GALLERY: Largest Aggieland Saturday To Date Brings Record Visitors To Campus

Texas A&M University’s annual open house, Aggieland Saturday, drew its largest crowd to date over the weekend with 20,022 prospective students and their family members, and over 30 school groups registered for the event.

The event  — spread across A&M’s 5,200-acre campus — featured a wide variety of activities and experiences for everyone. For the first time this year, the university’s new Office for Youth Engagement offered programming especially for 7-10th graders. Every college and school across the university participated, providing hundreds of different demonstrations and performances to give visitors a taste of what college life is like at the nation’s largest university.

Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks was on hand Saturday to welcome prospective students coming through on walking tours. She also met with community groups and families during the event.

“Aggieland Saturday is our biggest on-campus recruitment event each year, giving prospective students a sneak peek at what Texas A&M has to offer,” said Susan Ballabina, chief external affairs officer and senior vice president for academic and strategic collaborations. “With this year’s event offering programming to younger students from 7th to 10th grade, it was especially rewarding to watch students of all ages fall in love with Texas A&M.”

Some notable activities included: Explosive Physics Teaching with Professor Tatiana Erukhimova; demonstrations of the use of drones in agriculture; the Geology and Geophysics Dinosaur World Walkthrough; Aggie Pullers Tractor Team; and Corps of Cadets performances and visits with Reveille. Aggie Park stage performances included the Aggie Wranglers, Century Singers, Maroon Steel Band, Women’s Chorus and Fade to Black Dance Ensemble.

“The thing I liked most about Aggieland Saturday was how the whole campus was open, nothing was off limits,” said Nicola Kallenbach, a high school junior from Austin who came to event with her parents. “I got to see the inside of classrooms and labs, different types of residence halls, dining halls and the Memorial Student Center. I also met and talked with many of the students, which I wouldn’t have been able to do on a regular campus tour.”

Kallenbach, who is interested in engineering, said she was pleased with information sessions that were specific to engineering majors. “I have been interested in biomedical engineering for many years as I have an uncle who lost his arms in a farming accident,” Kallenbach said. “It’s because of him that I would like to work in prosthetics.

“I came into the day unsure whether biomedical or mechanical engineering would be a better choice for me. I attended information sessions for both majors, which helped me understand the differences in the programs.”

She said attending Aggieland Saturday opened her eyes to all A&M has to offer. “I’m not a Texas native and didn’t have a lot of prior exposure to Texas A&M,” she said. “After visiting Aggieland Saturday and seeing all the facilities and meeting all the different people, I have a whole new appreciation for Texas A&M. It would be an amazing opportunity to attend a top-10 engineering program that also has a friendly and welcoming environment.”