Rob Estes, A&M's oldest student, details his non-traditional journey to Aggieland

Key notes from Rob Estes interview

• I am the oldest current student. That's quite the claim to fame. When I applied, I told my wife to keep it low-key. But that's not her style and here I am on the radio.
   
• I'm taking my class online but I did go see my professor on Tuesday. Because I had a lot of jitters. Asked him a couple of questions. ECampus is something I've gotta get used to. Dr. Dirani gave me some pointers and tips. Dr. Dooley, in the office next door, heard me and came over. He knew I was going to be on the radio. This thing has taken off.
   
• I was 14 years old and we came to visit my brother Bill at Texas A&M. He was here briefly. He was in the Corps. I'm walking around campus, everybody is in their uniform and everyone is saying "howdy". As a 14 year old boy, I was impressed.
   
• Later that fall, A&M came to Houston to play Rice. Rice was ranked No. 17. A&M was the underdog. My dad took me to the Aggie football game. It was my first live football game and the Aggies upset Rice. I remember driving home and being so excited to tell my mom about this experience. It was in that car that I think I decided I wanted to be a Texas Aggie.
   
• My family moved to Sacramento when I was a junior in high school and my dreams of being an Aggie were waning. With my family financially, it wasn't going to happen. But I still loved A&M. I dreamed about being an Aggie but it just wasn't going to happen.
   
• I went into the Army during Vietnam but for some reason I went to Germany. Came back and went to Cal State Sacramento. I got married, had a daughter. Life does what it does and the marriage didn't work out. I got married again to my wife Cindy. We did our lives out there in California.
   
• Every football season, I would follow the Aggies in the paper. I would check in the sports page to see how the Aggies were doing. Coming to school at A&M was never in my head. I was done with college.
   
• 15 years ago, I thought about coming back to an A&M football game. My wife said, "what's so special about that?" So we went to a game, the Aggies lost, but I fell in love all over again. Texas A&M clicked immediately with her as well. We went home and people asked how the game was, I told them it was a borderline religious experience. We made a point to come back once a year.
   
• My granddaughter Jordan is her own person. She loves country music, loves to hunt and fish. I thought she'd be a perfect Texas Aggie. So, about five or six years ago, I brought her to an Aggie football game. I thought I could live vicariously through her. She said it was "okay". I brought her back the next year and she said the same thing. But when we let her out at her house, she announced to her parents that she wanted to be a Texas Aggie. Her mom used that to motivate her scholastically. She didn't get anything but an A until she graduated high school. She's here and she still loves this university even though the grind of going to school here might not be what it once was.
   
• Jordan decided she wanted to go to A&M. She started buying Aggie stuff and wearing it to school in Northern California. I thought maybe I could get her to join the Corps. She spent a night with the Corps while she was in high school. I asked her how it was and again she said it was "okay". She's not in the Corps now. She has an aversion to getting up early in the morning. That particular dream of mine is done but she is an Aggie.
   
• We rented a house for a month and we stayed for a while. We thought about maybe doing this and moving here. We asked the Lord and he opened every door. The next year, we did the deed and bought a house. We decided to move here in November of 2017. Our house in California sold in 24 hours and over asking price. A confirmation. The first month we were here, Jordan got accepted to A&M. Another confirmation. 
   
• Our neighbor, Michelle Walker, works in admissions. I talked to her about an old guy coming to A&M. Michelle got me in touch with a military admissions advisor. They showed me my options. I decided on Educational Administration and Human Resource Development. I just felt very comfortable. I went and met Dr. Dirani, who is my department head. My sense of A&M now is that you're going to have to work hard here but they're going to help you do everything to succeed.
   
• I go to a Monday morning Christian men's group. Word has gotten out about this whole thing. A buddy of mine looks at me and goes, "Rob, you're a fish."