With it being “orientation season” at VT, many people have been asking me questions…from current orientation leaders to rising freshman (“first-year”) students. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to partake in this wonderful video about a hike to the Cascades that my friends helped me do. I wanted to share the video here …
Category: Ut Prosim
Home is where the heart is.
It was more than two years ago that, for the first time ever, a Facebook status made me tear up. “As I drive out of Blacksburg tonight, I leave behind my one true love… Virginia Tech. Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll be back again someday and I know you’ll always be waiting for me.” My friend …
National Police Week.
With everything going in the media (and please trust, the aforementioned link is but ONE, and only ONE, example of that “everything”) concerning law enforcement, I wanted to take a moment to recognize many of the law enforcement officials I know personally. This country’s law enforcement network is one of the largest, most comprehensive, and …
4/16.
April 16th, 2007. When someone asks me why I chose Virginia Tech after high school, that date is one of the first things that flashes to the front of my mind. I remember sitting in world history class that year – my junior year of high school – and not really knowing where Blacksburg was, even. But I was watching …
Honored to be appointed by Virginia Governor McAuliffe.
I never thought I’d be able to say that I was an appointee to a gubernatorial administration. Even more importantly, I never thought I’d be able to say that I am a gubernatorial appointee working toward quelling his own hangups and admitted anxiety about working with others with disabilities. But here I am. Last summer …
The next chapter of HESONWHEELS: Everyday philanthropy.
When you think of the word philanthropy, what do you think of? Money? Dollar signs? Donations? Charities? Do any of those words come to your mind? Based on asking this question via HESONWHEELS and in-person over the past four months, those words are very popular “first-thoughts” when people think of philanthropy. Further, based on the …
Friends of Service Awards
It’s a story I tell often. Way back in elementary school, I was elected as the student body president during my 5th grade year. That was a defining experience. The most defining project – irrelevant then, but very meaningful now – was a group project working toward placing new mulch at the front of the …
Maranyundo Girls School [Opportunity to serve for a year in Rwanda].
For the past year, my best friend has been serving as an educator at the Marayundo Girls School in Rwanda. When she was preparing to leave for the trip last winter, it was pretty hard to believe that she would be gone for most of an entire year. It’s been quite the experience for her, …