Boys And Girls Clubs Receive Pennies From Sul Ross Statue

“Sully,” as the statue in the academic plaza is called, has become part of a tradition where students place pennies at the feet of the statue, hoping for good luck on exams.

This tradition stems from the story of when Governor Ross was president of A&M. He was always willing to help students with anything, even tutoring for class. When the students offered to pay him, all he would accept was a penny.

“Even when he was president, students would just walk up to him and give him a penny because it supposedly gave them good luck,” said Andrew Wipke, a junior English major.

Every weekend, the pennies are collected by the Texas A&M chapter of Circle K International, an international community service and leadership development organization. The traditions council, a committee in the student government, must go through legislation to appoint other organizations that would like to take part in collecting and donating the pennies.

“The pennies on Sully are only allowed to be collected on the weekends. Circle K collects the money and then it is donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs [of America],” said Logan Nichols, a senior agricultural economics and campus relations sub-chairman on the traditions council.

He explained the traditions council does not physically collect the pennies, but they submit reports to the student government about the amount of money. Student organizations can inquire about collecting the money, but it has to go through the senate and they have to pass a bill to allow them to collect the money.

“Basically, every year we look at the committees or student organizations and reapprove or nominate someone else,” said Cody Vasut, a management graduate student and the speaker of the student senate. “Right now the student government has designated Circle K International, a service organization, to donate the money to charities such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, but sometimes they switch it up from year to year.”

As long as students continue to put pennies at the feet of Sully, they will be donated to charities or organizations in need.

“I have actually wondered what they did with all those pennies. I had no idea the pennies were actually used to benefit something, but I think it is really cool that they go to a charity and are used to help out someone who needs it,” said Laura Guerra, a sophomore animal science major.