The Battalion — April 14, 2024

Muster Re ections Display held ahead of ceremony

Families share photos, items from honorees for visitor viewing

By Hilani Quinones @hilaniq

Until April 21, visitors can view personal memorabilia from fallen Aggies who will be honored at the 2024 Muster Ceremony.

The Aggie Muster Committee helps coordinate the annual display. Health senior Hope Sims, a member of Aggie Muster’s Roll Call and Families subcommittee, said the display helps the student body and visitors put a face to a name on the Muster Roll Call.

“A really beautiful opportunity this [display] gives us is to know

them and appreciate the stories behind these people,” Sims said. “One of the beautiful parts about Muster is you say ‘Here’ to people you know and people you don’t know.”

Economics senior Wesley Hillis, also a member of the subcommittee, said students can learn about Aggies dating from the Class of 1950 to the Class of 2026.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re old or young,” Hillis said. “It’s just that you’re part of the Aggie family, and we need to remember every Aggie that we can.”

Sims said the display provides families the opportunity to choose how they’re going to portray their loved ones, selecting items that are meaningful to them.

“The displays here have things like their favorite candies, books and jewelry,” Sims said. “Things

that make just the little things about each person.”

Hillis said items on the display also include personal touches like recipes, free bottles of Tabasco sauce or pictures of tattoos.

“These [items] show that everyone has a story to tell,” Hillis said. “We help them have their stories told. All of [the honorees] have their unique stories, and how they express that is different.”

Hillis said the display allows students to look behind and know from the beginning there has always been an Aggie family and always will be.

Political science junior Henry Pearson, subcommittee member, is honoring his grandfather Erik Clark Miller, a Class of 1969 petroleum engineer, this year at the display. Pearson said the display showcases a lot of items that defined him.

“He has his old textbooks from electrical engineering, geology, petroleum engineering with differential equations and well samples from wells in Mississippi,” Pearson said. “... and pictures of him along with myself and my family, his Corps cover and Silly String.” Pearson said it was powerful for his mother to set up her father’s display items. She talked about the significance of his items to him and his brother, who helped her set them up.

“For her to set things up and give a little story and background to me and my brother who maybe we forgot about was really powerful,” Pearson said. “This display showcases how much families loved their loved one and you feel that firsthand when you’re setting up.”

Graduate Emily Hendrix said

she’s visited the display every year since being a freshman, and Muster is her favorite Aggie tradition.

“Coming here and getting to know a little bit about people getting honored is something that I’ve always really enjoyed, so getting to do it again is really special,” Hendrix said. “To A&M you’re more than just a number here, and Muster is a reminder you’re a part of something bigger than yourself and A&M has your back.”

Rangeland wildlife and fisheries management senior Allison Blahitka said Muster is her favorite tradition because it makes Aggies feel important.

“There’s so many kids at this school, but then when you come here it’s like everybody is recognized,” Blahitka said.

A Q&A with 2024 Muster speaker Timothy Green, talks history, experiences, preparation for upcoming weekend memorial

Maj. Gen. Timothy Green

Director of George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex

Class of 1986 and 1992, civil engineering

Green was a part of the Corps of Cadets and Aggie Band during his time at A&M.

He graduated in 1986 as a rst-generation Aggie with a degree in civil engineering. Since returning to Aggieland in 2022 to serve as director of the George H.W Bush Combat Developmental Complex, Green said he has never felt more connected to A&M than as the Muster speaker. Green attended all four campus Musters in undergrad and continued attending Musters worldwide. He said his time at A&M was pivotal to his development as a person and he wouldn’t change it for the world.

Why did you choose A&M?

I chose A&M because of the great engineering program and the opportunity to challenge myself. After serving 31 years in the military, I came to work at Texas A&M’s Engineer Experiment Station in 2019. Coming back gave me the opportunity to share my experiences and knowledge with younger generations.

Q: A:

What is your favorite part of Muster?

Muster is di erent in that it’s all Aggies, everywhere. Current and former students, same day, all over the world, we all re ect on our time at A&M and remember the value of each individual. The rst three times I answered “Here” for someone is important to me.

Q: A:

How has Muster changed since you were a student?

is a very di erent experience after graduating. It’s all former students. It’s remembering our friends and reconnecting. But you already know what being an Aggie is about — it’s more about reinforcing those values.

Q: A:

What has the process been for coming up with your speech?

It’s been a lot of re ection. It’s a lot of memories. Asking myself to condense what A&M means into a set of remarks is impossible. Figuring out what to pick, I asked myself, ‘How do I connect with current students?’ I never forgot, but I’m just reminded how important A&M was to my development.”

