April 9, 2019

April 9, 2019

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ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES The Big Event volunteers collect their tools before heading out to their projects, April 6, 2019.

The Big Event staff hands out free t-shirts to the volunteers, April 6, 2019.

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Andrew Young performs an original song of his to the crowd at The Big Event as they await tool distribution, April 6, 2019.

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Sophomore Nick Jiang (BACK) and Freshman Michelle Wang (FRONT) sweep and cut vines from the stairs for their Big Event project, April 6, 2019.

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Big Event staff check group leaders’ folders for the tools they need for their respective projects, April 6, 2019.

ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Sophomore Jack Jiang rakes the leaves for his Big Event project, April 6, 2019.

opinion Campus Kitchen reduces food waste from Virginia Locally owned businesses Tech, diverts to charities need support from patrons The Campus Kitchen at Virginia Tech, a VT Engage program, in order to survive, prosper diverted over 132,000 pounds of food in the past three years.

KELLEY GATES news staff writer

The Campus Kitchen at VT Engage has reached its goal in diverting over 132,000 pounds of uneaten food from Virginia Tech dining halls. This food goes to various charities across the New River Valley to help feed those in need.

The Campus Kitchen is a VT Engage program that largely deals with unserved food that has already been cooked by the various dining halls around Virginia Tech.

The food is first sorted and placed into coolers to keep it from spoiling. It is then put into insulated food storage bags to be transported to charities. The redirected food is taken to charities using club vans and the members’ cars. VT Engage is Virginia Tech’s center for service-learning, leadership education, and civic engagement. It often partners with nonprofit organizations to help develop students’ leadership skills.

“The bags are like those used by pizza delivery drivers,” said Nick Kaloudis, a junior majoring in building construction who is also

a student leader for the Campus Kitchen.

This process is handled between two groups within the Campus Kitchen, the diversion and delivery groups. The diversion group handles the sorting and packaging of the leftover and unserved food from the dining halls. Dining hall staff themselves are trained in diversion techniques and help out this group.

The delivery group takes the prepared food to locations across the New River Valley and helps these locations store and distribute the foodstuffs.

Each group has a set of student leaders who help organize and direct the group. The leaders also make sure participants are well and able to perform the duties required of them. There must be at least two leaders for each shift, with multiple shifts throughout the week.

Most of the food processed by the Campus Kitchen is perishable leftovers and unserved food. The Campus Kitchen will take a large variety of food that might be difficult to normally redirect because of its system of coolers and insulated bags

MARG MADNESS Bracket: Which bar has the best happy hour in town? page 5

combined with efforts of the members. Because of this efficiency, canned food and nonperishable items are taken by another group in VT Engage to be distributed as part of food drives and other events.

“The most important part of the kitchen is definitely the students,” Kaloudis said.

“We couldn’t do this without them.”

The Campus Kitchen is currently looking for new student leaders. Interested students can apply through the GobblerConnect link on the VT Engage website and by emailing or calling an officer located in the site directory. Students who wish to participate in packaging or delivering food but are not interested in a leadership position can sign up for a shift through the website. Diversion shifts are on Mondays and Tuesdays and delivery shifts occur Monday through Friday.

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With the demise of Mish Mish and other small shops, Main Street is under threat — the Blacksburg community must step in and save it.

A

fter 49 faithful years of service to the Blacksburg community, beloved retailer Mish Mish will be closing later this year. High costs of rent and declining health were among the reasons cited for the architectural supply store’s untimely closing. As more shopping is done online, Main Street retailers face a myriad of issues stemming from economic competition to prohibitive regulations to even personal matters that keep them from remaining open.

Behind every Main Street business is a story. Mish Mish got its start in 1970 by a coalition of third-year architecture students with a $300 loan from a professor. The store would grow to serve a school that became one of the nation’s most respected suites of disciplinary design education. Mish Mish would grow beyond servicing a rch ite ct u re st udents, offering a custom framing shop, as well as servicing local hobbyists and artists.

Ot her Ma in St reet storefronts, like Harvey’s

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Barbershop, tell a story of how entrepreneurship can be used as a tool to encourage young people to aspire to greatness — all in the time it takes to get a haircut. The Coop, a spinoff of Blacksburg’s upscale chef-driven concept, Black Hen and Bar Blue, recently opened to much gossipy speculation about its origins on Main Street. The former restaurant Social House, which stood in the historic Bennett-Pugh House on Main Street, was opened by the owner of local eateries Cafe de Bangkok and Next Door Bake Shop, who herself is the daughter of Thai restaurateurs. The owner of the Bennett-Pugh House, a Blacksburg native who moved back to town after pursuing a banking career on the west coast, is now behind The Blacksburg Tavern, which opened after the lease for Social House expired.

