Across from NASA, Clear Lake Aggies muster

To highlight the wide range of Aggie Musters, we covered six local Musters in April 2019 for a story in Texas Aggie magazine. Read the series: tx.ag/ComeAndMuster

Drive on NASA Road 1 a few blocks past the entrance to the Johnson Space Center (with its many Aggie employees), and you’re at the NASA Hilton Clear Lake.

An upstairs ballroom has tables set for 150 or so with a vista across Clear Lake, a six-mile-long harbor that flows into Galveston Bay.

Aggies are beginning to arrive—getting a glass of wine at the bar, deciding how much to bid on a LEGO Kyle Field kit and other auction items.

During dinner, discussion at the Bay Area A&M Club volunteers’ table ranges across some fascinating topics: Vehicle docking, robot arms and booster rockets, as well as what happens when you breathe nitrogen tetroxide (not good).

Sitting with his dad (Jason Foltyn '92) is high school student Jared Foltyn, a prospective future member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. He has brought his trumpet, and will play Taps for the ceremony.

Like many Musters, Bay Area determines which names it will read by printing out the full 1,600-name list from The Association and asking attendees to mark those they want called.

Typically, they read between 20 and 50 names, says Club president Mark Sprague '89.

Tonight, one of the names is his father’s: Charles Sprague '61. Here.

Texas railroad commissioner Ryan Sitton ’97, who lives nearby in Friendswood, serves as Muster speaker; he talks about how important it is that A&M teaches leadership and service, and how he believes Muster represents “that value of service, that we put everybody else ahead of ourselves.”

“This Aggie tradition is not like a eulogy; it’s not like a funeral,” he says.

“We get together, for all those people who are no longer with us, and celebrate the fact that each and every one of them touched somebody’s life. And that’s why somebody is here when they are absent to answer the call.”

• Volunteer at a Muster: tx.ag/MusterVolunteer
• You can place a name on the Muster Roll year-round: tx.ag/AddAName
• Hundreds of Musters were held last year. Was one near you? tx.ag/2019Musters
• Most Aggies’ names are not called on campus. Learn where your loved one or friend can be called: tx.ag/WhichMuster
• The Association provides many services for Aggies hosting Musters - a speakers bureau and sample
• speeches; Muster songs, poems and videos; help in publicizing your event and more. Get started: tx.ag/HostAMuster