Aggie Impact Gala honors achievements of Black Aggies

Founded in 2019, the Aggie Impact Gala is a celebratory event honoring the notable achievements and service of Black Aggies. The gala supports higher education through an endowment which financially supports a gap in funding for deserving Black students. The celebration, which has grown into a weekend-long event, serves as the fundraising arm of the Texas A&M Black Former Student Network, a chartered Constituent Network of The Association.

The Aggie Impact Award honors Aggies who “have set themselves apart through their success in their profession, undying commitment to serving society and their community, and to their service to the African-American students, faculty and former students of Texas A&M University,” according to the organization's website.

Past honorees include:

• Super Bowl champion NFL players Von Miller ’11 and Mike Evans ’15.
• Ashanti Johnson ’93, one of the first Black female chemical oceanographers and the first Black student to earn a doctoral degree in oceanography from A&M.
• The Hon. Aaron Ford ’94, Nevada's attorney general.
• Honored jointly: Odis R. Blueitt ’82, Col. USA (Ret), executive director and chief of program operations for the U.S. military health care program TRICARE-Latin America and Canada, and Pauletta D. Blueitt ’81, Col. USAF (Ret), an Air Force health care administrator and the first Black woman to attain the rank of colonel in the Air Force Medical Service Corps.
• Honored jointly: Bruce Chinn ’79, CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical, and Sandra Chinn ’80, the first Black woman to command the A&M Corps of Cadets' W-1 outfit.

The weekend’s events annually raise thousands of dollars for scholarships on behalf of the Black Former Student Network, with the inaugural year alone raising over $100,000.

The 2023 Aggie Impact Gala Weekend will be held on campus this fall Nov. 4-6. Find more information on purchasing tickets and getting involved at AggieImpactGala.org.

The Texas A&M Black Former Student Network and all chartered Constituent Networks are supported by donors to The Association of Former Students. Connect with these networks at AggieNetwork.com/CN and lend your support at tx.ag/Give.