Virginia Tech is known for being filled with students who love their school with every fiber of their being and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Most of the time, I don’t blame them. There are a lot of things to celebrate on this campus. In honor of this awesome institution, I’ve done my best to articulate the six best things about Virginia Tech. (Yes – the food makes it onto the list!)
The Spirit
If there’s one thing Virginia Tech has a reputation for, especially in its home state, it’s the powerful school spirit. It is a well-established fact that everyone in Blacksburg bleeds maroon and orange and constantly radiates excitement for their school. This means that students are supportive of their peers in all things – not just the football team and not just when they’re winning games. This school does not have to push its students to show up at events of all kinds. The students will do it on their own enthusiastically. This includes more than just sporting events – it extends, more importantly, to the realm of service events such as The Big Event and Relay for Life. You can find Hokies showing their love for Tech in all settings at any time of the year.
The Attitude
Virginia Tech is a large school that feels small. (Sometimes you would be amazed at just how small.) The sense of community is out of this world. Hokies are known for loving their school and by extension, caring deeply about everyone in it. Not only is the community close-knit, but it’s carried by an extremely positive attitude. When the students are happy to be here, you can tell, and the happiness quickly permeates through the campus. Hokies also tend to be very balanced, meaning that while most are intelligent and hard-working, most are also surprisingly laid-back and down-to-earth. It’s fantastic to attend a school where there are a lot of smart, high-achieving people who manage to not adopt an air of snobbery.
The Food
It’s no secret that the food on Virginia Tech’s campus is delicious. To many students here, saying this sounds very cliché, but it would be unfair to leave this out. The Princeton Review currently ranks Tech number two (number one if you don’t count private schools) in the country for best food. Some dining halls feature dishes like London broil and lobster. You’ll find nicer dishes in our dining halls than you will at many local restaurants. In my four years in college, the number of choices still seems so vast to me that the food has not gotten old!
The Opportunities
Big schools aren’t necessarily for everyone. One advantage they do offer, however, is an incredible amount of opportunities. It is possible to do almost anything here, no matter how strange or irrelevant it may seem to someone else. Do you want to study abroad in Mongolia as a psychology major? You can probably do that. Do you want to join a Simpsons fan club? Go for it. Does it not exist? It will take you a few days at most to create one. No matter how eclectic your interests are, or no matter how many different things you want to be doing at once, it’s possible.
The Diversity of Thought
Let’s face it – the South does not come without its (often unfair and undeserved) negative stereotypes. “Why would you want to go to school in southwestern Virginia? They’re all so stupid down there! Not to mention the place has no culture! Everyone’s just a boring white hick.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard variations on these assumptions when the topic of Blacksburg comes up. This really, truly could not be further from the truth. In fact, Virginia Tech has quite a balanced, diverse population of students. The racial and cultural diversity isn’t incredible, but thankfully, true diversity doesn’t typically come from what we look like on the outside. Having over 28,000 Hokies on campus guarantees that you’ll meet people of many varying backgrounds, belief systems, political affiliations, and general schools of thought. It’s impossible to be justified in complaining that you can’t find anything in common with any other students here – it is what you make it. There are guaranteed to be people like you in Blacksburg, and more than enough who are quite different. You just have to seek them out!
The Traditions
Virginia Tech is known for being a school steeped in tradition. In large part thanks to the Corps of Cadets, the university is home to a lot of unique customs, events and cultures not necessarily found anywhere nearby. Everything from our Ring Dance weekend celebrations to the firing of the Skipper at football games to the dual marching bands are all amazing things to experience as a Hokie.
Unfortunately, for every yin, there is a yang. For every sunny day, there is a hurricane. For every chocolate cupcake, there is a dirt-filled taco sprinkled with mold. Next week, we’ll tackle the five worst things about Virginia Tech.