This Valentine’s Day weekend, the Texas A&M campus can expect to see around 12,000 prospective students and parents gathered for the largest open house event of the year.
Serving as a way for students to learn more about campus and the A&M culture, director of Visitor Experience Kelli Hollinger said the annual Aggieland Saturday open house, hosted this year on Feb. 12, welcomes prospective students to explore and gather information regarding their future college experience.
“[Students can expect] a high-energy day that excites them about all things [A&M] to really get a feel of student life by viewing dorms, connecting with student organizations, interacting with resources for student success and touring in many academic colleges and departments,” Hollinger said. “We want to welcome the public to learn about academic excellence, traditions and a vibrant community on campus.”
For a chance to travel around campus, tour director and accounting junior Kaitlyn Grigsby said the Visitor Center worked to create a new route showcasing campus classics with new stops along the way.
“We’re keeping the classics because everyone needs to go to Academic Plaza and learn all about our traditions,” Grigsby said. “[A new stop that] I’m really excited about is in front of the Matthew Gaines statue to show his legacy in just a tiny way to literally thousands of people this Saturday and also talk about student services and things that may not be highlighted as much in the other events throughout the day.”
As a way to highlight the growth on campus, Hollinger said many of the presentations featured will be at newly constructed areas such as the Innovative Learning Classroom Building, or ILCB.
“We are thrilled to showcase the beautiful new [ILCB] that will be a hub for many of our academic presentations,” Hollinger said. “The Department of Multicultural Services and the Math Learning Center are also showcasing their new facilities.”
According to the event flyer, Aggieland Saturday will cover topics including admissions, on-campus housing, student resources and will feature organizations and colleges throughout campus.
“Representatives from Texas A&M University colleges and departments will be available to discuss the opportunities and activities available for you to participate in as a student at Texas A&M University,” the flyer reads. “Come visit with the colleges and departments to learn about programs and how you can get involved in activities both inside and outside of the classroom.”
With hundreds of activities and presentations, Hollinger said the event is not possible without the team of individuals leading the charge.
“We are blessed to work with dozens, if not hundreds, of campus partners to make this open house event a great success,” Hollinger said. “It’s really a collaborative effort across units and colleges of staff, faculty and students who care about the campus community and giving up time on their weekends to welcome thousands of prospective visitors.”
For prospective students who may still be interested in the event, but have not signed up, Hollinger said students can sign up through Friday, Feb. 11 online.
“[Students] can download [the] guidebook to ensure that they have their personalized schedule accessible on the go during the day and can receive push notifications from the university that give them tips for navigating the day or updates regarding any changes to the schedule,” Hollinger said.
With many visitors on campus, Grigsby said she encourages current students to make visitors feel welcome by greeting them and helping them navigate campus.
“[Prospective students] need to get a glimpse of the actual campus community,” Grigsby said. “Like keeping that word ‘Howdy’ around, at least for me, that’s a huge part of my story. I would visit a lot of these random campuses and I would say, ‘Hi,’ [but] I may or may not get a warm and friendly ‘Hi’ back. But at A&M, I felt bombarded by just the hospitality of this campus.”
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of guests coming to campus for Aggieland Saturday. This has since been updated to reflect acurate numbers.