Virginia Tech held its 150th yearly graduation with commencement on the field at Lane Stadium for all 6000 graduates on Friday, May 16. The event’s atmosphere was filled with celebration, student hope for the future, and parents’ and family pride for all those wearing a cap and gown decked out with orange cords that day.
The ceremony’s speaker was Regina Dugan, an alum of VA Tech. She shared a speech that spoke to this generation of students who have overcome many personal obstacles to be able to celebrate their achievement of completing a university education. Instead of talking about her own personal academic achievements, which are many, Ms. Dugan shared how fear need not be what stands in the way of achievement. To not fear fear itself, but to embrace it as she related to the students that they indeed, will need to walk through their fears in life. She likened fear to a burning building. That in life we walk through fear to save what is precious to us. “What’s inside your burning building?” she queried. “I do not wish you a life of burning buildings. I wish you a life full of people, purpose, and passions worth running into a burning building to save. Fear isn’t weakness – it’s a signal. It points to what matters most. And walking toward fear is how you build a life of meaning.”
And so, she was exhorting these students who have lived through the burning buildings of COVID disrupting their high school educations, struggled with debilitating mental health challenges, and the deaths of friends to the tragedy of suicide, to not let these burning buildings halt their courage to do life well. Her words were subtle, not naming the giants that these young people have faced but alluding to the reality that their lives have been constrained by many fears, yet fears that have been overcome and still can be.
Another VA Tech alum, David Wilson, recently retired president of Toyota Racing Development, spoke of his own inadequacies in his school years of not fitting in socially and feeling awkward. He stated that success isn’t simply measured by trophies or wins but rather by “showing up, leaning into discomfort, and caring for the people around you.” The same words shared by both speakers that despite all that can come against us, the perseverance to serve is a prize worth striving for.
What poignant words to the students of this generation. These are the students whose parents on the VA Tech Facebook parent group had posted that many of their children had not obtained their degree in four years but in a five to seven-year-long hurdle. But made it they did! This generation with their onslaught of personal fears and yes, at times, defeat, graduated showcasing their rises from their falls. They had found a sense of belonging at Tech four years ago. They are the epitome of the VT students’ motto – “This is home.”
The atmosphere of curiosity and learning, problem-solving, and serving encapsulates the mission of Virginia Tech – UT PROSIM. Whether in engineering, medicine, business, or computer science, these students have participated in local community projects, served on local rescue squad units, volunteered for Hurricane Helene relief work, raised money for cancer research, and partnered with a local school to address mental health needs in the community, just to mention a few.
For these students, participating in service activities builds a vision for the future, helps them see that they have a place in the world, and marks them as arrows to be sent into their worlds to continue this life of service. Stewarding difficulties by serving transforms a young student through an important life lesson – how to not focus too much on oneself but to look outward from the difficulties they’ve gone through. This outward gaze is what enables them to find solutions in their academic areas of expertise and show up for the people who will be a part of the companies and workplaces where they will be employed. Serving comes at a cost because one can’t totally look inward when attempting to serve and make a difference in others’ lives becomes the goal. But from their serving – the giving of their minds and hearts for the problems around them – they are helped in their own journeys by gaining individual fortitude – fortitude built by serving and living for others’ good as well. It’s a powerful lesson in using their God-given gifts and talents to help others in transformative ways. And in their helping, their own lives are transformed by focusing on others. It’s a lifelong lesson of “UT PROSIM”, the Tech motto. A great example of UT PROSIM follows with the story below.
Last year, a teacher brought balloons to school and asked his students to blow them all up and then had them all write their names on one of the balloons. Once they wrote their names on the balloons, they tossed them in the hallway while the teacher mixed them from one end of the hall to the other. The teacher then gave them five minutes to find their balloon with their name on it. The students ran around looking frantically but as time ran out, nobody had found their own balloon. Then the teacher told them to take the balloon closest to them and give it to the person whose name was on it. In less than two minutes everyone had their own balloon. Finally, the teacher said, “Balloons are like happiness. No one will find it looking for theirs only. Instead, if everyone cares about each other, they will find theirs much more quickly than when they just look for theirs alone.”
Success is measured by the degree to which we serve others, lifting them up as well as us who have served. We grow confident that we are not victims, but victors in this life – for as we serve, the atmosphere in our world changes. So, for these VA Tech graduates, “Go and defy the odds about what is said about your generation. You don’t have to live captive to your own fears about whether you have what it takes to ‘be successful’ in your world.”
Turning to the words of Seneca on UT PROSIM and its meaning, we find the definition of this Latin phrase to mean “striving to do some lasting benefit to one another”. In the context of education, serving is the way forward to finding meaningful links between academic studies and community involvement. A true and great education puts us in proximity to not only “being” but “doing”. Thank you, Virginia Tech, for helping our young students grow not only in academics but in practical real-life ways that benefit their world, thereby changing them into youth who are equipped to do exploits in their world. Godspeed Hokies, take courage, change your worlds, and be confident that your life is needed in this world.
Dawn Custalow and her husband Jan Kupidlovsky are the proud parents of a recent Hokie grad of the class of 2025. Their son Joseph was a member of the Blacksburg Rescue Squad and Virginia Tech Rescue Squad during his four years at Virginia Tech. He loved being an EMT while a student and looks forward to continuing in his vocation of serving by attending medical school in the field of emergency medicine.