Robert O’Brien — THE BATTALION

Candleholders at last year’s Muster at Reed Arena on Friday, April 21, 2023.

Former students celebrate tradition across the globe

By Sydnei Miles @Sydnei_M04

Spanning from rural towns to busy cities, Aggie Muster reaches former students far and wide.

Muster ceremonies are held on April 21 in over 300 locations — domestically and internationally. On the same day every year, no matter the place, Aggies around the world gather together for one purpose.

Srinivas Praveen Mokkapati, Class of 2006 and Muster chair for the India A&M Club, organizes Muster for the Hyderabad region. He said his motivation to become more involved with the tradition grew upon graduating.

to our house … So we’re hosting it in Florence, it’s central for us.”

All Musters are held with the same purpose: to honor Aggies that passed in the last year. However, Price said the traditional campus Muster is di erent from others around the world.

Commemorating Aggies worldwide

ably just Bangalore doing it, but now, because of the city-speci c groups that have formed, there is a lot of coordination that’s possible.”

“I returned back home to India right after graduation,” Mokkapati said. “I didn’t spend time living in the States working anywhere over there … I used to constantly look back at the memories back in Aggieland. Of course, football was one big thing, a strong reason for me to stay connected, but I think when you are away, you start to realize the value of some of these traditions from A&M — the Silver Taps, Muster and [a] bunch of other traditions that are so native to A&M — that [you] sort of look back when you’re away from campus.”

“The one in College Station is a little more formal and proper, and rightfully so,” Price said. “It’s more about the event and honoring the loved ones that have gone on and the students, et cetera … The Italy Muster, or the London Muster, or the one in Los Angeles, … there, you’re probably going to a restaurant, maybe a hotel, a bar or someone’s house. It can be on the beach, a lake house, backyard — doesn’t matter. You’re getting together and you’re sharing your time in College Station.”

John Warren, Class of 1986 and president of the Richmond A&M Club, serves as the Muster chair and organizes two Musters each year: one in Richmond, Virginia and another in Charlottesville, Virginia. For him, guring out how to approach Muster was a learning experience.

Warren organized his rst Muster in Richmond on the same night as an A&M baseball game and planned to celebrate game night as well. Afterwards, he worried the event didn’t re ect the “seriousness and somber nature of Muster.”

Coordinating Muster around the world can vary from place to place. Ryan Price, Class of 1991 and president of the Italy A&M club, said organizing Muster in Italy has not come without its challenges.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Italy, but trying to nd a location that can house 20, 30, 40, 50 people [is] not an easy task,” Price said. “Most of the restaurants and things are pretty small. We would host it at our home, but our home is in the country, and it would take a lot of work for people to try to get

“I reached out to our contact at the Association,” Warren said. “I said, ‘Hey, this is my idea. Am I on the right track?’ And he said, ‘John, all that matters is that Aggies get together. The rest is all noise’ … That drove home to me the importance of Muster. Yes, we want to read the roll call for the absent … but at the end of the day, if we can get Aggies together, we’ve done our job.”

The Aggie Spirit has spread signi cantly, especially in India, Mokkapati said.

“I think we have come to a stage where every city does this Muster,” Mokkapati said. “It just happens organically now, much unlike in the past. Now, it’s institutionalized. In the past, it was prob-

Organizing Muster overseas has impacted more individuals beyond Aggies. Price said Italian hospitality was both warm and welcoming, igniting a sense of curiosity from those foreign to the tradition.

“Last year, we had two gentlemen that were watching that were the waitsta , and they brought up the owner and the people from the kitchen, not [to] participate, to listen,” Price said. “And then they wanted to nd out about A&M. As they did that, they were coming to us asking all types of questions, and so now we’ve become friendly with the restaurant owner … He asked, ‘Hey, would it be okay if I come to your Muster?’ So now we’re getting other people to join in that are not even associated with A&M. They’re local. That’s a comforting feeling, knowing that we’re building more of a network beyond A&M.”

Although Warren said he didn’t understand much of the importance of Muster while a student on campus, his appreciation and value of his role as an Aggie has since grown.

“It was a natural progression when I became president,” Warren said. “ … Having been on that journey of realizing the importance of Muster, what a sacred tradition it was, it wasn’t something that I was going to take lightly and say, ‘OK, yeah, well, you know, get a couple of Aggies together and call it a day.’”

Knowing that the Aggie connection extends worldwide provides Price a sense of reassurance.

“It’s comforting to know that one day when I pass, that’s going to happen for me,” Price said. “For my family — I have two Aggie sons and a daughter-in-law — for them to know that wherever they’re at on that Muster, they’ll go and they’ll hear my name called [and] they’ll answer ‘Here.’”