In addition to Social House, Main Street has seen a number of businesses close down recently, including Starbucks and Sundee Best.

Sundee Best remains active

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as an online-only retailer, operating in the space where free shipping and other incentives contribute to the decline of brick-and-mortar retail. As evidenced by new businesses along Main Street, Blacksburg entrepreneurs are embracing new ideas in arenas not-before-seen in town, catering to services that cannot be bought online. A hookah lounge, wine bar, convenience store and ice cream/ gifts/paper goods store count themselves among new additions that have joined the local commercial fabric.

Blacksburg is fortunate to have passionate entrepreneurs who bring big ideas to this small town, and have until recently benefited from relative commercial affordability to bring their ideas to life. Main Street is ground zero for the battle between traditional retail and online competitors, with new “For Lease” signs as markers of brick-and-mortar retail’s battle wounds. What is known about the future of

MAIN STREET / page 2

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MAIN STREET: Support your community businesses from page 1

the American Street:

Main

Small is better For restaurants and stores alike, operating costs (rent, heating, electricity, staffing, etc.) for smaller structures are less than those of larger structures. Encouraging subdivision of larger structures to accommodate more small businesses will help maximize profits and retail diversity. Especially as growth in delivery services such as Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash continues, reducing overhead costs in restaurants especially will help maintain vitality.

Innovation and entrepreneurship m ust be

encouraged Following the Mish Mish model, a group of Virginia Tech students sought to close a gap in the market by opening an escape room, Puzzlr, along Main Street.

Removing barriers to entry such as high capital costs like rent, government regulations and fees for local entrepreneurs will help create a culture that embraces what it means to buy locally — by bringing new innovative players up to the playing field. A downtown that is full of competitive businesses is much more healthy than one that is largely vacant, as business competition contributes to lower prices, higher quality and innovation.

Third places and walkability are important

Third places are places like coffee shops, parks or bookstores, where people choose to spend their leisure time and meet up with others. Encouraging expansion of third place options will increase downtown’s vitality. Businesses will leverage proximity and walkability to other businesses, and sometimes work together to incentivize patronage.or example, some will offer discounts for patronizing a partnered business. Concentrating third places in walkable areas will increase the amount of time people spend in them, increasing the likelihood that they will patronize nearby businesses.

The internet isn’t going

away There are some things you just can’t do on the internet.

Eating, drinking and getting your haircut are three services that will remain downtown. However, restaurants are embracing delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash and seeing a complete reversal in customer flow.

Their kitchens remain busy, though their dining rooms sit empty with a queue of delivery drivers waiting to deliver orders. While innovation in this sector is great, it does hurt servers who rely on dine-in customers’ tips to make up the bulk of their wages. If their take-home pay dips below minimum wage, their employers are required to make up the remainder, which may lead

to increased prices at your favorite local eateries.

Leveraging the model of business incubators like the TechPad is a great way for private and public stakeholders to encourage small business growth in Blacksburg. Providing a public-facing space for small businesses to start out will help develop the potential of new entrepreneurs. Starting small decreases barriers to entry and allows daring entrepreneurs to test out ideas without assuming as much risk as it would to start on their own. Bringing innovators and entrepreneurs together will allow them opportunities to learn from each other and collaborate. Business has embraced this idea in the form of coworking spaces

like TechPad and WeWork.

Cities have embraced this in the concept of food halls, both run by public and private organizations; 7th Street Public Market in Charlotte is a great public example, while Raleigh’s Morgan Street Food Hall is a great private example.

What you can do as a citizen is simple: go downtown and support local businesses. Or better: start your own.

JARRODD DAVIS • opinions columnist • senior, public and urban affairs

column

A story of anxiety, the mountains and coming together Life can be beautiful — during these divisive times, we must focus on happiness, solidarity and the journey ahead of us.

Prologue “--- ---- --- ---, ---’----- ---- ---. --- ---- --- ---, ---’-- ---- ---- ---...”

I’m driving. If you know me, you’d know I do that a lot these days. Sometimes I have friends there with me; we laugh, sing — badly, in most cases — and talk until the sun sets. We even argue every once in a while. The car is an intimate place, though. Going 60 mph, it feels like you never move at all — you’re protected from the elements, the sounds, the breeze. When conflict arises, you’re in a safe space — you can hash things out, reach true understandings.

In other words, there’s no pressure — no pressure to act a certain way or put up a certain appearance. You can’t say that about many places anymore.

