Aggie Quick Connection

What’s Inside:

December 2012

December is finally here and students are preparing for the last stretch of the semester and finals. In a few weeks, students will be on winter break and it is important to communicate with them regarding plans for their visit home. Students may have mixed emotions about leaving new friends, relationships, and their Aggie home. Do not take these emotions personally as it is all part of the college transition!

We encourage you to visit the Aggie Family web site for additional updates and helpful resources. You can visit us at http://parents.tamu.edu. Please feel free to contact the Office of New Student and Family Programs at (979) 845-5826, or email us at AggieFamilies@tamu.edu if you have any questions.

Thanks and Gig `Em!

Howdy!

Like our page at: www.facebook.com/AggieParentsAndFamily to receive campus information and connect with other Aggie Families.

Page 2: Final ExamsPage 3: Before Heading Home

Page 4: Commencement SchedulePage 5: \Announcements

Page 6: Campus HappeningsA family enjoys the view of Kyle Field during the New Family Welcome Dessert Social.

2Aggie Quick Connection December 2012

Tips For SuccessFinal examinations will be held on Friday, December 7th and Monday, December 10th-Wednesday, December 12th, 2012. The fall final exam schedule is posted online at:http://registrar.tamu.edu/general/finalschedule.aspx

Grades

Final Exams

It is Texas A&M University’s policy to not mail grades. Parents/guardians should discuss setting up a parent password to access information (grades, class schedule and verification of enrollment). This access can be set up at http://howdy.tamu.edu. Unofficial grades may be printed from this web page for scholarship sponsors, good student insurance discounts, employer reimbursement, etc. Any student may set a parent password to allow limited access to their records by a parent, guardian, spouse, or other individual as deemed appropriate by the student. You may find information about these steps by visiting http://registrar.tamu.edu/Parents/GradeParents.aspx.

TipsStudent Counseling Service (http://scs.tamu.edu) is a fantastic resource on campus for students. The SCS virtual library (http://scs.tamu.edu/?q=node/118) has many guides with study tips to help your student conquer their finals. Finals are an extremely busy time for students and they can use all the support and encouragement you can provide. Share with them some of these helpful tips for success!

The first thing students should do is prepare a schedule of how they will approach their finals. It’s best to stick to the normal schedule they had throughout the semester. Encourage them to avoid studying late hours and pulling all-nighters. Sleep is essential to effective studying and test preparation so always make sure they are getting a good night’s sleep. Stress the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and exercise while avoiding excessive use of caffeine.

Make sure students utilize hours when they are the most efficient. Whether it’s the morning, afternoon, or evening, students need to focus on studying during the times where they are the most productive and use the other times for study breaks like napping or meeting friends for lunch/dinner. Also, students should avoid studying for similar courses consecutively and should break up those courses with a different style course. For example, if they have a final in chemistry, biology, and history, have them focus on chemistry, then history, and finish with biology. This will allow students to distinguish material and avoid the “overflow” of a specific field of study.

Finally, have your student organize their study time so that they can effectively plan their routine as discussed above. Have them mark every final on their calendar and make a “to-do” list of preparations including:

• What will my final cover? (cumulative v. specific chapters) • What priority is this course relative to other courses I am taking? • Have I finished all of the reading and/or assignments? • Do I have all of my lecture notes? Are they organized? • How much time will it take to cover this material?

After answering these questions, students will be able to break up material and appropriately allocate time to cover each area. They should determine how much time it will take to review each piece of material and determine what will be the most important for the final.

Consider sending your student a care package. Homemade goodies and a note of encouragement can go a long way in lifting your student’s spirits. Most of all, understand that your student needs your love and support at this time. He or she may not want advice, but will undoubtedly appreciate your encouragement.

Aggie Quick Connection December 2012 32Aggie Quick Connection December 2012

Before Heading HomeTips For Winter Break

With the semester coming to a close, students will be packing up their room, house, or apartment to make the trip back home for the extended break. It is imperative that students make sure to secure their belongings before leaving the Bryan/College Station area. We have compiled some tips that students should follow to make sure they have a safe and secure winter break:

Notify apartment manager of absence during the winter break.

Be sure all doors and windows are closed and locked securely. If your student lives on the first floor, encourage them to double check their window locks and consider purchasing additional window locks from a home improvement store.

Leave inside lights and/or radio on timers so that it will appear you are home.

Leave a few outside lights on (front door, back door, backyard area).

Turn central heat on and set at a low temperature (50 degrees) in case the weather turns cold while you’re gone.

Leave cabinet doors open under sink areas to allow warm air flow to help prevent pipes from freezing.

If you live in a residential property, you will want to wrap outside water pipes and the air-conditioning line to the house.

If there is a sprinkler system, either turn it off or set it to water only once a week.

If your student desires to have mail forwarded while gone, fill out a change of address card a few weeks before leaving or contact the post office to have them hold mail, which they will do for up to 30 days.

Pay January 2013 rent in December if you won’t be back by the time January’s rent is due.

Make sure bills are taken care of, especially utility bills. Talk with roommates to determine who/how the bills will be paid over the break.

Take your valuables home with you (laptops, Xbox, Playstation, flat-screens, etc.)

Secure/Store away items usually kept outside such as lawn mowers, BBQ grills, furniture, and bicycles.

Keep valuables out of sight or take them with you.

Keep window blinds and drapes closed.

