Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day was developed by the Department of Residence Life, which organizes volunteers from the A&M community to be on hand all day to help arriving students move into the residence halls. Sunday is when the majority of students move into the halls.
Aggie freshman outside hitter Hannah Hood (Austin, Texas), who moved into her dorm at the start of two-a-day practices in early August, enjoyed greeting fellow classmates and lending a hand.
"It is exciting to see the other freshmen and help them move in," she said. "There were only a couple of people when I moved into my dorm and they were all helping me, so for me to help other people is just returning the favor.
"You can tell they are nervous, but just being friendly and for them to see that upper classmen are also helping them really teaches them about the family unity that they are going to find here at Texas A&M."
Volunteering also gave the volleyball team an opportunity to meet and interact with the students away from the court and attract new fans.
"We tell almost every person we help that we are on the volleyball team and that we have a tournament coming up," Hood added, "and for them to know us by our faces makes it more fun for them to come watch us and for them to know that we are not just some elite group, but we are here to help them and we are just normal students who want to meet them."
Junior middle blocker Stephanie Minnerly was participating in the event for the third consecutive year, but this time on a day in which the temperature is predicted to hit 105 degrees.
"Every year I feel like it is getting hotter but easier," the Arlington, Texas native said. "A&M in general is just a nice place, and it is fun hearing everyone say, 'howdy.' Many of them are freshmen so they are all nervous, but they also are excited to meet new people. We let them know it is going to be okay and tell them to come to our volleyball game. Everyone is grateful that we are picking up big boxes for them, and we'll probably see a lot of these students on campus someday and they'll probably be like, 'hey, you helped me move in. You picked up my TV.'
"We are here to help, and the fact that we are doing it all together helps. It's a team commitment. We are committed to volleyball and we know what we have to do as a team. Being out here, if that means getting more fans by volunteering and helping out each other, it is worth it."
The team returns to practice starting at 2 p.m. today in preparation for the season opening Texas A&M Invitational Friday and Saturday, Aug. 26-27 at Reed Arena. The Aggies make their season debut at 2:30 p.m. on Friday against Creighton, which reached the second round of NCAAs after upsetting heavily favored and Big 12 member Iowa State in the first round. A&M returns to the court Friday evening at 7:30 to take on UTSA, the defending Southland Conference tournament champion, and concludes the tournament on Saturday with a rematch against Creighton at 12:30 p.m.
The complete schedule is available at AggieAthletics.com.