Other times, I’m alone — there’s a lot to think about. In what direction is the world going? Where is our place in it? Do we have a place in it? A drive is a good time for those thoughts — the landscape whirring past distracts you just enough to keep your mind from spiraling. Everyone’s anxious nowadays — there isn’t much certainty in the future for any of us, no matter where we stand in society. As a college student, I’m worried about the economy upon graduation, and whether I’m prepared to be successful in the real world. For someone living paycheck to paycheck in Appalachia, instability is ever-present — and devastating.

Route 460 is kind of an anomaly. They built the new highway in 2003 to bypass the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, giving easy access to the Virginia Tech campus and athletic facilities — I’ve heard the road called “the highway Mike Vick built.” That lasts until the freeway meets North Main Street, just beyond downtown Blacksburg.

After that intersection, the speed limit goes down, the road has more cracks and it feels like southwest Virginia again. It’s amazing what a little school (football) money can do for a place.

I’m past all that now, somewhere in Giles County.

If it weren’t so late at night, I’d see the mountains a bit more clearly. There’s this beautiful, yet mysterious quality to the slopes in the distance, often with fog blanketed overtop. They aren’t sharp like the Rockies out west, but rolling peaks, cascading into the distance.

The stark mountain landscape is still there, though — they’re rounded, but still uncompromising. When you’re in Blacksburg — in the valley — you see the Appalachians on the horizon, but you’re never face-to-face with them.

They really are different up close.

I wasn’t paying much attention, though — my mind was somewhere else — and at nighttime in the pouring rain, I had no idea where I was. I checked my clock. Midnight. It was time to be homeward bound.

I pulled over at a gas station and checked the map on my phone. I was at the West Virginia border — when you’re distracted, it’s easy to lose track of the miles. I went inside, used the bathroom and bought a pack of gum. It really is comforting, chewing gum.

It distracts that part of your brain that wants to dwell on the negatives — the part that can spiral down into oblivion if you aren’t careful. My mom, a gum chewer herself, wonders if I have a problem — I go through at least a pack a week — but she takes solace that, “at least it’s not cigarettes!” In times when I’m not “totally there,” so to speak, I chew and chew, until the flavor, and — even if for just a little while — my problems, dissipate.

Wearily, I walked up

to the register. Behind the counter stood a woman, smiling at me as I made my purchase. Normally, I feel uncomfortable in these situations — being in a small-town gas station.

It’s not uncommon for me to get weird looks from the locals. “He looks different,” they must think to themselves. But in this place, I felt something else — I felt welcomed.

Yo u ’r e probably wondering why I’m out here in the first place. Well, there’s a lot of backstory.

The girl I liked at the time was in the passenger seat that night. Earlier in the evening, I had expressed my feelings for her — something I don’t do very often.

When you’re prone to having your thoughts go down the rabbit hole, you have to be careful sometimes — to not let yourself be vulnerable.

That night, I opened up and I got burned.

That’s where my mind was off to. I was shaken, flattened to the ground. It’s in these moments where we yearn for human connection the most — when we feel rejected. So, at that counter, I struck up a conversation.

“How’s the late-night shift?” I asked the cashier.

“It’ll be better in 10 minutes,” she said, “when I can go home!”

We shared a laugh and said goodbye. It was the nicest moment of a long evening. I walked back to the car feeling a little warmer in my heart.

I unwrapped my gum and chewed and chewed. *** “-- --------- ----------, ------ --- ------- -- ------------ ------- -- ----- ----- -------. ------- -- -------- -- ---- --, ------ -- ----- -----, -’- ---------- ------- ---- ----- --------------- ---- ---- --------- --...”

Have you ever thought ab out t hos e cha nc e encounters we have from time to time? Those where

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two people cross paths — for an instant — and brighten each other’s day, before going their separate ways?

I always wonder where they’re off to — they have independent lives as rich and as interesting as our own.

Today, I wonder how many of those people are still alive and thriving. Maybe they think the same of me, but I suppose none of us will ever know for sure.

That encounter in the gas station stuck with me, though — I guess we’re most impressionable when we’re emotionally compromised.

Perhaps it’s because I felt at home, in a place very far from home.

I’m a NOVA kid. That much shouldn’t surprise you — Virginia Tech is full of us, and the Collegiate Times staff is no exception.

There was no culture shock when I arrived, it just felt like Patrick Star took all the NOVA kids and put us somewhere else.

For the first few months of freshman year, I was blissfully unaware — what a feeling that is. In anxious times, we often find comfort in consuming our surroundings with a filter — seeing what we want to see, hearing what we want to hear. What is life, if not an exercise in self-preservation?

Though, we all wake up eventually. Some of my friends, who were going to more urban schools, would always ask me about all the “weird” things I saw in the

mountains. Even my dad, a Virginia Tech alum, used to tell me that, “once you leave Blacksburg, things get ‘interesting’ real quick.”

