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The indescribable essence of being a Hokie

Pylons at an Angle

Before I ever endured a sultry late-summer afternoon in Lane Stadium or watched the last of the day’s sunlight diminish over the horizon from the cool, stone perch of the Pylons, I had been told Virginia Tech was a special place. Hailing from Maryland, I grew up among Hokie alumni – including my mother – who, even well removed from their formative years, were always willing to digress into the magic of their beloved alma-mater. They spoke not so much in concrete anecdotes, but more in drawn-out descriptions of the aura, the abstract substance of the school, the town, and the people.

The howl of winter wind filling campus archways. The echoing cadence of the Cadets drifting into an open classroom window. The notion that time spent in Blacksburg is as unique as it is fleeting.

In May 2014, I decided that I would spend the subsequent four (to five) years of my life studying at Virginia Tech, and, in equal measure, discovering what about this place resonated so strongly with such a diverse group.

When I arrived in August of the same year, I was determined to be a sponge for all of Virginia Tech’s offerings. In this way, I figured, I could find the crux of the abstract, the indescribable. I kept my nose in my engineering texts, volunteered for clubs, and joined a fraternity. I spent long days in the library, and longer evenings contorting in Cassell Coliseum, urging “my” team to victory. I have stood in awe at the annual vigil for the 32 victims of April 16, 2007, and admired the philanthropic efforts of thousands of students during The Big Event. I have made some of the best friends I will likely ever know.

As graduation for the Virginia Tech’s 2018 class draws near, I have tried to afford myself time to reflect, to ascertain how I have grown, and why. The former is not all too complicated: I have become more curious, independent, interpersonal, confident, and pragmatic. I have learned all the menial stratagems –  doing one’s own laundry, cooking on a budget, managing miniscule free-time, creating lifelong relationships – for first-world survival.

The latter half of the question – the “why” – still gives me fits. What are the condensed Blacksburg offerings that so positively impact the lives of its students? What is the thesis for explaining the magic of Virginia Tech? As an engineering student, my world is often dealt with in absolute terms; the absence of concrete answers has long frustrated me.

Four years after my first day in the rolling hills and dewy grass of southwest Virginia, I am certain that no words are truly fitting. Even as I strain to describe the terrain, the architecture, the people, even the most scrupulously detailed sentence feels like an injustice. No single answer is sufficient for describing the essence of Hokies or their home.

You have to actually walk through the marshes of the Duck Pond after a trademark Blacksburg rainstorm, and sit in a cramped Hahn Hall auditorium desk, nervously anticipating a test. You have to come here, and you have to live it.

And with mere months remaining in my tenure in this adopted home, I stand resolute in my faith that there is no better decision to make.

Travis Bauer

Travis Bauer is a senior from Colesville, Maryland, majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Green Engineering and will graduate in December. He has served on the Virginia Tech Interfraternity Council Executive Board; as president of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI); as an opinion columnist for the Collegiate Times; and as a representative on the Commission on Student Affairs. He is a member of the service organizations Bridges to Prosperity and Engineers for a Sustainable World. In addition, Travis is founding partner of Community Outreach through Resourceful Engineering. His top five strengths are Input, Learner, Competition, Significance, and Achiever.