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Janaina Medeiros
Cosimo Galluzzi
we're not kids anymore.
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trying on a metaphor
Kaledo Art
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Kiana Khansmith
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roma★
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@humansofvirginiatech
“My dad actually saw the Facebook event [for the Cadets vs. Civilians Snowball Fight] before me and pushed me to get out of bed this morning. I’m really glad he did because I think it's gonna be one of those college moments I won’t forget… and now I can check it off the Hokie Bucket List.”
“My most inspirational person would be my mom. I came here for engineering because I didn’t really have much of a direction. I liked math and science, so I thought that that would be a good fit for me. Quickly found out [I] wasn’t good at it. I didn’t like it, so I sat down with my roommate and I started looking at all of my options and all of the majors that Tech had to offer. I thought that horticulture sounded cool, and you know, it got me thinking: all my life I’ve been surrounded by plants, thanks to my mom. She’s always had me helping in the garden and we’d often go to Lowes and Home Depot to look at the dying plant rack sale and save all those plants. So, I thought I’d check it out. In my first semester, I fell in love with the subject and I started taking classes. I started getting internships and summer jobs and anything horticulture-related. This past spring, I took an internship at a greenhouse and I loved it. It was crazy, it was long hours, it was hard work, and I just loved it. I thought I was good at it, and actually this summer I’m going back to the same greenhouse to work in propagation, and I have all of this to thank for from my mom. I think it was that little click because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t have any interest in plants if it weren’t for my mom.’ I’m incredibly happy now.
I see myself being a grower of different annuals and perennials. I would really like to start in propagation, and that’s why I have the job this summer: to see if I like it. I think that if you can start a plant from either just a seed or just a cutting, you can pretty much do anything with them. I would really like to start my career there and see where that takes me.”
“I read a quote the other day that said, ‘Don’t light yourselves on fire to keep someone else warm.’ I like to imagine the meaning differently than the [author’s] original intent. Your passions light you up in a way nothing else can. Don’t save that for yourself; lend the light and warmth. There’s nothing more compelling than sitting across from someone speaking about what they love. You see it in their hand gestures, in the electric look in their eyes, the energy in their words. Keep lighting yourself on fire. That’s the good stuff.”
“Why coffee?”
“Personally, it’s not even a caffeine thing because really rarely do I actually feel more awake because of caffeine. It’s mostly just really nice to wake up and just have something set to do. Some people do it with makeup or what they are going to wear, but for me it’s like, ‘Oh, OK. I can wake up and make a cup of coffee or stop by [a cafe] and get coffee.’ There is also this really nice connection between you and coffee shops. I like coffee shops because with restaurants, you sit down at a table, you eat and you are expected to clear out the table so more people can circulate in, get tips for themselves. What makes coffee shops nice is that you are almost invited to loiter. It’s not weird if you are there alone. As someone who likes to spend some time alone, it’s nice to go somewhere that isn’t my house and be alone where no one is judging me for it.”
“My biggest struggle right now is that I need a job. I have spent nearly 10 years in the New River Valley/Roanoke area and I am very ready to get out. It's crazy though because in my field not only are there not a lot of jobs – there aren't a lot of ‘sports’ jobs for TV. And if a station isn't looking to fill a female position.... yeah I’m screwed. I guess this is why everyone says ‘trust the process’ and ‘it will work out’ but my finger calluses say otherwise after typing my 32nd cover letter last night. I'm looking at you Savannah, Georgia. So, I'm struggling with the idea that I may not get a job and will have to move home. But I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and maybe I will meet the love of my life in Botetourt. Who knows.”
“I can definitely say that I grew up with a privileged childhood that I often take for granted. But I realized at an early age that a lot of kids don’t even have the basic essentials that my parents were able to provide for my brother and I, and now for my baby sister. I want to make sure that every kid has an opportunity to follow their dreams and make positive changes, and that’s one of the reasons I’m going into law school after my time here at VT. I’d like to help people who are contributors to this society — the next generation of people who will help run the nation and hopefully who will help others as well one day. Another thing that I’d love to accomplish in my life is to help kids in third world countries by helping to give them a better education and nutritional food. I hate it when I see people throw away food when they actually don’t realize there are people going hungry right in the United States, much less in other countries. And I know the saying, ‘Kids are going hungry in Africa,’ is cliché, but it’s the truth that people need to open their eyes to. I have a lot of goals in my life, but I’d like to think that it’s because I have a great support system and a pretty strong determination — or stubbornness, as some people like to call it — to make them come true.”