Take Glade Road west for a while, and you’re in the country. Go north on 460 into Giles County, and the largest building you’ll see for miles is the defunct Glen Lyn Power Plant on the shores of the New River — a crown jewel of a bygone industrial era. All the money the university generates doesn’t go far outside the town limits — southwest Virginia largely stays the same. Wealth does tend to build upon itself, after all.

I often wonder, then, what Virginia Tech really represents. We’re living in a place that’s “in” southwest Virginia without being a part of it — close enough to the mountains to admire their beauty, but far enough to ignore the blight underneath. It’s an island, really, closed off to the region it calls home. I sometimes question how happy we should really be here, with our high-tech labs and our drone cages, with poverty a stone’s throw away. *** “--- ----- ---- --- ----------, --- ----- ------…”

It’s easy to get to a dark place like that, sometimes — where everything just feels … wrong. Everything you have, everything you want, everything that makes you happy — it’s all undeserved. It’s built on the backs

of — and at the expense of — the less fortunate. You feel bad about enjoying anything because someone else can’t.

However life isn’t a zero-sum game, and even for those more fortunate than others, happiness can still be in short supply. I remember earlier this year, I was having one of those nights — I can’t tell you what sparked it; sometimes those moments are just blurs, in retrospect. Maybe deep down, we just want to forget them. I suppose this time, I succeeded. I found myself staring at a wall, diving deeper and deeper down that treacherous rabbit hole. I was sad, lonely. But I remembered that I had a Korean pastry from back home saved in the fridge. The sweetness and bitterness of the mocha cream and fluffiness of the bread comforted me in that moment. My eyes even watered slightly. I was happy.

Looking through one lens, eating that pastry was a moment of excess, and, in a vacuum, I didn’t need it. But the moment I sank my teeth into the bread and cream, I felt whole again, in a moment when I felt empty.

Everyone wants that feeling.

I can’t shake the idea that our society has devalued happiness in favor of “correctness.” We’re no longer striving for goodness, but rather, “rightness.” But being right is not always the continued on page 3

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Highway 100 in Pulaski County, Virginia, Feb. 23, 2019.

continued from page 2 same as being good.

We’re all caught up in words, symbols, meanings and representations, demonizing those who don’t see things the “right” way all the time.

In pastry terms, they’d rather quibble about the ingredients and manufacturing process than enjoy the texture and taste. I suppose that to some, overthinking is just … thinking.

Instead of making more pastries, our leaders are debating over cilantro.

Many people like cilantro, but no one loves cilantro, and a lot of people think it tastes like soap. More people like cilantro than dislike it, but a vocal minority hate it, brewing up passion and polarization on both sides.

But no matter what, to some, cilantro will always taste like soap and there’s nothing any cilantro advocates can do about it. Cilantro is today’s social discourse — a lot of debate, but no change, when people would rather be eating pastries, anyway. *** “-- - ----- --’- ---- --- -- ----- - -----…”

I don’t think we’re as far from consensus as we think, but we do live in a demonizing culture — an “othering” culture. Watch “Deliverance” one of these days. If you took that movie as gospel, you probably wouldn’t care much at all for the future of the Appalachian people.

But “Deliverance” wasn’t meant to be a cautionary tale. It was a portrayal of the dominion that urban areas have over their rural counterparts, and how when city folk overstep their bounds, the “othered” will always fight back. That interpretation made audiences

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uncomfortable, though — because it placed people like them in the victim’s position, at the mercy of those supposedly inferior to them.

In the fall of my first year at Tech, I took an eye-opening course: Intro to Appalachian Studies. It was a classroom environment unlike any I’d ever experienced. Out of the 30-ish person class, I was one of three non-white people — 0.5 of 2.5, if we want to get into semantics. But honestly, if you’re not fully white, no one will see you as such. My high school class was maybe 40 percent white. For my whole life, I’ve lived in the liberal D.C. suburbs, but in our Appalachian Studies class’ 2016 presidential “straw poll,” Gary Johnson took first place, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton tied for second.

Ironically, our professor seemed very liberal, often putting him at odds with much of the class. We learned about Appalachian culture in the context of a class and labor struggle. We discussed the “othering” of the Appalachian people — how in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, Appalachian whites and minorities found common ground. We talked about the coal mining corporations’ control over the livelihoods of its workers and their families — and how the moment it became cheaper to mine elsewhere, the companies bolted, leaving behind a scarred landscape, ravaged environment and abject poverty. The tale of the Appalachian people was one of exploitation, of loss.

Depictions of them, as in “Deliverance,” albeit very misinterpreted, prevent the struggle of Appalachians from seeing the light of

day. They’re “hillbillies.”

