Sunday, March 21, 2010
Virginia Tech students serve the community
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- Montgomery schools' $6.2 million deficit
- This column does not compute
- Make political parties pay for their primaries
- Tough times ahead for schools
From the RoundTable blog
Many New River Valley residents' random thoughts about Virginia Tech might go something like this:
Lots of students ... Stay off the highways around holidays and football games ... Beware the outpouring of bars on Friday and Saturday nights ... Hokies rule ... April 16 ... Overcome ... Students and football fans pump money into the local economy ... Performing arts ... Stick it in, stick it in, stick it in ... Economic engine ... Loud parties ... Hokies rule.
We too often forget the quiet good that Tech students do in the community. Not all students, mind you. Pluck one from the Drillfield at random and she probably does not think much about her temporary home one way or the other. But some students embrace the school's motto of Ut Prosim -- That I may serve -- and take it beyond campus.
At the best of times, their service coincides with their education.
Sometimes such service is largely invisible.
When Christiansburg officials wondered whether residents really cared about sidewalks and how the town might better incorporate pedestrian routes, they turned to Tech students with urban design and survey skills for help.
Sometimes the service is mysterious.
The best way into The Roanoke Times' Christiansburg office from the south is through the Walmart parking lot. A while back, I daily saw Tech students standing on the corner in the lot. Occasionally one of them flashed a sign at a car, urging the driver to buckle up. The other made a note on a clipboard.
One morning, my curiosity finally got the better of me, and I stopped to ask what they were doing.
They explained that they showed the sign to people who were not wearing a seat belt. Then they noted whether the driver complied. The experiment tested the positive value of signs for safety.
Maybe that data has since informed some public policy; maybe it just convinced a few people to get back in the habit of safe motoring.
Sometimes the service is on display.
Such was to be the case for the Big Build this spring. Students were going to build a house on campus and then move it to Pulaski for a local family. The project was in partnership with Community Housing Partners.
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Students from diverse backgrounds brought their fresh skills to the project. Marketing and management students raised funds and organized. Designers and architects planned an environmentally sound structure that could serve as a model for smart building. Others would help with the building itself.
Their experiential learning arose not from class credit but from generosity -- that they may serve.
Alas, the project fell apart, not for any mistake by students, but for the vagaries of permitting, safety and liability. Students, faculty and staff will still build a home, but it will be on-site in Pulaski. It just will not be the Big Build anymore. Perhaps they will succeed next year now that they have identified the pitfalls.
In the meantime, as Tech's school year starts to wind down, look at students in a fresh light. They do not just pad Blacksburg's population for the U.S. Census. They are more than shoppers and drinkers bolstering the economy and providing tax revenue.
They contribute to the community by turning their education to service.