You can nd your nearest Muster on The Association of Former Students’ website.

Forged by fabric, entertainers by heart

Meet the costumed characters of the A&M crowd

By Ian Curtis @Texiancurtis

Four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, George Washington, Oscar the Grouch and a banana walk into Reed Arena.

It’s not the start to the weirdest “walks into a bar” joke ever conceived. This one is real.

All seven characters are a few of the costume-clad students who have been popping up in the crowds of Texas A&M athletic events — and elsewhere on campus and social media — over the past several months.

So what possessed these figures to ditch the standard maroon and white for their own menagerie of outfits?

Origin stories

Class of 2023 Yakob Dye — better known as Black George Washington — is an entertainer at heart.

“I have one goal with it, and that’s to make people smile and happy,” Dye said. “If everybody is laughing and everybody thinks it’s something awesome that they want to see again, that’s all that I care about. I don’t care how many views I get or how many likes it gets; I just want people to be happy.”

Dye’s Black George Washington character wasn’t his first costume. That honor belongs to a Buddy the Elf outfit he wore to the Halloween football game in 2022.

everybody just starts laughing. And they just started to have these amazing reactions.”

Black George Washington wasn’t the only character to begin their story at Kyle Field — agricultural economics junior Jacob Bush’s Banana Man also spawned when Bush decided to wear a banana costume to a football game on a whim.

But along with the other characters, Bush has been taking things far beyond football lately.

“This year I decided, it’s 2024, it’s time to grow,” Bush said. “It’s the year to build relationships and just be out there, put myself out there and just be uncomfortable and be okay with that. So I decided to bring it back.”

Part of Bush’s relationship building involves crossovers with other characters, including the newest of the group: the Turtles of Reed, a group of four students in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costumes.

Sport management sophomore Sam Stovall — the Leonardo of the group — said they wanted to have some fun and differentiate themselves from A&M’s other characters by doing a group costume.

But Dye thought he could top that the next year with a group costume consisting of him and his friends all wearing colonial outfits.

“My other two buddies backed out last minute, so it was just me, and I had already ordered the George Washington costume so I was like, ‘I still gotta go. I gotta make the most of it,’” Dye said. “I go to the football game against South Carolina. And it was an 11 a.m. game, hot, muggy, out there in the George Washington costume. As soon as I get out of the car and start walking to the game,

“It started off as pretty much just a way to have fun,” Stovall said. “But as the season went on, it slowly became trying to make the games more en-

joyable for everybody else … Just making sure that kids enjoy themselves more so they want to come back to later games and experience A&M basketball with us.”

After making their debut at the men’s basketball game against Florida on Feb. 3, the Turtles aim to become a palpable presence at Reed Arena and other A&M athletic events in the future.

“Like, ‘OK, cool, Aggie basketball, that means the Turtles are going to be there,’” Stovall said. “... In terms of the future of the Turtles, in general, I just want to be more fan engaging and an inspiration for people to come to games.”

Social media magic

One way the characters have become a presence on campus is through social media. Bush (@bananatamu), Dye (@blackgeorgewashingtonn) and Stovall (turtles_ of_reed) all operate active Instagram accounts for their personas.

“That’s actually turned into something bigger than I thought it would be,” Dye said. “With Barstool [Texas A&M] reposting a lot of stuff, Red Cup Aggies reposting a lot of it, a lot of eyes have seen that. And it’s good. It’s not something that I take too seriously. It’s just, ‘Hey, if you want to laugh, go to this page.’”

That’s been one of the ways people have been able to discover Dye’s work, which has led to some unexpected opportunities. “I’ve had people reach out to me about being on some

TV shows and auditioning for certain roles,” Dye said. “I’ve had people ask if I could come to a graduation party and kind of be there with them and make people laugh.”

Bush has seen his Banana Man persona’s social media accounts affect his own personal online presence.

“I’ve struggled in the past with posting on my normal account,” Bush said. “It’s hard for me to find a picture that I like to post. But I’ve just forced myself [to post] with @ bananatamu. Just to post fun things that I like, and being okay with that … building that confidence, even on social media, has been pretty big.”

That’s not the only way these characters have affected these students’ lives. They’re seeing gains even when they’re not wearing the costumes.

Costumes and confidence

Stovall doesn’t just act differently when he becomes one of the Turtles — he feels different, too.

“It helps me become a new person,” Stovall said. “Whenever I put the costume on, I care less and less about what people think.”

