India and having a different accent. It was hard for me to fit in even though I was working, so I can only imagine how hard it must be for many of the women who are not working but stay at home and take care of kids and housework.”
Sukari said she will always be grateful toward the Women’s Club for shaping her into the friend and mentor she is today.
“I did not know about the club until much later, but when I did find the club, it was like a different world out there,” Sunkari said. “I got to meet all of these different people, and many of them were working at A&M and some of them were not. … I owe it to the club for making me come out of my shell and enjoying the new experiences in the Bryan-College Station area.”
Admission to the A&M Women’s Club Birthday Celebration is open to public. Tickets can be purchased through the club’s Facebook page at $35 for a single attendee and $60 for a couple.