By Megan, a second year graduate student in CAUS
Major: Public and International Affairs
In 2009, I officially became a
Hokie and have not left Blacksburg, Va., since. The reason for this is not because I have nothing better to do, but because I have found a new family and a new home at
Virginia Tech. It is hard to explain the bond that comes with being a
Hokie. In fact, I don't think it can be put in words. It's something along the lines of seeing someone wearing a VT shirt in the Dominican Republic when your flight is cancelled and knowing you can spend the whole day with them and they will look out for you. This did, indeed, happen.
The reason I have had opportunities such as these to see how far the Hokie Nation truly does extend across borders, is because of Virginia Tech’s many opportunities. Clubs, groups, sports, arts of all sorts are at Tech. Therefore, diversity of our students, and subsequently alumni, means that there are service projects, like Cailin McHale’s ('06) Project Esperanza in the Dominican Republic aiding Haitian refugees or Emily Barry’s ('09) community development partnership with El Porvenir, Honduras.
There are also ample research opportunities, like College of Architecture and Urban Studies'student initiated research grant that helped, along with funds from the School of Public and International Affairs and programs managed by the Office of International Research, send me to Ecuador this summer to research women in agriculture and funded Andrew Puhl ('10) to research historic pole-barns in New River Valley and create illuminated fine art photographs of them. Additionally, opportunities for academic competition and conferences, most notably the Solar Team that built a solar house, LUMENHAUS, and competed in, and won, an international Solar Decathlon this summer in Madrid, Spain.
All of the above mentioned relate in some way, whether that be guidance or class participation or student participation or funding, to the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and represent just a small portion of the many opportunities offered for real world education and collaboration across academic fields.
Because Virginia Tech is focused on research, this allows students to have opportunities to learn outside of the class and put their book knowledge to work. Students from every major have the opportunity to work on research and projects that are current and innovative. The College of Architecture and Urban Studies has four schools: the School of Architecture + Design; the School of Visual Arts; the Myers-Lawson School of Construction; and the School of Public and International Affairs. There are plenty of opportunities to work with leaders in the field and cooperate in interdisciplinary research to broaden your horizon.
As I stepped back from the front desk and began to evaluate what my next move 
