After a nearly eight-year process of planning, deliberation and construction, a statue of Aggieland’s queen has finally been installed in front of Kyle Field.
The statue, placed in front of the gravesite of the past Reveilles, was commissioned by a group of former students and their families. Neal Adams, Class of 1968, and Sonja Adams led the process. Neal said the purpose of the statue was to honor both the current and former Reveilles and display their likeness to Kyle Field visitors.
“This lady, those gals, need to be represented,” Neal said. “Now, everybody’s gonna come by here and know what’s buried there is here.”
While two artists, Jimm Scannell and Dawn Agnew-Mundell, were tasked with building the statue, Agnew-Mundell said the design of the Reveille statue was a collaborative process, with artists tailoring the statue’s appearance to the feedback of alumni, donors and administration.
“I think we had about thirty versions, until we finally landed on this one,” Agnew-Mundell said.
The statue, Scannell said, is not supposed to represent a particular Reveille, but is supposed to be a depiction of all Reveilles throughout Texas A&M’s history.
“It’s not supposed to be any specific Rev,” Scannell said. “We based it off a wide range of collies.”
The Reveille statue was supported financially by the A&M Foundation. Tyson Voelkel, president of the foundation, said the foundation promoted a wide variety of programs across A&M.
“We’ve got 17,000 scholarships [and] 500 faculty on fellowship,” Tyson said. “We build a brighter future for the university.”
Eliana Voelkel, Tyson’s daughter and the youngest donor to the Reveille statue, said Reveille is more to her than just a mascot. Eliana, sixteen, first involved herself with the Reveille statue project at age eleven.
“I love her,” Eliana said. “Reveille’s just like a friend to me. I feel like everyone has a connection with her. I don’t know how to explain it.”
The statue’s unveiling was attended by Reveille IX and X. Reveille IX’s handler, Caroline Sauter, a civil engineering senior, said the queen and her predecessor are close companions.
“They’re best friends,” Sauter said.
Student Body President Case Harris said he believes the Reveille statue will be a bright spot in students’ days as they walk past it.
“It means the world,” Harris said. “Reveille just brightens students’ day any time they see her, and now we have a statue, so students can walk by any time and remember all the great memories they had with her.”
