Our Division of
Student Affairs is working on a new initiative to ensure all you Hokies have five key qualities before you complete your undergraduate education.
While you follow a curriculum in your majors, a “course plan” is being
created for outside your major, that centers around key
aspirations for student
learning; this new program will go through a test run with some entering students this fall. Although
this program is new, these aspirations have been in place for a
while. For the past three years, Student Affairs has recognized students who
are already embracing these five areas with ASPIRE! Awards.
To give you an
idea of what some of your fellow Hokies have been up to, I’ve highlighted a 2013-14 ASPIRE! Award recipient
for each aspiration.
Commit to unwavering Curiosity:
Virginia
Tech students will be inspired to lead lives of curiosity, embracing a
life-long commitment to intellectual development. Families with infants in Malawi will be
better off thanks to Ashley
Taylor’s unwavering curiosity where she is working on a team designing
an infant resuscitator to help newborns.
Pursue Self-Understanding and Integrity:
Virginia
Tech students will form a set of affirmative values and develop the
self-understanding to integrate these values into their decision-making. Camryn Sorg
has stayed true to her
value of building sustainable communities through the ten weeks she spent at a
school in Peru and an internship in Virginia Beach’s Environmental and
Sustainability Office.
Practice Civility: Virginia
Tech students will understand and commit to civility as a way of life in their
interactions with others. After Kelly
Berry heard of one student’s plight living out of a gym locker and
the library, she pursued creation of 209 Manna Ministry at the Wesley
Foundation that provides food for students in need.
Prepare for a life of Courageous
Leadership: Virginia Tech students will be courageous
leaders who serve as change agents and make the world more humane and just. Wes
Williams is a change agent in human trafficking where he invented
AboliShop to bring together opponents of human trafficking, and he is
continuing his efforts working for change.
Embrace Ut Prosim as a way of life: Virginia Tech students will
enrich their lives through service to others. Chris Atkins took being the 2013 Virginia Tech
Homecoming King to a whole new level with his “King for a Cause” campaign,
raising funds and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and sharing
his crown with seven year old, Nathan Orban, who is battling cancer.
The list above
is just a handful of this year’s honorees, as well as the 1000’s of other
Hokies who do so much more than get their degrees. Indeed, on the first
Saturday in April, maybe you were one of the 7800 Hokies who gave their time to the local community through
the 13th annual Big Event where student participants had a hand in
almost 900 community service projects.
Millennials as slackers? The next time someone says this to you, tell them to come visit Virginia Tech--The Hokie Nation can definitely prove them wrong, can't we?! After all, we're not just driven for ourselves, but also we're doing it for the 32.
My dear friend and former co-worker, Barbara K Tipton wrote a poem after April 16, 2007. Here are Barbara's moving words:Millennials as slackers? The next time someone says this to you, tell them to come visit Virginia Tech--The Hokie Nation can definitely prove them wrong, can't we?! After all, we're not just driven for ourselves, but also we're doing it for the 32.
Hokies' Spirits Never Die
Barbara Kregloe Tipton
April 30, 2007
Hokies, Hokies, Hokies Die
Leaving us to wonder why
Victims of a hellish fate
The demon did not hesitate
We saw our sacred hallowed hall
Now shrouded in a deathly pall
Too many injured too few survived
The devil’s carnage had arrived
Those who call this campus home
Though thousands strong felt so alone
Then the world came to us from far and wide
To shoulder the burden and stand by our side
They shared their prayers and gave us strength
They vowed to stay with us at length
To give us peace, comfort and relief
To ease the anger, pain and grief
No reason we have for so many lost
We that remain will pay the cost
Too quickly did they all depart
Now they’ll live within our hearts
Hokie, Hokie, Hokie high
Hokies sailing through the sky
Soaring up to Heaven’s door
Hokie angels forever more
After the shock we sought to blame
Our need was great to judge and shame
One grievous gunman acting alone
But he had demons of his own
With time and courage we will forgive
But we’ll not forget as long as we live
With broken hearts we said goodbye
But Hokie Spirits never die.
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