T h ey’r e “ b a ck wa r d.”

They “can’t be helped.”

2016 didn’t help either.

White, non-college-educated voters were Donald Trump’s strongest demographic in the election, and Appalachians — at least to coastal liberals — fit the stereotype. They “took the country back,” back from minorities, back from liberalism, back from progress.

If urbanites once scoffed at Appalachian whites — writing them off — they’re now looking them directly in the eye, middle fingers in the air.

I remember back in October of that year, one of my friends came to my dorm room. He was sad — sad that he hadn’t been able to celebrate his first college birthday with anyone. If you read my high school memoir, it’s the same friend from the beginning of that story, who I couldn’t take to Pittsburgh (funny enough, as I’m writing this, I just got back from Pittsburgh) — I had no car at the time. But, by the close of that piece, my car was in Blacksburg, and when that friend came knocking at my door on his birthday night, it was only a few weeks later.

“Let’s go for a drive,” I said.

We took Prices Fork Road down to Highway 110, then Route 11 through Radford before merging onto I-81 South. I exited off at Highway 100 South toward Hillsville, and we drove until we nearly hit the North Carolina border.

We talked about everything under the night sky — life, school, happiness, anxiety, depression, friends, family.

Truthfully, we didn’t even know each other well before that night. We had gone to the same high school, but

we were really just friends by association. At Virginia Tech, we had only talked because he was close with my roommate. But during that drive, I felt as close to him as I had with anyone.

Being in a car with someone can do that.

I remember, as we drove down Highway 100, seeing hundreds of Trump/Pence signs lining the road. It was the first time that I truly came face-to-face with the Trump phenomenon. Being from NOVA, that always seemed distant — the possibility of a Trump win was as foreign as a Russian spy. But on that highway — driving through small towns, rows of Trump signs stretching as far as you could see — the idea that Virginia is a “blue” state is just as outlandish. It’s just extremely divided, with one group of people slightly outnumbering the other.

Everyone’s angry at each other nowadays. That’s what happens with today’s communication apparatus — everyone can be aware of one another, but no one has to see each other. We can create detailed, preconceived notions about people without much context.

We can know everything about someone without ever understanding them.

In other words, no one goes on long drives in the countryside together anymore — no one tries to find common ground.

We’re digging in, stuck in echo chambers on either side of the aisle. We’re self-affirming rather than questioning. Arguing more, discussing less. Every political and social fight today is just a proxy battle for the larger struggle: Left vs. right, urban vs. rural, rationalism vs. spiritualism, progressivism vs. traditionalism and, dare I say,

“correct” vs. “incorrect.”

But no one’s talking about happiness — the one thing that could bring us all together.

If we’re happy, there’s less reason to be angry. Hate, the most passionate type of anger — directed at others — often rises from insecurity, whether personal or financial. If we, as a society, focus on making people happy, on creating equal economic opportunity for everyone, on sweet, fluffy pastries rather than on all the divisive cilantro out there, then you’ll see a lot less anger in the world — a lot less hate.

I’m not sure there’s much else worth fighting for. *** Epilogue “--- ---- ------- -- -------?”

In the first draft of this piece, each section was preceded by a lyric from two albums: “808s & Heartbreak” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” both by Kanye West. There have been many times in my life, especially over the last few years, where his words, his music, have saved me — saved me from a pretty dark place.

As divisive as he’s become, none of that has changed. In times where I’ve felt empty, his yearning production on “808s” and the lavish sound of “MBDTF” have made me feel whole.

It wasn’t until I did some copyright research that I realized I could get the CT sued by keeping the lyrics in the piece. I suppose all good things do have a limit.

I’d encourage you to listen to the albums, though — you could use your imagination and, perhaps, fill in the blanks.

After looking over all I’ve written, I’ve come to realize

that I never told you much about the woman behind that counter. I suppose I just got lost in some thoughts.

But she was, for lack of a better term, one of the aforementioned Appalachian whites. She wasn’t old, but she was weathered. As I walked up to the counter in that gas station, she looked tired from a lot of long days.

I know she probably barely remembers our encounter, and that’s okay, but I do hope that in that moment, I brightened her evening as much as she brightened mine.

It just goes to show that, as different as we can be, we can all relate to one another on some level. At the end of a long day, we all just want to go home, eat something sweet and fall asleep with a nice, warm feeling.

In closing, I think of those mountains — they’re rounded, yet uncompromising — and I wonder if that’s what we should be. Rounded, yet uncompromising; resolute in our beliefs without being so rough around the edges — seeking true happiness, above all else. Maybe that’s the answer to it all — and to find it, you’d need to leave the coast, leave the city and look inward to places with higher elevations.

