On a warm March afternoon, the Jon L. Hagler Center on campus was bustling with scholarship donors and the students they support during the annual Foundation Excellence Award Picnic. Conversations and laughter filled the air over lunch as students spoke of classes, campus life and summer plans, while donors listened, offered guidance and shared stories from their own time at Texas A&M University.
The gathering is only one of a broad calendar of events designed to connect donors with the students they support through scholarships to the Texas A&M Foundation. Events range from casual picnics or tailgates to formal dinners, all providing opportunities to meet scholars in person and witness the impact of their generosity.
These gatherings are a cornerstone of the giving experience for donors like Peggy and Charles “Chuck” Brittan ’65, who have been involved with the Foundation’s scholarship programs for more than three decades. Through these recurring events, the Brittans have followed their students’ journeys over time, from conversations about coursework to discussions about career decisions. “We meet them as freshmen, and by their senior year, they’re sharing plans for jobs, internships and life after Texas A&M, and we’re given a front-row seat to watch it all unfold,” Peggy said.
As the Brittans discovered, what begins as educational support often becomes much more: a network of lasting relationships marked by milestones like invitations to Ring Day, graduation, weddings and even the occasional birth announcement. “You only get this level of connection when you sit together and catch up,” Chuck added, “and the Foundation makes it easy to do so.”