“In my family, I’m definitely the closest to my sister. Ever since I was admitted into the hospital last year, she has been by my side through everything, including multiple impulsive $1000 makeup sprees because I am the worst. I can tell she really misses me whenever I have to leave for college after the holidays, considering the fact that I laugh at her when she starts bawling when we have to part ways. She’s going to be a freshman in college in the fall. She’s waiting for her rejection and acceptance letters right now, so we’re in that awful ‘will-I-get-into-the-school-of-my-dreams’ phase. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the film, Lady Bird, but I thought of her throughout the entirety of the movie—a senior in high school with the ultimate dream of moving to New York for school, even if the parents have a difficult time digesting their little girl living somewhere so far and paying for out-of-state tuition. I know our parents are really scared of her future, but I’m not. I know that she’ll make it out alright. She’s the strongest person I’ve had the privilege of watching grow up.”
“I know this is cliche, but don’t be afraid to be weird. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Honestly, I met a lot of my friends through unorthodox means. I met one of my roommates because she was walking across the Drillfield, and I was like, ‘You’re pretty tall,’ and she was like, ‘You’re pretty tall too.’ We’ve been roommates for two years now. She’s the vice president of my club, Unwind. During meetings, we just eat cheeseballs and throw them at random people. It’s a game called cheese catching.
Last year, it was just me and her, but this year we added another roommate. We got this free giant piano from the Free and For Sale page [on Facebook], and I got my friend to come to Foxridge with me to pick it up. That thing wouldn’t move, so I had to call all my friends who live in Foxridge, and they helped us load it onto the truck. I lived on the second floor, which is only eight steps, so I thought we got it. We couldn’t move it again, so I called more friends. It took almost 15 people to move this thing. This year, we live on the third floor. There was no way we were going to do that again, so I gave the piano away. It’s not the same as a piano, but one of my roommates got a ukulele and my other roommate has a harmonica, and with my singing voice, we’re going to make a band.”
“I'm pretty sure me and another coworker saw a ghost over here, too. This library is notoriously thought to be haunted. A lot of people around here actually would be able to tell some type of story like that. It was actually — we were right about here and we saw... it looked like someone just fell on the floor but it's like a weird angle here, so we just saw someone fall and made a loud noise and we looked around and nobody was really reacting. We were like, 'Well, let's go check it out and make sure somebody's OK.’ We went over there, [and] there was absolutely nobody there. It's not as cool, but in the moment we were like, 'What just happened?’ Because even just over there, my boss told me he and the head of the Bud Group saw someone standing by the column and they walked over there — and this was at night — there was nobody in here and there was nobody over there. It's very possible the less people in here, the more likely the spookiness comes out. I've closed this building down myself several times and haven't had anything happen. Walking through here in the dark, you'd think. Of course, I'm kind of the type that's asking for it, so of course it wouldn't happen.”
“I used to live in Blacksburg when I was around 3 or 4 years old. I remember that my mom would take me to the open gym for gymnastics on Saturdays, downstairs at War Memorial Gym where the club team would coach us. I specifically remember doing the butterfly stretch on the floor and they would always tell us to flap our butterfly wings.
For that reason, it’s a little bit weird being back as a student, now. Not only seeing the gymnasium, but just being in the room where I used to practice. When I was 4, I had no idea what college was. It was just a place I would frequently go to, so I never even dreamed of going to college and pursuing a degree in education. I feel like it’s weird that I kind of started my childhood in War and, in a sense, I’m ending my childhood in War, since the school of education is based there.”
“When I came to summer academy, when Cat and I met, she told me we were going to be friends. It was fun because I have never had anyone do that and my biggest concern was going to be making friends here. Now, we are best friends.
You can make a friend very quickly. Never judge a book by its cover. The person you think you wouldn’t be friends with...”
“They are crazy.”
“You [become] friends [with] the people you would never hang out with at first in high school. When you come to college, you interact with different people and actually get close to the people you thought you would never gel well with.”
"I never intended to get a dog while in college. I thought that was ridiculous and I also never intended to get a purebred dog, because I also thought that was ridiculous. But then, basically through a friend of mine, Dana, that I met at a rescue barn that I was volunteering at, she got River. I was living with her over the summer — for a couple of summers while I was working — and for some reason, River just really liked me and became so attached to me and I to her. Then Dana was just like, ‘Well she loves you so much, so you can have her.’ So… she was free. She was just a blessing and a gift that was given to me for free. I tell Dana all the time that she was the best gift I’ve ever received."
