Sitting back and taking a deep breath, one cannot help but notice that winds of change have uninvitingly swept over our campus. A campus that once thrived with a sense of character, family, integrity, intellect, trustworthiness, loyalty and most of all love is slowly becoming just a recount of memories and “good times.”

There was a time at A&T when the words “Aggie Pride” sent trembles down one’s spine and an unquenchable fire in one’s spirit. There was a time at A&T when acts of kindness were not for showmanship, but because this was a place where if you had never been loved, someone here loved you. Aggie Pride was more than just a phrase; it was a lifestyle portrayed by the constant embodiment of “Achieving Great Goals in Everything…Producing Renowned Individuals Dedicated to Excellence.”

Where has it gone? Many wonder and many see that the very force that drives the excellence of A&T is fading away and merely hanging on by a thread. Why is it that Aggie Pride is moving from being a resilient, revolutionary and remarkable lifestyle to words that just “sound nice”?The problem stems from deep within all of us, regardless of our role or responsibility at this university. What many fail to realize about this campus is that there is an ancestral spirit that resides here.

Our pride does not come from the events on and off campus, the organizations that make up student leadership on campus or anything else for that matter. Our pride is mobilized from the ancestral spirit that was awakened in each of us when we took the oath to become members of this distinguished family.

Our pride was given to us by the founders of this great institution, and by the spirits of those in whose footsteps we walk in each and every day. In the words of a very wise woman, “the ancestors make no mistakes.”

Each of us is here for a purpose and in living out that purpose we must take the ancestral spirit that lives within us and reconnect. The problem is that we have lost that very connection that so many schools desire to obtain. Look around, one may see that there are days that people walk by each other and rather than greet each other in love, they look down upon one another or even worse, do not even acknowledge the presence of one another.

The surrounding community has lost its connection with our school, and by school I do not speak of simply buildings, but the heart of this very establishment, the people. If you ever take a walk in the community, one will realize how much this university inspires them to press on. For some, this is the closest they will ever get to college and more importantly a sense of love and family.

As a student, I am sure many of us see this decline and think that A&T is suffering. I am here to tell you that the spirit of A&T doesn’t have to die for it to rise up and overcome the darkness.

It is only when everyone and everything at this school regains a spirit of connectivity that those ancestral spirits will rise from their slumber and resound in the hearts of everyone and restore pride and love on a monumental scale.

Whether we realize it or not, A&T is as clay being broken, molded and shaped into what A&T is meant to be. A&T is not just a place to get a degree, but a Mecca for every student who wants to achieve beyond what society tells them they can do.

It is a Mecca for every student who never knew love and wants to hold love tight within themselves, and a Mecca where students understand their foundation and humbly acknowledge their roots.

So now that we have a problem, what is next?

• Marvin Q. Jones