MUSTER
The Battalion I 4.21.15
4
Allison Bradshaw — THE BATTALION
Muster
hosts serve
as student
connection
for families
By Jennifer Reiley
ach year, families travel from across the
country to attend Aggie Muster to re-
L— member their loved ones. For those who
meet and assist those families, the Muster hosts,
the day becomes a unique experience.
About 120 students are selected in Febru
ary to act as Muster hosts, spreading awareness
about Muster and its symbolism in the days
leading up to April 21. Then, on the evening
of Muster they meet and speak with the fami
lies of those recognized. Thier motivations and
backgrounds vary, but they are united by their
desire to serve the institution of Aggie Muster.
Cory Rodriguez, Muster host and agricul
tural economics sophomore, said she grew up
in an Aggie family and was always interested
in Muster. She said she first attended a Mus
ter ceremony during her senior year of high
school, when she knew she would attend Texas
A&M. She described her first Muster, and each
since, as the closing of another chapter of her
Aggie experience.
“For the first time it felt like I wasn’t an out
sider looking in, but an insider looking out,”
Rodriguez said.
Amy Gray, one of this year’s Muster host co
ordinators and human resource development
junior, said the process of choosing hosts is not
easy.
“It varies year to year on what we look for,”
Gray said. “For us, it was, ‘Do they get it? Do
they get what Muster is about? Do they get
that it’s not about them, but it’s about these
families that they’re serving?’ Because these
families come a long way and it’s an opportu
nity to love on them and care for them.”
Rodriguez said the coordinators aim to
choose hosts that can easily interact with the
families and who can maintain an appropriate
and professional air, which can be difficult con
sidering the sensitive nature of Muster.
“It’s very intimidating to think that you’ll be
hosting a family who has just lost their loved
one,” Rodriguez said.
Once the 120 hosts are selected, they are
taken through a training process to prepare for
the experience. Gray said the training teaches
the hosts the mechanics of the day, so that the
hosts can better focus on the families when
they arrive.
“[The hosts] don’t have to worry about
where they’re going, what they have to do next
or what’s the next proper procedure,” Gray said.
“Hopefully by the time on Tuesday night that
they get their family, all of that is just habit or
second nature.”
Holly Rine, two-time Muster host and
communication junior, said she was surprised
to know hosts do not meet families until the
evening of the ceremony. The training prepares
the hosts to handle their brief time with the
families as best as possible.
Alexandra Gonzalez, former Muster host,
Traditions Council chairman and agricultural
economics senior, said the experience requires
a certain level of adaptability.
“It’s a very sensitive and emotionally trying
way of serving because it’s kind of luck of the
draw,” Gonzalez said. “But regardless, you’re
having an impact in some way, shape or form
on these families.”
Keller said he witnessed firsthand the varia
tions in families at Muster. His first year, he was
in charge of two families, one that was very
talkative and knowledgeable of A&M and one
that was not and remained quiet at the begin
ning of the ceremony.
“After the whole ceremony at Reed Are
na, I came back and got them to escort them
out, and the first family that was very talkative
didn’t talk at all, they just gave me a silent hug
and I showed them on their way,” Keller said.
“The second family was super talkative after
ward and were like, ‘Hey, if you ever need a
place to stay where we’re at, just give us a call.’
Just going on and on about how that was one
of the best experiences they’d ever had in terms
of kind of getting over the fact that that person
had passed away.”
For Keller, one of the defining moments of
his service as a Muster host was an experience
with a family to which he was not assigned. He
was part of A&M s Student Government Asso
ciation, which helped dedicate the Common’s
piano to Caleb Tate, Class of 2015. Tate was a
university studies major and was Company P-2
sergeant in the Corps of Cadets. He died in
October 2013.
Keller said he saw Tate’s family at the piano
dedication ceremony and again at Muster that
same evening.
“They were just so thankful for that event
in the morning, and I remember walking up
to them after Muster, going to get my family,”
Keller said. “The mom and dad just grabbed
me, and the dad just started sobbing uncontrol
lably and he just kept saying,‘Thank you.’”
All the hosts are students, which Keller said
shows the level of maturity A&M students have
to gain that trust from the families and the ad
ministration.
“It’s a unique thing that no other school can
really comprehend; I think it displays perfectly
the spirit we have at Texas A&M, and the kind
of family feeling that we have here, and the fact
that we do it every year,” Keller said.
For the hosts, their time serving during
Muster does not end after they graduate. Keller
said he is set to read the Roll Call of the Absent
at the hometown Muster he is attending this
year. The other hosts, current and former, also
expressed interest in remaining involved with
Muster, either through attendance or active
participation.
“I plan on attending every Muster for the
rest of my life,” Gonzalez said. “It’s my duty as
an Aggie.”
Muster: a brief history
June 26, 1883: Aggies first gathered together to
reminisce over their college days, the victories
and defeats experienced on the drill field and in
the classroom. Overtime, this gathering came
to be associated with April 21 — San Jacinto
Day, the celebration of Texas's independence
from Mexico.