The mountains really are different up close.

JUSTIN REDMAN • assistant opinions editor • junior, public and urban affairs

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Q&A: US Army secretary on Virginia Tech Corps U.S. Army Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper visited Virginia Tech on Friday, April 5, to discuss Army and University goals.

MACKENZIE WILLIAMS news staff writer

Secretary of the U.S. Army Dr. Mark T. Esper visited Virginia Tech as his first stop on a campus tour of the nation’s six senior military colleges. Virginia Tech has congressional designation because of the Corps of Cadets and had the privilege to host Esper on Friday, April 5. Meeting with the Corps of Cadets as well as the school’s military officials, Esper observed the Corps’ program and experienced the campus where many Hokies call home.

Collegiate Times (CT): Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Mark T. Esper (MTE): I grew up in southwest Pen nsylva n ia, near Pittsburgh. (I) went to West Point, graduated in 1986 then served in the active army for 10 years in the infantry, both in war and peace, left after 10 years, joined the (National) Guard and (Army) Reserve. During that time, I also worked in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill and the private sector.

It has been a good run. I am very privileged to be where I am right now.

CT: The Army Vision Statement states that the Army wants to “develop smart, thoughtful, and innovative leaders of character.” How do you believe the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets program best

prepares future young Army leaders to meet this goal?

MTE: I think the Corps specifically, and the school generally, does a good job of emphasizing character.

I mean, it goes back to the early days of Virginia Tech and what it was designed to be. When I spoke today to the Corps, I spoke about character probably being the most important attribute that any leader, whether it’s Army, Navy, Marine or Civilian leader, needs to have as they take on their first leadership assignment.

I think the school does well; you have your own set of core values –– they marry up fairly well with the Army values, and so it shows there is a lot of harmony between what this institution does and what the Army expects of its leaders and I think it is very important.

CT: How has the military shaped your character?

MTE: The military does educate you and trains you on its core values — duty, courage and selfless service, things like that — and then expects you to live up to it.

We serve a common higher pur pose of defending the Constitution and the American people so even that in itself, in the fact that you swore an oath to the Constitution, are all selfless acts, and that’s emphasized in everything we do and everything we talk about.

It had a big impact on my

character and taught me the importance of taking care of your people, the duty you have. Courage, not just physical courage but it’s moral courage, things like that I think again are important to stay in a military for a career or get out like I did after a certain amount of time. It has always served me well.

CT: The Army Vision Statement says that the Army of 2028 will employ modern technology to meet its end goals. How do you see research centers at universities, such as Virginia Tech, contributing to this goal? And, on what research areas would you like to see universities put their focus in the near future?

M TE: It is ver y important. One thing we need to do to modernize the Army is to reach out to these innovators and to centers of excellence, and Virginia Tech is one of those places, those institutions that really has strong, very strong engineering depth. I talked to (President Tim Sands) about this as well and about some of the collaboration we are doing now. He talked about (Virginia Tech’s) efforts on robotics. I talked to him about how we are building semi-autonomous vehicles and aircraft. We talked about artificial intelligence.

These are important technologies we need for the future and of course the

Army does a lot of research through them and with Virginia Tech, and I think there (are) opportunities to expand based on what a great base of experts you have here and researchers.

CT: What is the most im por t ant qu a l i t y a military trainee, like our cadets, should possess and more broadly, any civilian should have when considering enlisting?

MTE: Again, character.

You don’t come in with a fully defined, refined sense of character, but you should go out. When you take over your first platoon, when you lead your first group of civilians, you should have a pretty well established character that kind of guides you.

What are those principles?

We talk about not lying, cheating or stealing; those are the basics. But, there

are other principles as well: taking care of your people, moral courage. Things like that I think serve leaders well. If I were to go beyond that, I’d say that you have to have an optimistic “can-do” attitude because people are inspired by that approach.

Not by the cup is “halfempty” approach. I think third, you gotta be resilient in the sense that you got to expect to face challenges and failures and obstacles.

Your challenge as a leader is to take that on and figure out a way around it, a way to overcome it and lead you folks to success.

CT: What is one thing you hope our generation can learn from people wearing the uniform?

MTE: It is an interesting question. Your generation wears the uniform as well.

You walk around campus

as a freshman and you have counterparts that are wearing the uniform every day, and at one point, in a few years, they will matriculate to be officers in any of the branches of service.

I think they are great role models amongst you and folks are doing wonderful things. And you can do it out of uniform as well. I can’t help but have a soft spot in my heart for all these young men and women who are pursuing careers in the military because again, clearly, they are without a doubt putting service above self and in many cases, willing to risk their lives, to defend all of us. That speaks a lot to me.

