Collegiate Times

In his book “The Call of Service,” Robert Coles cites Dorothy Day, a prominent social worker and journalist, as a model of someone who exemplified a “call to service.” In the conclusion, he explains that Dorothy’s call is not only “toward others — heart, mind, and soul — but also a call inward, a call to (her)self, a call that is a reminder ... of light in us.”

This newsletter is an opportunity for the Office of Alumni Affairs and the new Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships to reveal that light and demonstrate that many Hokies are hearing and heeding their own calls to service. In it, we will document and share some of the wonderful community-oriented projects that individuals and groups are undertaking. These projects range from relatively simple, straightforward volunteer service (e.g., painting, cleaning) to far more in-depth and extended projects such as the collaboration with a local Head Start program that involves a graduate student organizing weekly deliveries of fresh fruit and produce from farmers involved in the local farmers market, and adding menus, recipes and advice for a healthier diet provided by an undergraduate class in dietetics. Given the preponderance of childhood obesity, particularly among families with lower incomes, such service fills many voids and builds not only healthy bodies but also provides essential information that could have a lifelong positive impact on the individuals and families involved.

In many ways, what we will share with you in these newsletters will be representative examples of Virginia Tech’s involvement in creating what the authors of Common Fire refer to as a “commons — a shared, public space of the sort that anchored the American vision of democracy.” This “commons” might be called Hokie or Ut Prosim Nation. Regardless of its name, our “commons” includes the many spaces where dedicated students, staff, faculty and alumni from our university work toward building community, toward sharing the many gifts of knowledge and experience they possess. And in this “commons,” Hokies (and their friends and families) practice and enact a more active form of citizenship that involves commitment and an acknowledgment of responsibility toward others. That enactment is a move in the direction of cultivating humanity and achieving the ideal of a world citizen, whose loyalties and obligations extend beyond artificially imposed boundaries.

We hope you’ll enjoy the stories you’ll read here and consider sharing your stories with us. In addition, we hope that you’ll take time to learn more about our organizations by visiting our Web sites and our social media homes on Facebook.