Throw away food that will spoil. Don’t leave it sitting inside but use the dumpster or outside garbage receptacle. Talk to someone locally who will be staying in town to come and check on your house. They can pick up mail/papers and remove door hanger advertisements and flyers from your door, put away garbage cans, and check the doors to makesure that maintenance, pest control, or anyone else doing work in your home.

Commencement Schedule

4Aggie Quick Connection December 2012

December 2012

December Commencement Ceremonies:Commissioning Ceremonies, Noon Friday, December 14 Air Force – 113 Wehner Building, West CampusArmy – Rudder TheaterNavy/Marine – Memorial Student Center (MSC) Room 2300-C

Friday, December 14, 9 a.m. – Reed ArenaGraduates and Undergraduates in Agriculture and Life SciencesGraduates and Undergraduates in Mays Business School

Graduates and Undergraduates in Science

Friday, December 14, 2 p.m. – Reed ArenaGraduates in Bush School of Government and Public ServiceGraduates and Undergraduates in Architecture

Graduates and Undergraduates in Dwight Look College of EngineeringGraduates and Undergraduates in Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Saturday, December 15, 9 a.m. – Reed Arena

Graduates and Undergraduates in Education and Human DevelopmentGraduates and Undergraduates in Geosciences

Graduates and Undergraduates in Liberal Arts

Congratulations December Graduates!

More Information at http://graduation.tamu.edu

Thursday, December 13, 20121:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.Drive Thru & Get Your Decal at the Alumni Center

Friday, December 14, 201210:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.(Come & Go Open House)

Saturday, December 15, 201210:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.(Come & Go Open House)

The Next Tradition is designed to welcome graduating students into The Association of Former Students, teaching the importance of staying involved beyond their time at Texas A&M University. Students are welcome to invite family and friends to join them at the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center for prizes, refreshments, professional photos under the Haynes Aggie Ring Replica, all while learning about the many benefits of the Aggie Network and Association of Former Students!

The Next Tradition

Commencement Convocation:Thursday, December 13, 5:30 p.m.-- Rudder AuditoriumSpeaker: Mary MatalinMary Matalin’s experience in politics, public affairs, crisis management and media spans three decades and multiple venues.

December 2012

Congratulations December Graduates!

More Information at http://graduation.tamu.edu

Campus HappeningsWinter 2012

Do you know other membersof the Aggie Family who might

want to receive this newsletter?

Please feel free to forward it to them, or tell them how to sign up for

the listserv.

Visit: http://parents.tamu.edu/listserv for instructions to subscribe/unsubscribe/

Silver Taps, December 4Silver Taps is a final tribute paid to an Aggie who, at the time of their death, was enrolled in graduate or undergraduate courses at Texas A&M. It is held at 10:30 pm on the first Tuesday of the month at the Academic Plaza. We encourage students to attend to pay their respects to their fellow Aggies and their family members. This month’s Silver Taps is held in honor of:

GarrettColeLuce,BusinessAdministrationFor more information about Silver Taps visit: http://studentaffairs.tamu.edu/sas/silvertaps.

December 5-6: Reading Days, No ClassesDecember 7, 10-12: Final ExamsDecember 14-15: Commencement and CommissioningDecember 17: Final Grades Due for All StudentsDecember 24-January 1: Holiday, University ClosedJanuary 11: Last Day to Register for Spring 2013 ClassesJanuary 14: First Day of Spring 2013 ClassesJanuary 18: Last Day for Adding/Dropping ClassesJanuary 21: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, University Closed

Exhibitions currently on display in the Forsyth Gal-leries: Highlights from the Bill (’35) and Irma Runyon Collection, and Majolica from the Marion E. Byrd Collection. These two exhibitions will run throughSunday, December 16th.

The Forsyth Galleries will be closed from Monday, December 17th through Wednesday, January 17th. The new exhibition will be Art Menagerie, from January 17th to February 13th.

Located in the newly renovated MSC on campus, the Forsyth Galleries are located on the 2nd floor. The hours are Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, Noon until 6:00 pm.

For more information about the Forsyth Galleries, please call 979-845-9251, or visit website: forsyth.tamu.edu

Forsyth Galleries

AnnouncementsCode Maroon Code Maroon is Texas A&M University's emergency notification system. Code Maroon uses multiple notification methods in a best effort to reach campus members in an emergency – by SMS text message, Texas A&M Email (Neo), KAMU-FM radio, campus cable television, Emergency Alert System radios, computer alerts, classroom alerts, Twitter and RSS.

The Code Maroon web site now contains instructions regarding how the general public can receive instant SMS updates every time a Code Maroon announcement is sent out:http://codemaroon.tamu.edu/publicaccess.html

The instructions are simple and do not require a Twitter account to complete:• Text"followTAMUCodeMaroon"to40404.Youwillreceiveatextmessageconfirming

your request.

• Text "OFF" to 40404 to temporarily stop receiving text message alerts from Twitter.

• Text "ON" to 40404 to begin receiving text message alerts again.

• Text "unfollow TAMUCodeMaroon" to 40404 to stop receiving Code Maroon text message alerts.

On behalf of the entire Aggie Family, we

wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

4 6Aggie Quick Connection December 2012

If you ordered a care package from the Residence Hall Association (RHA) for your student, they can be picked up at the Commons. Questions regarding these packages can be directed to Residence Life (979.845.1229).