Collegiate Times

Four years ago I learned what heartbreak was.

When I received my rejection letter from the admissions department at the University of Virginia, I experienced that dreadful feeling of your heart melting into your stomach. In high school, I had a picture of Scott Stadium on my wall. When the class before me graduated, those heading to Charlottesville did not part with "goodbyes"; it was more along the lines of, "see you in a year, Adam."

But, in the fall of 2002, I walked into the offices of the Collegiate Times looking for something to occupy my time. I walked out with a story assignment, and a week later my story "Students take a poke at fencing" appeared in the paper ? and on the door of my Mom?s refrigerator.

Little did I know back then that my decision to pick up a story about Virginia Tech?s fencing club would be a move that nearly defined my four years of college. I shudder at the thought of trying to calculate the number of hours I put into producing these pages four times a week ? adding it all up would point to this job defining my quick four years in Blacksburg.

But it doesn?t.

Considering all I do now is spend countless hours being nostalgic, the moments that define my college experience are extremely personal and never made the pages of the Collegiate Times.

So, I thought about some of the special things I witnessed over the years, and there were a lot. Moments like putting down my books to sprint to Cassell Coliseum to witness the last three minutes of Tech?s win over Rutgers that sent the Hokies to the Big East Basketball Tournament and standing behind the net while Tech won its first NCAA Tournament game in men?s soccer made me proud to be a Hokie. But they weren?t defining college moments.

Talking to then-Miami quarterback Brock Berlin minutes after his first collegiate loss, standing on the sideline when Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the Orange Bowl and sitting 10 feet away from Sean Dockery when he hit a 50-foot shot to beat Tech in Cameron Indoor Stadium are moments that I?ll hold dear for the rest of my life. They don?t come close to what has been most important to me.

The freshman year nights I spent in Peddrew-Yates and Vawter Hall with guys I will call life-long friends and the memories I made with them are the defining moments.

Running around a pitch-black Lane Stadium on a random Tuesday night or sitting in the front row when Tech beat Virginia on ESPN2 in 2003 with those Vawter guys (there are some priceless shots of us on camera) are the types of moments that define my four years here. Afternoons on the hill at English Field and evenings on the intramural fields thinking we were still as athletic as we were in high school are dear to me.

Last summer, I worked as an orientation leader for Virginia Tech. Every night when I would part ways with my group, I would take them by an area on campus where I spent hours on end when I was a freshman, and talk to them about how fast the time flies in Blacksburg.

If you?re on the verge of graduation, then you?re probably nodding your head at this point because you know it?s true. If not, heed the warning and make what time you have left priceless.

For the first few weeks I was a freshman in Blacksburg, I was on a personal vendetta to show those admissions people in Charlottesville that they made a mistake. But it didn?t take me long to shelve those feelings I was harboring because I realized Blacksburg is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and instead wanted to maximize my experience, which I hope all of you have done and will do.

To the class of 2006, I hope you are as proud as I am to become a Hokie alumnus (as sad as that sounds). I have enjoyed every single day producing the pages of the sports section for your viewing pleasure ? thank you for reading.

To all the people I made memories with the last four years, you all helped defined me and my time here ? an unparalleled gift for which I am ever grateful.

And with my last breaths on these pages I just want to recognize the three most important people in my life and my three biggest supporters. Mom, Dad and Alex, I love you guys.