Ut Prosim: That I May Serve

We Are Virginia Tech

Growing up in Southern Virginia I learned what it means to be a part of a unit, that individuality can be best utilized when in service to the group. My attentions were focused on the more “practical” side of things; I sincerely considered attending the Naval Academy and pursuing a career in intelligence or medicine. The thought of being a writer or attending an art school seemed like a pipe-dream, an idea born out of a desire to agitate my father. And then April 16, 2007 happened. I had just come home from a visit at Pratt when my sister called and told me that there was a shooter loose on her campus.

I spent the day listening to CNN report the death toll like a baseball score. Seventeen. Twenty-One. Twenty-Four. Thirty. Thirty-Two. It was my first real lesson, that bad things can happen to good people and that nothing is ever fare or easy. Through that day and those to come I learned the value of living for yourself and for others, that I can keep going long after I think it can’t.

Three days later poet Nikki Giovanni gave a speech and reminded us all that, “We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.” I listened to her words from my car radio, and it was then that I realized what it means to serve, to have creation, art, be a part of the larger picture.