In the spirit of unifying all Aggies, Class Councils will be accepting T-shirt design submissions for next year’s Maroon Out game from both current students and former students for the first time.
With Maroon Out being an event for Aggies of all ages, Emily Canales, marketing director of Maroon Out, said T-shirt design submissions are the largest way for individuals to contribute.
“The purpose of doing the T-shirt design contest is to get the student body as well as Ag community’s input on exactly what they want for Maroon Out this year,” Canales said.
Canales said the Maroon Out tradition means more than just a T-shirt – it’s about unifying Aggies.
Canales said changes in the Maroon Out design contest are not at the expense of this primary purpose.
“It’s one of the most unifying traditions on campus, uniting both the present student as well as the former students,” Canales said. “It’s really one of the most powerfully policy led student traditions on campus, if not the most unifying tradition. I’m an advocate for change, as long as we stick to true tradition.”
Another first for Maroon Out is this year’s partnership with Aggieland Outfitters.
Dallas Shipp, Aggieland Outfitters director of marketing and communications, said the company is grateful for the opportunity to work with students who are passionate about tradition.
“I know how passionate the kids are to be a part of this and we want to support students who do a lot to enhance the atmosphere of Kyle Field Saturdays,” Shipp said. “The other thing that’s very rewarding to us is the students have done all their own marketing, and they’ll still be doing that, but we can done all their own marketing, and they’ll still be doing that, but we can give them more perspective from the retail side and give them a lot of real world experience.”
In echoing Canales’ argument, Shipp said Aggieland Outfitters hopes to help inspire the idea that Maroon Out extends beyond one game.
“For the general student body, the biggest thing that we’ve talked to the student leaders about is not focusing on Maroon Out being about one game,” Shipp said. “The focus the students really want to make this year is not make it about one T-shirt for one football game. We want Maroon Out to be more about representing when you wear maroon. Wherever you are, that we just Maroon Out every day.”
For some students like Matthew Lindblade, senior mechanical engineer, this everyday awareness of the meaning behind Maroon Out extends throughout the years.
“Tradition is what brings us together as an Aggie community,” Lindblade said. “We come together like a family, especially during football season. Maroon Out games have been some of my favorite memories in my time at A&M.”
Submissions should be sent to maroonout.tamu.edu and will close at 5 p.m. March 31.