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What is ARO?

ARO is a program sponsored by the Memorial Student Center Complex, MSCC LEAD, the Minority Recruitment and Retention Leadership Team, and the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University. Undergraduate Aggies mentor underrepresented 8th graders from Corpus Christi and McAllen during a week-long trip every May. While in McAllen and Corpus Christi, we work with two schools in each city. Each school provides approximately forty 8th grade ARO participants. Throughout the week, the Aggies shadow the 8th graders in their classes, facilitate leadership and team-building activities, bring the students on field trips to local business sites, and host receptions and ceremonies for the participants and their parents. All of these activities hopefully culminate in the participant’s pledge to go to college.

The goal of the ARO trip is to promote the value of higher education and impart leadership skills to these students. The participants are also invited to attend the ARO Reunion on the Texas A&M campus at the end of the following semester. In December 2007, we brought up fifty-five now-9th graders to Texas A&M for a weekend of fun activities, informational sessions, motivational speeches, and introductions to Aggie traditions. We give them a taste of what the college experience is like in the hope that they will chose to go to college. While we hope that the participants chose A&M, the ARO program encourages higher education in general and we believe it is a bonus if the participant were to choose A&M after completing high school. The ARO Program has a profound impact on the participants from each school as well as on the Aggie counselors who mentor these students. This program is student-led and student-driven by a group of dedicated students in MSCC LEAD. LEAD is a sophomore leadership organization housed within the MSCC.