As 7,700 College Station Aggies prepare to walk the stage this week, A&M faculty and staff are busy preparing for the eight local graduation ceremonies, and seniors are reminiscing about their time in Aggieland. 
Texas A&M University will see 8,700 Aggies graduate across the professional and undergraduate campuses, said Lane Stephenson, director of marketing and communications. 
With the increased enrollment in the Dwight College of Engineering, an extra day of graduation ceremonies was added this semester, dividing the College of Engineering into two days and separating undergraduate and graduate ceremonies. 
Due to the extra day of graduation ceremonies, with 16 total ceremonies across the campuses, there will not be a commencement speaker this year, Stephenson said. Instead, comments will be made by university officials. 
Shannon Smith, English senior, said she hopes her commencement will allow her to think of her time at A&M in a unique way. 
“I hope that commencement will give me an opportunity to reflect on my time here and to celebrate all of the memories I have made and the people I have shared them with,” Smith said
For some students, like meteorology senior Coryn Collins, the fact that graduation is upon her is difficult to grasp.
“Graduating in a week hasn’t really hit me hard yet,” Collins said. “However, it’s hard to swallow the fact that in under a week, a lot of my closest friends-turned-family won’t be in the same city with me anymore, and that just sucks. I will miss this amazing university and all it has done for me.” 
The feeling of graduating is surreal, said Armando Loera, health senior. Lorea said he is a bit sad to walk the stage, but mainly excited to be graduating. 
“It didn’t actually hit me until I picked up my cap and gown,” Loera said. “The four years in Aggieland went by too fast, but I am grateful for all the friends and memories that I made here.”
Annabelle Hutchinson, political science senior, said her time at A&M has been filled with many great memories and she feels reflective now at the end of her college term. Hutchinson said one of her favorite Aggie memories was the Alabama football game in 2012.   
“I was watching the game with a big group of friends at an apartment complex, and when we intercepted the ball in the fourth and won the game, the whole apartment complex was rocking,” Hutchinson said. “Immediately after the clock wound down, you could hear people yelling, honking cars in the street and it was hilarious when all of my friends and at least 40 other people in the apartment complex decided to jump in the pool with all their clothes on to celebrate.” 
As she prepares to enter law school, Smith said her advice to incoming Texas A&M freshmen is to get as involved on campus as possible.  
“All of my best experiences at A&M were made possible by the fact that I put myself out there and tried something new,” Smith said. “So if you are even contemplating joining an organization, apply.” 
Brandon Clingman, telecommunication media studies senior, said A&M is an easy place to get involved and he encouraged incoming students to take every chance they could to make lasting college memories.
“Being cool is overrated,” Clingman said. “Be yourself, have fun and don’t waste your time trying to impress people. There’s such an ease in getting involved at A&M. When they say there’s something for everyone, they mean it.” 
Collins said now that she is graduating, her advice is to take college slow and not try to rush through it. 
“College is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Collins said. “A lot of entering freshmen, including myself, pile on the hours with extremely challenging classes their first semester which ends up hurting them. It’s important to get used to college and develop a great friend base too.”