Wednesday-Ut Prosim

The Virginia Tech motto is Ut Prosim.  It is Latin for "That I May Serve".  Members of the Virginia Tech community take this very seriously and students are strongly encouraged to take part in community service activities in and around Blacksburg.  The spirit of Ut Prosim is perhaps greatest demonstrated through "The Big Event".

The Big Event is a student-run community service effort that is the 2nd largest event of its kind in the nation. Every spring, thousands of Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff  complete hundreds of community service projects throughout Blacksburg, Christiansburg and the New River Valley.  Last year The Big Event attracted 6,731 volunteers who completed 950 projects.

Virginia Tech students are always encouraged to participate in community service activities, and Virginia Tech provides a wide variety of projects for many different areas of interest.  For example, I have participated in post-football game trail cleanup, which allows me to do something I enjoy, hiking, while performing community service.  I also had the opportunity to travel to Coalwood, West Virginia to volunteer at the October Sky Festival.  While I was volunteering I met NASA astronauts as well as Homer Hickam, which was a great experience for someone interested in aerospace engineering.

I brought up Ut Prosim because I participated in another community service activity today, the Lee Hall blood drive.  I gave my pint of blood, drank my orange juice, and ate my free cookies along with many other Lee Hall residents.  And now I leave you with this: a beautiful picture...of my arm.