“During Fish Camp before my freshman year, I received a purple hankie as a memento of being in Purple Camp Steele, which I immediately strung onto my backpack. A year later, I served as a Fish Camp counselor for Purple Camp Hale and kept another purple hankie for my backpack. Although both have faded over time, the incredible experiences of growth and leadership they represent have not. Three years and three backpacks later, I still keep them securely attached with a carabiner clip.”

“As a computer science major, I often use a coding strategy called rubber duck debugging, a method in which you explain your code to an inanimate object, such as a rubber ducky, until you realize where you’ve made your mistake. So, I keep a rubber ducky in my backpack at all times. It might sound silly, but it really helps!”

“Before I took the SAT during my junior year in high school, my dad handed me a folded $20 bill for gas money. When I unfolded the bill at the gas station, I also found a $2 bill on which he had written ‘suerte,’ the Spanish word for ‘good luck.’ Since then, I’ve kept the $2 bill in my laptop case as a good luck charm.”

“As an Eagle Scout, I learned to always be prepared, so I keep a mini first-aid kit in my backpack. It has come in handy multiple times, but the wildest time I had to use it was when my brother got a little scraped up after he accidentally fell into the Fish Pond in front of Sbisa Dining Hall.”

To learn how you can support Aggie students with scholarships, contact Marcy Ullmann '86 below. Learn more about the different types of scholarships you can fund by visiting our website.