Journalism senior and assistant news editor for The Battalion Kenzie Finch will receive her ring on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

Journalism senior and assistant news editor for The Battalion Kenzie Finch will receive her ring on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

When I was first applying to schools, Texas A&M was not in the cards for me. Some hick little “yee-yee” town in Texas was not the school that appealed to a city girl from Austin. All my life it was expected that I would go to Brigham Young University, or BYU. It was the obvious choice for someone of my faith … ha ha, yea, that one. 

The road to BYU was paved for me. My dad was going to pay for my education, I was going to be surrounded by a religious community with dress codes, curfews and lots and lots (and lots) of weddings. I would meet a returning missionary, get married by 19, have five kids by 22 and live happily ever after. It soon became very clear to me that that was not the path I wanted to take in my life. I have plenty of friends that go there and love it, but it didn’t feel like the place for me. 

The only problem with going anywhere else was that I was going to have to pay for my own education. Which made out-of-state schools not likely. This left me with only two Texas schools that even remotely caught my eye: t.u. and A&M. A quick, “You can live at home if you go to UT” was all it took to cross that one off the roster.

So A&M it was. 

And I didn’t get in. Well … technically.

I got the PSA program which is where you can attend a sister school for a year, and then transfer with automatic admittance after completion of the program. Full disclosure: I was pretty embarrassed to not get in, but it ended up being the best thing for me. And after finishing my freshman year at A&M-Corpus Christi (aka “the crust” by college students and locals), I finally got to A&M … during peak COVID-19. 

Online classes, no Fish Camp, no sports pass and no real knowledge of Aggie traditions. I couldn’t even call myself a two percenter –– I didn’t know what that was. It was only when I met my redass Corps of Cadets boyfriend in the second half of sophomore year that I began to embrace the Aggie culture. And no … I was not a boot chaser. He was a sophomore. Therefore, I was a boot investor . 

He taught me the traditions and got me to embrace the culture of A&M. And now I’m proud to attend every game, stand and wave my 12th Man towel. I avoid walking on the seals, respect the century tree, do horns down (sorry mom) and Whoop on my class year. The Aggie Ring didn’t mean much coming into A&M, but it means a lot to me as I’m preparing to leave it. 

I look forward to leaving college as a proud former student of A&M.   

I am a recovered two percenter and a proud Aggie, Class of 2023. A-Whoop!

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