April 21,1924: The first campus Muster was
held in Guion Hall in 1924. Today, campus
Muster is held in Reed Arena and is the largest
Muster worldwide, with an annual attendance of
around 12,000 students.
FILE
April 21, 1942: During World War II, Major
General George Moore, Class of 1908, held a
Muster of 25 Aggies during the Japanese siege
of Corregidor Island in the Philippines. They
honored the Aggies who had died, held a yell
practice and sang the Aggie War Hymn, all while
under enemy fire.
Compiled by Sam Scott
GUEST COLUMN
Muster: This is what it means to be an Aggie
ggie Muster is tonight. By now, hopefully you know
that — you’ve seen the posters, or the awareness tables
set up around campus, or seen a Muster-related post on
Facebook.This year. I’ve had the privilege of serving on the
Aggie Muster Committee as a Media Coordinator, along with
my partner, Jamie Bennett. Our year has been dedicated to
promoting this time-honored tradition so that as many students
as possible will fill up Reed Arena tonight. But no video, no
poster, no Facebook post can fully convey what this sacred
ceremony truly means.
Growing up in an admittedly crazy Aggie family, from a
young age I thought I had a grasp on what this “spirit that can
ne’er be told” was all about. I’m a third generation Aggie — my
grandfather was an Ag; my parents were Ags; a majority of my
aunts, uncles and cousins are Ags; and currently I and my two
brothers, Hunter and Heath, are enrolled here. My childhood
seasons followed a maroon clock — fall was filled with road
trips to College Station for football games, spring breaks fol
lowed the basketball team and summers were spent at Aggie
sports camps.You get the picture — we bled maroon. Or at
least I thought I did.
The biggest, most passionate and faithful Aggie I’ve ever
known was my mother, Sandy Heidtke. She was more proud
of this school than I felt was often necessary, and she loved this
school with an unmatched fervor. Her greatest passions were
three things: faith, family and Texas A&M University. I knew
she loved A&M — she made that very clear to everyone she
met, but growing up, I never fully grasped why.
In June 2012, my mother was diagnosed with stage IV mela
noma, and was told by doctors she had six months to live. My
mom was incredibly strong, and beat the hell outta that initial
prognosis by fighting for my family, fighting to bring glory to
the Lord and fighting to make it through two more Fightin’
Texas Aggie Football seasons.Throughout her battle, our whole
family was flooded with love and support from the Texas A&M
community all around the nation. As I saw so many people rally
around her, classmates she hadn’t seen in years, I began to get a
clearer picture of what it meant to be a part of this university.
In January of last year, my mom passed away. My twin and
I were high school seniors, but my older brother Heath was a
sophomore here at the time, and for that reason her name was
on the Campus Muster Roll Call last April. By that point, I
had been accepted and knew I was coming to A&M that fall.
I thought, from growing up in an Aggie-obsessed family, that I
knew what to expect out of the night of Muster. I thought it
would be a nice ceremony, a touching memorial.
But sitting in the arena with my brothers and my dad, sur
rounded by thousands, I for the first time felt the full depth of
what it really means to be an Aggie.The fact that Reed Arena
was completely packed, full of students who, chances are, did
not know the individuals behind the Roll Call names, took my
breath away and brought chills down my spine. But there they
were, supporting my family in what was our darkest time and
standing for all of the families and friends of those who had lost
a loved one.
As our Muster Committee Chair, Mari Quiros, said this year,
“More than anything, Muster is a celebration of a life lived, not
simply a life lost.” I felt the truth of those words as I sat in the
darkness of Reed Arena surrounded by the soft call of “here,”
echoing throughout the room, sure and steady. It was incred
ibly powerful, and something I will never forget. Despite the
fact that the reason we were there was because my wonderful
mom had passed just a few months before, my heart didn’t hurt
as much when I looked around in the dim candlelight and saw
what the Aggie family really is — and got a beautiful glimpse
into why my mother was so deeply in love with this university.
Muster is truly the epitome of what it means to be an Aggie.
It is not only our duty but our privilege to fill Reed Arena
and be there for the families of those Aggies who have gone
before. Every name on the Roll Call was someone just like you
The Heidtke family, including Sandy (center) and
Hannah (right).
and me, who walked on this campus and figured out this crazy
thing that is college, that is life. Every name is someone’s mom,
dad, sister, brother, grandparent and friend. Every name is a life
that touched others, a life that was loved. And one day down
the road, those names will be ours.
Aggie Muster is for everyone. It is honor, it is remembrance,
it is hope and it is a celebration. I know what it meant to my
family, and I know what it will mean to those who fill the floor
of Reed this Tuesday. “There’s a spirit can ne’er be told... ” and
it can’t be told — it has to be experienced. So come out and
experience it.This is what it means to be an Aggie. This is what
it means to answer “here.”
Hannah Heidtke is an English freshman who semes on the 2015
Muster Committee