Silver Taps Will Honor Six Students Tuesday
The first Silver Taps ceremony for the new school year at Texas A&M University will be held Tuesday (Sept. 8) at 10:30 p.m. in the plaza area in front of the Academic Building.
Silver Taps will be held in memory of six Texas A&M students who have died since late spring, when the last such observance was held. Silver Taps ceremonies are not conducted during the summer when most Aggies are away from campus.
The ceremony, one of the university’s most solemn traditions, will honor the memories of Michael Sterling Sanders, senior electronics systems engineering technology major from College Station, who died April 22; Juan Carlos Robles-Emmanueli, a graduate student in biomedical sciences from College Station, who died April 29; Matthew Edward Mondragon, a sophomore political science major from San Antonio, who died May 2; Alexis Antoinette Emmou, a senior communications major from Killeen, who died May 3; Corinthia Nicole “Nikki” Cunningham-Williams, a junior university studies major from Brookshire, who died May 3; and Keith “Keo” Anthony Neshyba Jr., a junior environmental studies major from Katy, who died June 24.
The first Silver Taps was held in 1898 upon the death of the university’s president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, and it has changed little from that time.
On the day of the ceremony, all campus flags are flown at half-staff and a list of the names of those to be remembered is posted at the base of the flagpole in the Academic Plaza. Additionally, individuals are encouraged to write a short letter or note to the families of those being honored and place the notes in boxes located at the Academic Plaza, West Campus Library, as well as at the tables on the Quad and in front of Koldus. The family of each student to be honored is notified of the ceremony and sent a floral arrangement by university officials.
In honor of these students, the campus will be darkened at 10:20 p.m. In the darkness, students, family and friends will silently gather in the plaza in front of the Academic Building. At 10:30 p.m., an honor guard from the Ross Volunteer Company will march across campus from the Corps of Cadets area to the plaza, where its members will fire three rifle volleys to honor the memory of these students. Buglers from the Aggie Band, unseen in the darkness, will play a special arrangement of “Taps.” The tolling of the Albritton Tower bells will signal the end of the ceremony.
Free parking in the University Center Garage will be available between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. For more information, go http://transport.tamu.edu/Parking/events/annual.aspx.
In the case of severe weather, Silver Taps will be held in an alternate location.
For more information, go to http://studentaffairs.tamu.edu/sas/silvertaps or contact Student Assistance Services at (979) 845-3113.
