Collegiate Times

Homecoming isn’t just for Greeks. Homecoming is for everyone. Homecoming is about being a Hokie and giving back to our community and our university. Do you want to know what I’m about? I’m about being a Hokie, and giving back to our community and our university.

During my first week of classes, as an innocent bushy-tailed freshman, I rolled up to the offices of the Collegiate Times, down the third floor of Squires Student Center. I walked in, and I said, “Is there any way that I can join the newspaper?”

By the end of that visit, I had my first assignment. By the end of that semester, I advanced from a news writer to a news reporter. By the end of that year, I advanced into an editor position — Public Editor. That’s where I’ve been ever since.

To read the rest of Justin’s column, go online to collegiatetimes.com.

I joined the CT for one reason. I knew it would allow me to meet people. I knew it would allow me to connect with more than those within my organization. I knew, for a fact, that it would allow me to learn more about this university than I would have in any other university organization. It allowed me to be a part of something bigger than myself.

I was right.

My time here at Virginia Tech has consisted of a lot of things — a lot of friends, a lot of classes, a lot of student organizations, and a lot of involvement.

But one thing has always unsettled me, and almost alienated me. For most, the popularity contest known as Homecoming is some silly Greek event. It’s not something that people think of when they think of the word "service."

I bet you can guess what I think of when I think of Homecoming — service.

Community service has molded who I am as a person today. It has shaped most of the beliefs that I hold everyday, especially when I’m embodying the spirit of Ut Prosim, our university motto that means “that I may serve.”

Homecoming needs to be about community service. It needs to be about the alumni that will be witnessing all of our great traditions for the umpteenth time. Traditions that we owe them for — that they helped create, that they helped continue and that we are simply living out for them.

Fun fact: In the summers, I work for the Department of Homeland Security. The joy I get from helping protect my country is limitless. But it is only partially as large as the emotion and joy that I get when I hear our fight song, or when I see people living out traditions like the game ball or the Cadet vs. civilian snowball fight, or engaging in the Hokie Hi! Welcome Back Picnic with the Hokie Bird.

I’m on court because I want to help refocus the image that people get in their minds when they hear the word Homecoming here at Tech.

If I am crowned king, I will work to UNITE the Greek population with ALL students, and to continue the traditions and nature of Ut Prosim all across our beautiful campus and into the wonderful community that is Blacksburg, Va. 

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 18 issue of the Collegiate Times.