It was time for the annual school district convocation of faculty and staff who converged on the special events center on Friday morning. Breakfast was served, which served to motivate on-time arrival, even though parking was tight. Inside the auditorium, we sat by school, each of us wearing a school-specific T-shirt — ours Crayola Blue with the eagle logo on the front.
After some preliminaries, the principals and assistant principals lined up on the stage. School by school, they stepped into the spotlight and called to their seated minions who responded with practiced chants.
When our turn came, the drum line stood and hammered out a cadence, and then we started our chant. We were grouped by where we graduated from college: A&M, UT, and others. The chant went like this, with each group standing in turn.
A&M grads: Gig ‘em!
UT grads: Hook ‘em!
everyone: We don’t care. We just want to get ’em there!
And again…
A&M grads: Gig ‘em!
UT grads: Hook ‘em!
everyone: We don’t care. We just want to get ’em there!
… at which point we all held graduation diplomas up in the air, closing with Eagle Pride, y’all!