Campus Activities Board welcomes a new Texas A&M University-San Antonio tradition of celebrating Hump Day. On Jan. 30, students, faculty and staff initiated the new tradition on the east lawn of the campus with food, music and a camel named Mr. Humphrey.
Every other Wednesday the Campus Activities Board will host events on campus for students to engage, relax and enjoy being on campus.
La-Tieka Sims, president of Campus Activities Board and business management junior, invited Mr. Humphrey to campus after a Google search for camels.
“Students can feel middle of the week blues. People are tired. We had a camel on campus! We can get through the week,” Sims said.
Kayla Salwey, board vice president and political science senior said they’re trying to bring awareness and increase student involvement.
“When you’re involved, you stay in school,” Salwey said. “And we want this to be the school you’re proud to go to and that you’re involved with. That’s definitely why we do events like this.”
Mr. Humphrey will turn 2 years old on Mar. 12 and is a dromedary camel. He was born and raised at Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch in Pilot Point, Texas, north of Dallas.
Valmon and Jessica Meade are the owners of Carriages, Camels and Critters from Gonzalez, Texas who raised and trained Mr. Humphrey. They have a variety of animals including a llama, alpaca, chickens and deer. They host petting zoos for any event and give carriage and wagon rides guided by either a horse or unicorn.
Jessica Meade said Mr. Humphrey is full of personality and loves the camera. Sometimes he likes to set himself and friends free from the barn. Mr. Humphrey grunts, Meade explained.
“Camels in general are the smartest animal that I have worked with. He will walk around the barn opening side latches in our gate,” Jessica Meade said. “Literally he’ll go let his friends out and not just let himself out but let out who he wants to let out.”
Valmon Meade said Mr. Humphrey wasn’t always the way he is now. At first he was wild and he didn’t know anything, but they broke him to halter, broke him to lead, and now he’ll even lay down for them. He said they’ve taken him inside libraries and taken him to schools.
“He’s perfect for the kids,” Meade said.
Biology freshman Anita Sangbong said she liked having a camel on campus and that it was nice meeting Mr. Humphrey.
“A lot of people have never seen a camel, so I think it’s really nice so people get to actually see him and pet the camel,” Sangbong said. “So I think that was pretty cool.”
Camels are mammals that have been domesticated for more than 3,000 years, over 7 feet tall and can weigh up to 1,600 pounds. The two types of camels found in different parts of the world are dromedary and bactrian camels. Dromedary camels have a single hump rather than two humps of their bactrian relatives, according to National Geographic website.
Timothy Guevara, special education freshman, said he was surprised by the new tradition. He said it was his first time seeing a camel on campus.
“I thought it was neat,” Guevara said. “I think it was a bit of a stress reliever, actually it was. I just kind of felt it.”
Sims said Campus Activities Board had to work closely with the risk management department. A lot of paperwork was involved and a lot of communication with Carriages, Camels and Critters.
“Risk management department did a great job of assisting us getting everything together and communication with the vendor as well,” Sims said. “And so once we got all of that paperwork passed through and signed, and all of those T’s crossed and I’s dotted, we were approved through the president’s office.”
The Office of Student Activities serves as the umbrella organization guiding everything from events, student organizations, lectures and other campus activities. They provide guidance for students to assist them in any academic goals. The campus activities board puts out different programing events that encourage students to attend and get them engaged.
Campus Activities Board events are free for students and future Hump Day events will be posted around campus and JagSync, the campus activities portal.
The new tradition of Hump Day is scheduled throughout the entire semester. On Feb. 13. before Valentine’s Day, CAB will host a card making and customizable bath bombs event on the east lawn.
La-Tieka Sims said this tradition is what Campus Activities Board wants to bring tenure to. Sims said she had a tremendous turn-out and plans to make the tradition even bigger by partnering campus activities board with other school organizations.
“I think this will be something good to create on campus and hopefully it will continue forever,” Sims added.