@CollegiateTimes

COURTESY OF SECRETARY OF THE ARMY DR. MARK T. ESPER AND FLICKR

Blacksburg to construct new mountain bike park The Blacksburg Rotary Mountain Bike Skills Park will include 3,560 feet of downhill trails with varying difficulty levels.

ALYSE JOHNSON news staff writer

Blacksburg will soon be home to a brand-new mountain biking park.

The Blacksburg Rotary Mountain Bike Skills Park will be located on the current Gateway Trail on Brush Mountain, off Meadowbrook Drive.

“The construction of this park has not begun yet but will start very soon,” said Dean Crane, director of Blacksburg Parks and Recreation.

The construction will follow a brief six-to-eight week construction plan process depending on the weather.

T here will be no admission cost and the park will be open seven days a week from sunrise to sunset in accordance with the rest of the town’s parks. The park will include 3,560 feet of downhill trails with beginner and intermediate obstacles which include but are not limited to berms, rollers and a few tabletops in varying degrees.

There are different trails within the mountain bike park. Each trail provides a different experience for the levels. The Huckleberry Trail will be a flat asphalt trail, while Pandapas Pond will be more challenging with obstacles of varying degrees.

Ac c ord i ng t o t he Bla ck sbu rg Rot a r y Mountain Bike Skills

Park website, the primary purpose of this project is to “establish an off-road experience in a structured setting that provides various riding opportunities and experiences to the public.” Upon completion of construction, this park will be self-supervised, meaning that there will be no staff members present during the park’s hours.

Three decades ago, the Gateway Trail began as a private property horse trail but has since developed into a multi-use trail that benefits the local community.

The community effort to make this plan a reality has definitely not gone unnoticed. Over the past few years, fundraisers have been held at community events and on an Indiegogo fundraising website. According to Crane, this plan has taken several years, as he has worked alongside the Town of Blacksburg to turn a conceptual idea into an actual project.

The public is encouraged to visit the Blacksburg Rotary Mountain Bike Skills Park website for more information. Using this website, the public can sign up to volunteer or donate to the park. Currently, there are no volunteer opportunities, but as the park progresses within the next six to eight weeks, there will be many opportunities for the community to give its time to volunteer for the park.

Some of the volunteer opportunities would be completing tasks such as grooming the trails, planting trees, installing new facilities, painting jobs and much more. According to Crane, there are projected service days as an idea in which members of the town can all come together to work to keep the park in great shape.

There is already a construction plan in place and there is a concept plan located on the website.

After several years and much planning, the Town of Blacksburg is finally making this conceptual idea a reality for the town and its residents.

“There’s nothing like this currently,” Crane said, “so I think it will be a great addition to the mountain bi ke com munity a nd Blacksburg.”

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editor@collegiatetimes.com

Today’s Birthday Horoscope (April 9): Discover beauty, insight and new solutions this year. Practice persistently for professional gain. Unexpected money comes your way. Your garden flowers this summer, before career opportunities call you out. Winter brings a professional feather in your hat, before home calls. Travel, study and explore.

study break

FOR RELEASE APRIL 9, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

Get to know the CT: News editor Mike Liu Is a hotdog a sandwich?

No. A hotdog is not a sandwich. A hotdog should be considered a sub and a sub is not a sandwich.

Going off of that, when you fold a pizza in half it is not a sandwich — it should be a quesadilla.

April 9, 2019 PAGE 5

collegiatetimes.com

she’s really connected to the Japanese culture, and I really like Japanese culture.

Everything about her feels right to me.

Are you looking for a good time? If the answer is no, then you’ve come to the right person.

What is your favorite pickup line?

What is your favorite place to cry on campus?

I have a couple, actually.

The one I like the most is the bathroom near the CT office on the third floor of Squires because there are not a lot of people in there and no one can hear me cry.

But also I like the one in New Classroom Building because it’s fancy and you can see the outside through the window and sometimes it feels good to have an audience.

Who is your current celebrity crush?

Sa b r i na C a r p ent e r.

She’s very cute and she has really great taste in music;

@Zelia_Liu

ACROSS 1 “Star Wars” warrior 5 Treaded winter vehicle 11 “Proven,” in proofs 14 Laptop brand that sounds like a top tennis player 15 Pays homage to 16 Prefix with corn or cycle 17 *Employee insurance coverage, briefly 19 It may be bruised 20 Blight-stricken tree 21 Deceived 22 Lo __: noodle dish 23 Church officers 25 “Valley of the Dolls” author Jacqueline 27 Animal that can learn sign language 28 Parting site in Exodus 30 “Who’s there?” response 33 Rank above maj.

