Yell Leaders embody every core value that we hold close to our hearts at Texas A&M which include Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect, and Selfless Service. We've come a long way from borrowing janitor overalls and a group of guys yelling to keep students from leaving a football game and over the years, Yell Leaders have evolved into the face of this university and have become one of our main representations of the students at Texas A&M. As campaigns begin, we are left to choose between a pool of potentials but we're always faced with the same questions, who are the 5 for Yell and how can I know I'm voting for people? Lucky for you, I sat down with our very own hand-selected 5 for Yell and asked them the questions you've been dying to know:

1. How does 5 for Yell get chosen?

(Chris Wilder): “5 for Yell is basically the Core of Cadets process of selecting 5 cadets to represent the university in the capacity of Yell Leader. These guys go through a process for about 10 days and every day there’s some sort of an event whether it be a basketball game, playing basketball at the rec, or playing football. Basically it’s a chance for the guys to get to know each other, the guys that want to run for Yell Leader and their friends. At the end of that 10-day span there’s voting so all their buddies go and vote on these guys, so anyone that went through 5 for Yell are probably running against at least 20 other guys. The guys were voted on by their buddies and then those chosen go through an interview process and the interviews are with the top 30 minutes of the core, current yell leaders, and other leading seniors in the core. After the interview we select the seniors and juniors to be on 5 for Yell."

2. What made you want to become a Yell Leader?

(James Pace): “I am a 3rd generation Aggie and so growing up I naturally spent a lot of time in Aggieland whether it’d be to visit my brothers or come down here for football games, and as a young kid I just saw the Yell Leaders on Kyle Field in their whites and how they were able to rally Kyle Field and the 12th man behind the Aggie football team. It wasn’t until I really got to A&M that I found out and understood what it truly means to be a Yell Leader. Throughout my time in the Core from freshman to this year, I’ve realized that a Yell Leader is an ambassador for the university and they are literally the face, 1 in 5, of a student body of 55,000. To have the opportunity to give back to the university through service as a yell leader and to be that face and to be that ambassador for the student body and the university as a whole, I just feel like that’s a great opportunity to give back to the university that has given so much to me and to my family.”

3. What do you hope to do once elected?

(Ian Moss): “It’s really important to create a sense of belonging and if elected, my main priority would be that if I was talking to someone they would feel like the most important person in that room. This past semester I was able to take care of Rev and I was able to see how each individual person was affected by that single tradition and in that same way, Yell Leader is a tradition and it is a platform and it’s a way to make someone feel like they belong somewhere. It’s a way to make some feel like they are important. If elected, that would be my goal for everyone I came in contact with, just to make their day and have a memory that would last a lifetime of that one time they met a Yell Leader and how that made them feel.”

4. What is the most interesting thing you've done on the road to becoming a Yell Leader?

(Cooper Cox): “It’s defiantly been the campaign retreat that we did where Ian and I choreographed a one-and-a-half-minute dance and Ian is a little bit better of a dancer than I am."

(James Pace): "A little is an understatement"

(Cooper Cox): [Laughs] "It was really fun and really interesting."

(James Pace): “The whole idea of the campaign retreat is to really lay the groundwork for the rest of the campaign by allowing those to come out and meet us and have fun while do it it. It's just to kind of get a picture of how the campaign is going to work for 5 for Yell. Being able to see all these people come and gather to find out who we are is something that I’ve never dreamed of happening. To me that was really meaningful and a very neat experience to go through."

(Spencer Old): “Our campaign meetings are always interesting. We could probably get done in like half an hour but we always make it last 2 or 3 hours because we always have a great time and have a great group of people working with us and supporting us. It's always interesting to see what’s going to come up at the meeting and how long they will last.”

5. What is one thing most people don't know about you?

(Chris Wilder):“I’m a twin. I’d like to think that I was born on a team, I’ve always had a teammate by my side and I’ve loved seeing how to make a team work and especially through being Yell Leader in the past year. It has been super cool to have a twin that goes here and even growing up you never really went anywhere alone. You always had a buddy with you and always had someone to play catch with. I am so happy and proud every day that we ended up in the same university. Jamie Wilder is my twin and he’s a stud and my best friend and I want people to know that.”

(Ian Moss): “Something that I’d like people to know that people don’t tend to know about me is that I have more of an artistic side. I enjoy drawing, its probably one of my favorite things to do and in high school I took accelerated art classes. Its all about appreciation for other people’s works and more accepting and trying to see things from other people’s perspective. In pursuing that art, I was able to look at other people’s art and kind of see things from their point of view and have a real appreciation for what they were doing and what they were trying to convey."

6. What is your favorite tradition at Texas A&M?

(Spencer Old):“For me it’s Aggie Muster. Last year I got to serve as a Muster Host and I also got the privilege of being a master host for my family and another family. There’s nothing like being down there on that floor. You can be on the stands a Reed Arena and can hear everyone saying ‘here’ but when you are down there right next to the people, it’s probably the most powerful thing. That is probably where I’ve felt a part of the Aggie family the most, you can’t really describe it.”

7. What do you think it means to be a yell leader?

(Cooper Cox): “My belief in taking on this position and this role is that I want to make every student’s desire to make the most of their time here at Texas A&M. It was something that I heard coming in from a former student body president was that he never desired to be a part of any of the organizations he was involved in, he simply wanted to make the most of his time and so me getting to make the most of this opportunity I feel like I only want to inspire and give back to the students that are coming in who are right along with me.”

Meet the 5 for Yell

Chris Wilder

Major & Year: Economics, Junior

Involvement: Ross Volunteer Company, Brotherhood of Christian Aggies, Fish Camp, and MSC ALOT as a freshman

What’s Next?: “After graduation I plan on serving in the military in the Marine Corps”

Spencer Old

Major & Year: Political Science, Junior

Involvement: Fish Camp, ‘Ol Ags, Muster, and Ross Volunteer Company

What’s Next?: “After college I’m going to go into the army”

James Pace

Major & Year: Agricultural Leadership, Junior

Involvement: Parsons Mounted Cavalry and Core of Cadets Baseball Team

What’s Next?: “Upon graduation I’d like to pursue a political career”

Ian Moss

Major & Year: Construction Science, Sophomore

Involvement: Mascot Corporal of Reveille VIII and MSC FISH as a freshman

What’s Next?: “After I graduate I want to get somewhere in the construction field”

Cooper Cox

Major & Year: Construction Science, Sophomore

Involvement: ASSIST as a freshman and Public Relations for Squadron-17

What’s Next?: “After college I plan on going into custom residential construction or commercial construction”

Want to know more? You can find 5 for Yell on Facebook as well as @5foryell on Twitter & Instagram. To vote, go to vote.tamu.edu on February 25-26.