While that release of inhibitions that comes with donning the Turtle gear leads to a few more chirps at the visitor’s benches than normal, it’s also led to personal and career growth that Stovall himself didn’t initially expect.

cash for clothes

“It’s made me a better friend, weirdly enough,” Stovall said. “It actually helped me professionally as well, with social media marketing, organizational skills. It’s really helped me do that personally.” Bush has become more extroverted, he said, even when he’s not playing the Banana Man character.

“I’ve always been pretty shy as a person,” Bush said. “Not unconfident, but I don’t put myself out there enough. But ever since I started going to games and just being the banana guy in the crowd, I’m more confident to speak to other people and just speak my mind and just do things and be okay with it. Even if I’m the black sheep in the crowd, I’m still fine with just being who I am.”

Those benefits have changed Stovall’s motivations for bringing out the Turtles. While it originally started as a group of guys just having fun, he says it’s become more than that now.

“I want people to do it because I want them to inspire kids and young people who are scared to kind of step out of that shell,” Stovall said. “Last year, I had almost no friends because I always was just like, ‘OK, now that class is over I will never talk to them again.’ Now I’ve got friends from last semester that I still talk to who I have no other outlet for us to talk other than that one class last semester. It’s just, keep bringing people out of their shell and doing that for people who are scared to show who they are.”

Even as the students’ goals shift and change and as these characters make appearances at more and more events, Dye continues to be thankful for the response the characters have received and everything they’ve led to. “Stuff like that makes me so happy that it’s becoming more than just Black George Washington in a costume,” Dye said. “People who want to see more want to know more. That just makes me happy to know that things like that can come from just a kid in college having fun and wanting to make people laugh, so it really is a blessing.”

CJ Smith — THE BATTALION Agricultural economics junior Jacob Bush and general studies junior Grace Cokinos celebrate with bubbles during Texas A&M’s game against McNeese at Blue Bell Park on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.

Chris Swann — THE BATTALION

A&M softball seeks to make Rebels miss

By Kolton Becker @kolton_becker

a 12-6 conference record while the Rebels are last in the conference with a 3-12 record. “I think the 12th Man has been tremendous for us this year, and I think we will only continue to get better and better,” coach Trisha Ford said. “I don’t think we’ll need any motivation. It’s going to be senior weekend. There’s a lot that’s on the line. I think it’s just again, for us, to relax and come out and play our game.”

O ensively, the Aggies have been electric at the plate, nding success from many players in the lineup. As of Tuesday evening, the Aggies as a team are No. 16 in scoring with 271 runs, No. 17 in slugging percentage at .525, No. 18 in on-base percentage with .411 and No. 21 in the nation in home runs with 50. Defensively, the Aggies are also No. 15 in shutouts with 11 and No. 20 in ERA at 2.32.

At the plate, A&M has had many star players contribute, including senior INF Trinity Cannon, junior OF Allie Enright, sophomore INF Amari Harper and graduate OF Jazmine Hill. Cannon leads the Maroon and White with 10 home runs and is tied for the most RBIs with Enright at 38. Harper leads the team with her .379 batting

average, and Hill is No. 21 in the nation in on-base percentage at .531. Overall, the Aggies have seen the ball well, hitting .310 as a team and limiting opponents to a .198 batting average.

Cannon’s high-powered ability on o ense showcased why she was awarded the SEC Co-Player of the Week with her notable performance against Alabama. Cannon’s recognition was her second career weekly honor and the rst she received this season. She nished with a 1.500 OPS and went ve-for-eight at the dish with four walks. The Rebels have a handful of o ensive players that the Aggies will hope to shut out, including senior RHP Aynslie Furbush, junior C Lexie Brady and sophomore UT Jalia Lassiter. Furbush

holds one of the Rebels’ best batting averages at .349 and is the team leader with 33 RBIs. Brady leads the Rebels with 12 home runs, while Lassiter currently has the most hits at 50 and leads the team with 149 at-bats.

Ford is expected to hand the ball to junior Emiley Kennedy. On the season, Kennedy has a 1.56 ERA, is second in the nation with 17 complete games, fth in shutouts with 7, 13th in wins with 17 and 19th in strikeouts with 146. Kennedy last appeared against Alabama working 6.0 innings, allowing three hits, one run and one walk with six strikeouts.

The Maroon and White will be back in action Friday, April 19 at Davis Diamond with rst pitch set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Aggies look down barrel to final home series of season against Ole Miss

Lana Cheatham — THE BATTALION

Texas A&M starting pitcher/relief pitcher Emily Leavitt (25) pitches during Texas A&M’s game against Prairie View A&M at Davis Diamond on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.