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Texas A&M dignitaries turn shovels of maroon-colored dirt Saturday at a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Haynes Ring Plaza, kicking off a project to enhance the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center. Pictured, left to right, are Jim Thompson ’68, incoming chair of the Building Enhancement Task Committee; Conner Prochaska ’07, Student Body President; Bill Jones ’81, Chairman of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and a former member of The Association’s Board of Directors; General Hal M. Hornburg (USAF, Ret) ’68, 2008 President of the Board of Directors of The Association; Reta K. Haynes; Harold J. Haynes ’46; Porter S. Garner III ’79, Executive Director of The Association of Former Students; William H. “Bill” Flores ’76, Immediate Past President of The Association; and Shelley E. Potter ’78, The Association’s President Elect and for the past three years chair of the Building Enhancement Task Committee.
The Association of Former Students broke ground Saturday on the Haynes Ring Plaza, kicking off a major enhancement project for the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center that will bring The Association one step closer to achieving its vision of being the premier alumni organization in the country.
The Ring Plaza, on the campus side of the alumni building, is to be named in honor of Harold J. ’46 and Reta K. Haynes in recognition of their lead gift to the $12 million fundraising campaign for the building enhancement project. Wearing maroon hardhats and wielding maroon and white shovels, the Hayneses and other dignitaries turned maroon-colored dirt to ceremonially kick off the construction project, which is expected to be complete in the fall. (For more information about the building enhancement project, including an artist’s rendering of the plaza and sculpture, visit AggieNetwork.com/building.)
“This is a wonderful day,” General Hal M. Hornburg (USAF, Ret) ’68, 2008 President of the Board of Directors of The Association, said to open the ceremony. “Not only for The Association of Former Students but for Texas A&M, because this day represents the culmination of work, of generosity, of planning. It is a day where we begin to shut the doors on one generation of this building and open it in a few more months with another, while maintaining the integrity of the Clayton Williams Alumni Center.”
Bill Jones ’81, Chairman of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and a former member of The Association’s Board of Directors, noted that “this building that we will improve on and make additions to is not important. The Ring that will be portrayed just a few feet from where I’m standing and some of you are sitting, in itself is not important. What goes on inside this building is important because the building is the home of the Aggie Network and the venue for all former students to come back and to connect with those family members that we call Aggies. The Ring is important because of what it symbolizes. And it symbolizes the family crest of Aggieland. And that is important. It’s important for the graduates, those of us who have earned the right to wear the family crest, and it’s important for the graduates yet to be, those students who are here and those students who are to come in the future.”
Conner Prochaska ’07, A&M’s student body president, thanked The Association for its work on behalf of A&M’s 46,000 current students.
“Since I’ve been a freshman, whether it was the Corps, whether it was student government which I’m involved in now, The Association has been there to help us in anything and everything we’ve wanted to do. I want to say thank you to the former students. They do so much for us every single day.”
Prochaska said The Association of Former Students is more than just a building. “It sets the bar. The reason we have such a unique institution is for one reason and one reason alone, and that is the efforts put forth by the former students of Texas A&M. The former students are the rock that this university revolves around, the rock we base our integrity on. Buildings change, as we are changing one today. Administration changes. Faculty changes. Everything about our university changes, except for The Association of Former Students. The Association itself is what makes sure that Texas A&M stays on its course, straight ahead.”
The speakers at Saturday’s event thanked Mr. and Mrs. Haynes for their generosity, but Mr. Haynes said he was just as grateful. “Reta and I are very grateful of the fact that we are in a position to give back to institutions that have meant so much to us in our lives. I know a lot of people have thanked us, but I want you to know that we are very thankful.”
Mr. Haynes also presented his 1946 Aggie Ring to be used as the model for the bronze, 12-foot sculpture that will be centerpiece of the Haynes Ring Plaza.
Porter S. Garner III ’79, Executive Director of The Association of Former Students, accepted the Ring from Mr. Haynes.
“I accept your Ring with more than just gratitude,” Garner said. “I accept it on behalf of my dad, Class of 1945, and I accept it on behalf of 320,000 Aggies all over the world who wear this same Ring. But I think what is most important is that I accept this Ring on behalf of future generations of Texas Aggies.”
He noted that while Mr. Haynes’ Ring would be used as the model for the sculpture, it was more important “that it represents the model that you are to Aggies, the way you’ve lived your life and given back generously to Texas A&M. Thank you so much.”
Garner said it is the Aggie Network that makes the difference for A&M, year in and year out.
“For nearly 130 years it has been The Association and indeed the Aggie Network that has made a profound difference for all Aggies who come through this school. Our Spirit is not about style, it’s not about symbolism. It is indeed about substance and support. The work we begin today to enhance this facility is all about substance and support for future generations of Texas Aggies.”