“So in the fall of 2013 we did this kind of mini-festival on progress street again, and we had bands coming from all over like Philly, Nashville, New York, not just Blacksburg bands. But this time, the cops came to the first house and we got shut down. We moved the show to another house, but we got shut down again, so we moved houses AGAIN, and I have a sharp recollection of rolling a keg down the street that night. It was a great time. But we knew that we would either never be able to do something like this again, or we had to move somewhere where noise ordinances would be of no consequence. It's totally unfair to the bands when the cops shut us down because then the bands don’t get to play and no one comes and no one gets paid. We had no intentions of this [Progress Fest] becoming as big and popular as it has. None of us involved had even been to a music festival before, but we just wanted awesome shows and to not have to deal with the town’s noise ordinances, so that’s the story of how Progress Fest was born. It’s now hosted here at Highland Farms in Dublin which is only 30 minutes from Blacksburg, and we have over 25 bands that come from all over to play at this festival. It’s how a lot of them got their start, so when they come back to play Progress Fest it means a lot because they’re coming home to play for people they know. I’m so happy to have been a part of fostering this great community within Blacksburg.”
“My favorite part about this job is working with the students and building relationships. Going back to how I got into this profession, my dream was to do event planning. As an undergrad here at Virginia Tech, I studied hospitality and tourism management. A lot of my internships and positions on campus were related to event planning. I thought I wanted to do weddings or corporate events but I was working in the Event Planning Office. When I was a student, I thought “OK, I’m getting skills and career competencies that I need to go beyond.” But as I continued working there and eventually for four and a half years, I realized more than event planning, I liked working with the students. That’s what made me want to get my Master’s in Higher Education and continue to stay in student affairs — to be able to work with students and see them grow and develop, not just successfully within the organization but as leaders and young professionals.
For me, I felt like I tailored my entire collegiate experience to doing event planning, but that all changed when I realized what my actual passion was. Don’t be afraid to follow your passion. Even though that meant going to school longer than I expected and completely backtracking my career path, I’m doing what I love. Not a lot of people can say they love their job. If you realize even your junior year that you’re in a major you’re not liking — bored, struggling through classes or can’t picture yourself working a job for the rest of your life — don’t be afraid to change your mind and to reach out to somebody to help you change your career path. My advice would be to definitely follow your passion.”
“When you think about the phrase ‘responsible pet ownership?’ What sort of things come to mind?”
“For most people, it might be something simple, such as providing food and shelter. There’s nothing wrong about it, but you should also keep in mind that you’re taking in a living being that will depend upon you for every single thing.
Every pet deserves to have everything they need to not only be healthy, but also happy and safe. You need to learn [what] its habits, social behaviors and tendencies are. It breaks my heart when I see a pet living with people who rarely spend time or pay it any attention. They need interaction, companionship and lots of love just like we do. No matter what kind of pet you own, it’s our duty to properly care for them and respect them. Trust me, you’ll get even more in return.”
Happy Valentine's Day everybody! We asked Hokies "why love?"; here are their responses. What would your answer be?
“In elementary school, there was this girl that I met in first grade. Her name was Emily and I wanted to be her friend because she was popular. I asked her, 'Do you want to be my friend?' and she says, 'No, because you’re black.' It was confusing to me because I did not understand the difference and my mom never really explained it to me because she went through something like that.
About a year later, I attended this poor elementary school where I was one of the smartest kids in the class; this made my other classmates resent me. They would make comments saying, 'Why do you sound like a white girl, Azauria?' 'I don’t know, that’s how I talk.' I started feeling some type of way not thinking I wasn’t black enough and everyone was antagonizing me because they felt that I thought I was better than them.
In middle school, my family moved to Virginia Beach and it was a whole different experience because I was being accepted by people for being smart. However, I sometimes felt weary because I felt that there will be that same resentment. Soon, people called me an 'Oreo' because I was 'white on the inside and black on the outside.' I would just laugh it off, but then I would go home and question it. People would ask me if I had any white relatives because I sound like a white person.
I went to a different high school than any of my other classmates, mainly because of the travel programs that they offered. I began to realize that those comments from my past didn’t matter. I got to prove a lot of people wrong about myself. I remember senior year, this freshman who rode the bus with me would be mocked about being an 'Oreo' and asked me, 'Hey Zeze, do I sound like a white person?' I would tell him no and make him understand that that’s just who he is and the way he sounds. I realized that just because you sound white doesn’t mean you’re white on the inside. But at the same time, people just associate sounding white as being educated is degrading.
I felt like a role model in that moment because I was more aware of who I was at that point compared to years previous when I was confused and felt that I needed to fit in. At Virginia Tech, it doesn’t feel the same because you [do not] see as many people that share that kind of ignorance about stuff and if you do meet those types of people, they are more open to changing that way so they don’t offend anyone. Also, in college, people are more mature and more aware. My experience at Tech is a lot more open than those previous years because more people see different points of view.”