 At the start of World War II , Texas A & M was selected as one of six engineering colleges to participate in the Electronics Training Program , a ten @-@ month activity of 12 @-@ hour study days to train Navy personnel who were urgently needed to maintain the then @-@ new , highly complex electronic equipment such as radar . These colleges provided the Primary School , wherein the key topics of the first two years of a college electrical engineering curriculum were condensed into three months . The instructional effort at College Station was developed and led by Frank Bolton , EE department head and future Texas A & M president . At a given time , some 500 Navy students were on the campus , a significant fraction of the then @-@ years enrollment . Students graduating from the Primary Schools then went to a secondary school , one of which was at Ward Island , Texas ( the future location of Texas A & M University @-@ Corpus Christi ) . 
