Caring For A Queen: Texas A&M BIMS Student Completes Year Alongside University Mascot

Story by Megan Bennett, VMBS Marketing & Communications

May 1, 2025

Sophomore year has been anything but typical for Sarah DeLacerda, a pre-veterinary biomedical sciences (BIMS) major who has spent the past 12 months caring for Reveille X, Texas A&M University’s mascot and the Queen of Aggieland.

As third handler, DeLacerda was one of three students who helped provide Reveille’s daily care and accompanied her to events throughout the year. Whether she was meeting the university president or simply making someone’s day by taking their photo with Reveille, she took great pride in her role upholding one of Texas A&M’s most beloved traditions.

Although her time with Reveille has come to an end — the new, three-person handler team having taken over the mascot’s care in early April — the memories DeLacerda made will last a lifetime.

Caring for Reveille and serving in other leadership positions with the Corps of Cadets has also taught DeLacerda valuable skills in decision-making and responsibility that she plans to apply to her future career as a veterinarian.

Finding A Second Family

DeLacerda is from the small town of Lena, Louisiana, and has wanted to be a veterinarian since she was about 4 years old. She grew up surrounded by animals, even operating a small egg business as a teenager.

“The first time I shadowed a vet was the summer of freshman year in high school,” DeLacerda said. “I was worried that I would see a surgery that first day and be squeamish, but I ended up loving it. Since then, I’ve never dreaded a day when I was at a vet clinic.”

Shortly after, DeLacerda set her sights on Texas A&M for both her undergraduate and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degrees.

“My mom first heard about A&M when she was in college. She and my dad went to a football game and absolutely loved it,” DeLacerda said. “She told me that A&M has a really good vet school and a fun football culture, so A&M was where I wanted to go. It was my dream school.”

DeLacerda first became interested in joining the Corps of Cadets for tuition assistance, but she soon discovered a wealth of other benefits after joining outfit E-2.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we’re a super family-oriented outfit. You have a ton of people supporting you all the time,” DeLacerda said. “We’re also the honor guard for Silver Taps and we produce a lot of yell leaders.”

What outfit E-2 is best known for, however, is being the Texas A&M Mascot Company, with its cadets serving as caretakers for Reveille, the highest-ranking member of the Corps of Cadets.

The Honor Of Caring For Miss Rev

In spring 2024, DeLacerda was selected to serve as Reveille’s third handler after going through a rigorous application and interview process.

“It was an insane feeling,” she said. “They handed me the leash for the first time, and I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh. Reveille is right there. I’m holding the leash of the mascot of one of the biggest universities in the nation.’”

Life as one of Reveille’s handlers involves all the same responsibilities that other cadets have — such as morning and evening formation, exercise, and class — plus helping Reveille’s first and second handlers cover her many weekly appearances and events.

“We had a lot of Rev events around noon and into the evening, usually three to five a week,” DeLacerda said. “Football season was way busier because we also had events on Fridays and games on Saturdays.”

DeLacerda’s specific responsibilities as third handler included making sure that one of the handlers was available for every event, taking photos of Reveille at events, and serving as a “bodyguard” to protect the queen’s image.

“I made sure that every picture that got taken of Rev was a good one,” she said. “And of course, whenever the first and second handlers couldn’t step up, I was on the leash. We were trained in all three jobs, but we all had our specific roles.”

Spreading Joy

Among DeLacerda’s favorite things about her year with Reveille was the joy she was able to bring to others.

“One of my favorite memories was when I took Reveille home to Louisiana, where I knew a family with a fifth-grade girl who wanted to be an Aggie so much she dressed up as one for Halloween,” she said. “I got in contact with her mom and then Rev and I surprised her at a coffee shop. It was amazing seeing that little girl’s face light up completely. 

“She kept on telling her dad, ‘I told you. I told you Sarah was going to get in E-2 and be a Rev handler,’” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this girl believed in me before I even believed in myself.’”

DeLacerda had many opportunities to spread that same joy on campus, whether it was stopping for photos during her walk to class or seeing Reveille release a class by barking — an optional Aggie tradition that most professors choose to follow.

“One of my favorite parts of being a handler was seeing people light up when they saw her,” she said. “It made my day to make people happy in that way.”

Another of her other favorite memories was during the Texas A&M vs. Louisiana State University football game in October.

“It’s just incredible hearing how loud the crowd can get and seeing the whole game from the sidelines,” she said. “We also got to go to the president’s suite to talk to President (Mark) Welsh and Lt. Gen. (Loyd “Chip”) Utterback during that game. The crowd got so loud that the whole suite moved.”

As she wrapped up her time with Reveille this spring, DeLacerda experienced a surreal moment that allowed her to see how far she had come since her relationship with Texas A&M began.

“The first time I was ever on campus was for Aggieland Saturday during my junior year of high school. I got a photo with Reveille in the Memorial Student Center’s Flag Room — the same Reveille I’ve been caring for,” she said. “This year, I worked at Aggieland Saturday for that same exact event in the Flag Room. It was such a full circle moment.”

Passing The Leash

On April 4, DeLacerda and her fellow handlers officially passed Reveille’s leash to the three freshmen who have taken their places for the upcoming year. Although she’s sad to lose her daily interactions with Reveille, DeLacerda knows that this isn’t really “goodbye.”

“We’ll stay in the outfit for two more years, so she’ll get to see us all the time,” she said. “Rev recognizes everyone who has taken care of her and all the families she’s stayed with. It’s such a privilege to be one of the few people Rev wags her tail at because she’s excited to see them again.”

DeLacerda will also play an advisory role for Reveille’s new handlers as they face challenges like coordinating schedules and choosing their own successors.

Even after graduation, DeLacerda will see Reveille again at E-2’s annual barbecues. She’ll also get to keep the leather collar Reveille has been wearing for the past year — one branded with DeLacerda’s initials.

Lessons For The Future

For her remaining two years, DeLacerda will continue to stay busy with leadership roles in the Corps. Next year, she’ll be taking over as recruiting officer for the sixth battalion, which includes outfits E-2, C-2, and N-1.

“The Corps is very much a personalized experience,” she said. “There are a ton of roles that give you leadership experience like you would never get anywhere else.”

DeLacerda’s leadership roles in the Corps will also benefit her future career as a veterinarian.

“Veterinarians are leaders in the clinic; they’re the ones making decisions,” she said. “You have to be confident enough in yourself and your team that you can get the job done.”

After earning her undergraduate and DVM degrees, DeLacerda hopes to serve as a mixed animal veterinarian in a rural town, where she can continue to practice leadership in her daily life and care for all the animals in her community.

“Being one of Rev’s handlers taught me a lot about taking care of something bigger than yourself,” she said. “You learn about compassionate care with your own dogs and cats, but it’s different with Rev because she’s not a pet — she’s the Queen of Aggieland. There are more than 70,000 students and even more alumni who care about her.

“As a veterinarian, I’ll also be taking care of animals that aren’t my own,” she said. “The compassion and responsibility that I’ve practiced while caring for Rev are really going to help me in my future career.”

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For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216

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