Students at Texas A&M Use 'Yell Practice' Against Westboro Baptist Protesters

Students at Texas A&M University in College Station attempted to distract from a Westboro Baptist protest by participating in a yell practice this week. 

The tradition of "yell practice" at the Texas university involves students gathering and in unison shouting different phrases that are meant to encourage school spirit ahead of a football game.

While the Westboro Baptist group, an extremist religious group, gathered near the school's Memorial Student Center on Monday to protest, A&M students gathered at the nearby Simpson Drill Field for an impromptu drill practice. Elyssa De Caprio, the organizer of the yell practice, told the local KBTX-TV station that the purpose of the drill practice was to both celebrate the birthday of the U.S. Marines and also to drown out the protests of the Westboro Baptist members. About 100 students showed up for the yell practice.

"Their message is just one of pure hate, and it's not something we want people to listen to," De Caprio told the local media outlet.

Another group of students reportedly showed up at the location of the Westboro Baptist protesters to go head to head with members of the group. While Westboro Baptist protesters carried signs about hate, A&M students carried signs about love and acceptance.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Westboro Baptist issued a press release explaining why it chose to protest A&M University, writing in part that: "When you do a Google search about them, all you see is jibber jabber about their football team."