Literary Review

When searching Virginia Tech’s Addison and the online databases I found a wealth of material on Virginia Tech. However, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for or expecting to find. I tried all possible combinations of key words: “Virginia Tech”, “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University”, “Virginia Tech Hokies”, “Hokies”, “Hokie Community”, “Hokie Nation”, “Hokie Effect”, “What’s a Hokie”, “I am a Hokie”… You name it, I tried it! All the searches returned either a history of Virginia Tech, information on many of the Hokies sports teams (primarily Frank Beamer and the Hokie football team), and most often, it returned articles concerning the recent Virginia Tech massacre. On the one hand, I was disappointed to find out that people primarily associated Virginia Tech with the recent campus shooting and its collegiate sports program, but on the other hand, I felt even more empowered to find out what set Virginia Tech apart from all other schools.
Although I believe a lot of my findings will come from personal interviews of Virginia Tech students and faculty, I did attempt to sort through a lot of the jumble during my search, and here are some of the materials I found.
Bertholf, Aaron. "The Hokie Nation Will Prevail." The Florida Times-Union 22 Apr. 2007. Factiva. ProQuest.
This article is a compilation of two essays written by Virginia Tech students. Each describes what it was like to live through the week that saw the deadliest school shooting in history. In the first essay, Aaron Bertholf, a member of The Marching Virginian’s, Virginia Tech’s marching band, talks about the loss of a fellow bandmate and the impact it had on him and the band. In the second essay, Allison Kassel talks about the pride instilled in her by the Virginia Tech Community and Blacksburg area, and her belief that the bonds that tie Hokies together will only grow stronger in the face of the catastrophe.
From the beginning, I planned on looking at the Virginia Tech massacre as a testament to the dedication and perseverance of the Hokie Community. The question was, however, what personal account or accounts did I want to use. One of the things about this article that I found intriguing was that both students used the words of Nikki Giovanni, poet and Virginia Tech faculty member, to end their essays. Aaron Bertholf ends his with the words…
“We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, We are brave enough to bend to cry, And we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again…We are Virginia Tech.”
Allison Kassel concludes with…
“We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through our sadness. …We are the Hokies. …”
I hope to incorporate both their stories as well as both pieces of poetry to show the spirit of the Hokie Community in the face of adversity.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Virginia Tech Dreams. [Blacksburg, Va.]: Virginia Tech, 2004.
Virginia Tech Dreams, if anyone might recall, was one of the promotional videos that was shown during orientation. Its overarching message, “Their dreams will transform our world”, is one of the main reasons I chose this piece. It talks about the idea of outreach and highlights the school’s motto, ut prosism, “so that I may serve”. It also points out how this community outreach allows for the education of the whole student. While it doesn’t elaborate significantly on these topics, it has given me an idea to work with while examining other research and conducting interviews.
Wallenstein, Peter. Virginia Tech, Land-Grant University, 1872-1997: History of a School, a State, a Nation. Blacksburg, Va: Pocahontas Press, 1997.
This book in the simplest sense is a history of Virginia Tech. It covers the first 125 years after the schools establishment in 1872. The main advantage and disadvantage of the book is that it tends to be more of a social and political history of higher education both in the United State and in the state of Virginia. While there is still a focus on Virginia Tech, the book does come off as somewhat encyclopedic. However, being written in this broad context, the author compares the happenings of Virginia Tech to those of the University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, William and Mary, et cetera. What made Virginia Tech what it is today and why is it different from the other Virginia schools? And furthermore, who was/were the major figure(s)?