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Creating Selfless Servants

Learn how these five service organizations are developing Aggies to serve the world around them while creating local and global impact.

By Ryan Williamson '24

Illustrations by Kendrick Kidd

July 6, 2022

Embodying the Aggie core value of selfless service, thousands of current students engage in service activities through Texas A&M University’s student organizations. Whether they are coordinating philanthropic events, creating volunteer opportunities or making a difference abroad, service organizations are a vital part of the Aggie Spirit.

These five organizations are developing Aggies to serve the world around them while creating local and global impact...
 

Alpha Phi Omega

Established: 1962

Mission: To develop students into community members and leaders through the pillars of leadership, friendship and service. 

Impact: This national co-ed service fraternity makes service a year-round affair. Members volunteer to run a haunted house benefiting StageCenter Community Theatre, serve at the Hospice Brazos Valley’s annual gala and host the yearly Merit Badge University, an event that helps Boy Scouts earn merit badges.

Why you should give a WHOOP!: “Alpha Phi Omega is all about giving back and making yourself better while doing so. Selfless service is an Aggie core value, and Alpha Phi Omega perfectly embodies it.”

-Sam Alivernia ’22, Alpha Phi Omega President
 

Alternative Spring Break (ASB)

Established: 1999

Mission: To evolve enthusiastic, giving Aggies from heartfelt volunteers to active, lifelong citizens and leaders for social change.

Impact: For more than 20 years, students involved in Alternative Spring Break (ASB) have sacrificed typical spring break activities to participate in 30-plus service hours for various causes in neighboring states. From animal shelters and zoos to veterans hospitals and food banks, ASB continues to serve a diverse range of organizations.

Why you should give a WHOOP!: “During my freshman year, we volunteered at a veterans hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. We wrote thank-you notes, served snacks and helped landscape their garden. It was touching that a small sacrifice of time could so positively impact someone else’s day.”

-Lily Pham ’21, ASB Chair
 

Global Medical Brigades

Established: 2010

Mission: To inspire, mobilize and collaborate with communities to achieve their health and economic goals.

Impact: With a current emphasis on impoverished villages in Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Ghana, Global Medical Brigades helps provide mobile clinics, sanitation stations and water access to hundreds of thousands of people.

Why you should give a WHOOP!: “My favorite part of the work we do is developing strong connections with the locals in the areas we serve. Not only are we helping build self-sustaining communities, but we also form bonds that make us feel like we are really making a difference.”

-Franklyn Martinez ’23, Global Medical Brigades President
 

Memorial Student Center Freshmen in Service and Hosting (MSC FISH)

 

Our members selflessly serve knowing what we do is worth it even if we just make a difference in one person’s life.
Grace Simank ’23, MSC FISH Chair

Established: 2000

Mission: To provide leadership opportunities to enhance its members’ purpose of engaging in service projects on campus and within the community.

Impact: Last year, MSC Freshmen in Service and Hosting (FISH) served 1281 hours in the Bryan-College Station community. Significant service projects include Adopt-a-Street, Aggie BUILD, Brazos Valley Food Bank, 12th Can drives and Kyle Field Day, which invites organizations and businesses to host a “service booth” with opportunities for the community to engage in service activities.

Why you should give a WHOOP!: “MSC FISH builds strong leaders out of young Aggies. Our members selflessly serve knowing what we do is worth it even if we just make a difference in one person’s life.”

-Grace Simank ’23, MSC FISH Chair
 

TAMU Legacies

Established: 2014

Mission: To create a legacy of service and leadership by empowering women within the student body and the Bryan-College Station community.

Impact: Participating in more than 75 service hours per year, TAMU Legacies members volunteer at local service organizations such as Aggie Habitat for Humanity and Aggie Pregnancy Outreach. It also fundraises for nonprofit organizations such as Free the Girls, which helps women rescued from sex trafficking.

Why you should give a WHOOP!: “I’m impressed by the impact TAMU Legacies has on our immediate community through our yearly philanthropic events. It is a testament to the women in this organization and their dedication to making a difference in others’ lives.”

-Claire Heigl Maza ’22, TAMU Legacies President
 


Help build tomorrow’s selfless servants by planning a gift to support organizations like these! Contact Kelly Corcoran '95 at the bottom of this page.

 

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Support the Spirit

The recently formed Aggie Experience Fund is helping cover students’ participation fees in recognized campus organizations.

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Contact

  • Kevin Westerman '11

  • Assistant Vice President for Planned Giving
  • Office of Planned Giving
  • Call: 979.314.8799

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