From The First, The Halling Triplets Knew They Wanted To Be Aggies

Aaron, Lilliebeth and Pollyanna Halling tend to do things together. They were born together, grew up together and are attending Texas A&M University together. They also decided to join the Corps of Cadets together and become members of the Aggie Band. Being triplets, it just seemed natural to the three freshmen from Kingwood.

They came to Texas A&M in a roundabout way, having started their college careers as cadets at the university’s branch campus in Galveston — Texas A&M University at Galveston. They say it was a good place to get their first taste of college before moving to Aggieland.

Though academically sophomores, they are now settling into their second semester as freshmen – “fish” – in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.

Pollyanna and her siblings say they believe joining the Corps of Cadets is the best way to experience being an Aggie.

“The leadership, discipline, tradition, dedication and camaraderie are all things I want to take out of the corps and apply to my life forever,” she says.

“I feel the only way to fully gain the most of my time at A&M is to be a member of the Corps of Cadets,” Lilliebeth adds.

Before coming to Texas A&M and joining the Corps of Cadets and the Aggie band, the triplets say the thing they most looked forward to doing was marching with the band at Kyle Field. That experience, along with being a part of the Aggie family and the camaraderie of the corps, has been everything the Hallings hoped it would be.

Aaron says being a triplet is incredible, and he adds that he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. “It is awesome constantly being with two other people the same age because you always understand each other and even have inside jokes. We are there to make each other laugh and relate to anything that happens to us.”

His sisters agree, and Lilliebeth adds that she feels blessed beyond measure to have her best friends right by her side.

“I know I can go to them for anything, and they’ll be there to encourage me and keep me strong. We keep each other going, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this step in my life with my very best friends.”

The triplets are the first in their family to attend Texas A&M and they say their parents support them in that decision and have now become die-hard Aggies.

They say being triplets has taught them patience, dependability and endurance – all things that have served them well as members of the corps.

“We do everything together, and you rarely see only one of us. People joke all the time how we are ‘Siamese Triplets’ because they claim they never see one of us without another,” adds Lilliebeth. “Not once have I ever wished to be a ‘normal’ kid.”

The three say it has prepared them for being a part of the Aggie family because they have their support group right beside them. They say they had heard about the corps and Texas A&M from different people but did not really know what it was like until they were invited to the Aggie Eagle Program.

“I was not exactly sure what to think,” Aaron adds. “When I arrived, my eyes were fully opened at how amazing Texas A&M and the Corps of Cadets really are. I found my dream school and fell in love with Aggieland.”

The Hallings say one thing that helped them adjust to life at Texas A&M was attending the New Student Conference before their first semester of school began. This helped show them where different buildings were located on campus, connected them and other new students with the many different resources that Texas A&M offers to help students succeed and helped make them feel they were a part of the school.

The three say that as they begin their second semester at Texas A&M, they still feel a thrill to be able to step off with the Corps of Cadets in the Quad and to form up at the north end of Kyle Field as a member of the nationally famous, Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band.

More than that, they are excited about being part of a university where they are learning such attributes as structure, leadership and discipline – at a place that values excellence, loyalty and selfless service that will carry through to their future.