36 Makes an effort 37 Small store 38 Serious no-no 40 Poet Pound 41 Be under the weather 42 11 p.m. personality 44 Mentalist’s “gift” 45 Installs, as a minister 47 Sound like an ass 49 Blu-ray buy 50 Quick breaths 54 “To reiterate ... ” 57 Like sunsetsilhouetted scenery 59 Golfer’s goal 60 *Unmanned aerial attack 62 From __ Z 63 Shrek’s kiss made Fiona one for good 64 Hint of the future 65 Home in the woods 66 Treating kindly 67 Sunset direction DOWN 1 Ranted (at) 2 French school

4/9/19

By John Lampkin

3 Skin care prefix 4 Annoy 5 Sacred place 6 Carrots, for snowmen 7 Like one’s prized music collection, perhaps 8 Small water birds 9 Big name in canned meat 10 Baking soda amt.

11 *Hotel bed choice 12 Amtrak employees 13 “My Heart Will Go On” singer Celine 18 Flee to wed 22 Mexican mother 24 Sleep in a bag, maybe 26 Gig component 29 “Pronto” letters 30 Japanese golf great Aoki 31 Hardly the best 32 *Persist despite difficulty 33 Sounds like a crow 34 Docs who deliver 35 Bausch partner 38 On a scale of one to __

Monday’s Puzzle Solved Previous Puzzle Solved

©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

39 Sculler’s need 42 “Please don’t bite me!”

43 Persistently worry 46 Symbolic Egyptian snake, which includes the start of a hint to the answers to starred clues 48 Peter of Peter, Paul & Mary

Marg Madness

4/9/19

51 Snail trail 52 Colorado’s __ Peak 53 Cardiologist’s implant 54 Apple tablet 55 Jason’s ship 56 Lawn mower brand 57 Take a load off 58 Exxon, formerly 61 Homer’s neighbor

Missing March Madness? Try our happy hour bracket! Rate the places on a scale of 1 to 5 for the quality of their happy hour. Let us know who won your bracket on social media @CollegiateTimes. We can’t wait to see who wins!

Score Cards: Scored on a scale of 1–5 Taste Price Atmosphere Selection Customer Satisfaction Neat Sixteen

Straight Eight Flaming Four

Flaming Four

Straight Eight

Neat Sixteen

The Cellar

Cabo

TOTS

Poor Billy’s

BWW

Big Al’s

Sycamore

CHAMPIONSHIP

Hokie House

Mellow Mushroom

The Pub

Rivermill

El Rod’s

PK’s

Sharkey’s

Boudreaux’s

Champs

PAGE 6 April 9, 2019

lifestyles collegiatetimes.com

editor@collegiatetimes.com

collegiatetimes.com/lifestyles

‘The Highwaymen’: Netflix’s latest equivalent to background noise Stars Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson are stuck playing themselves in the frustratingly average historical drama.

JOHN BATTISTON lifestyles editor

Arthur Penn’s bounda r y-busting 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde” ends with an abrupt bang — well, dozens of them, really — as the titular outlaws are graphically showered with machine gun fire, in a scene so gruesome and frantically shot that it hardly seems a product of its own time. Over half a century later, “The Highwaymen,” which was made available to stream on Netflix on Friday, March 29, tells the story leading up to that fateful showdown from the other side of the law.

Following a string of violent drive-bys committed by the seemingly uncatchable Barrow Gang in 1934, the Texas government decided to take action by bringing two Texas Rangers — a law enforcement division which had been decommissioned the previous year — out of retirement to track the infamous vagabonds across the West. The two Rangers approached for the job, Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson), have spent the last year in two very different kinds of retirement: While Hamer enjoys the beauty and solitude of his riverside estate

with his wife and pet pig, Gault spends his days bored, living with his daughter, son-in-law and grandson in a run-down shack, the Depression seeming to have treated his family rather poorly. After Hamer loads up on guns and ammunition — in a scene bizarrely reminiscent of a similar moment in “The Terminator” — he and Gault take to the road in a game of cat-and-mouse that eventually crosses state borders.

Though director John Lee Hancock is best known for his dramatizations of realworld events, including “The Blind Side,” “The Founder” and the criminally underrated “Saving Mr. Banks,” “The Highwaymen” is his first foray into truly violent, unsettling material — it’s the first film of his nearly 30-year career to earn an R rating. A story centered around a group of criminals who left a miles-long trail of blood across the American West should be, in and of itself, quite exciting when told through the eyes of the men responsible for their undoing.

Unfortunately, the film misses its opportunity to punctuate its police procedural elements with compelling character work; its two leads, especially Gault, are made into shallow caricatures meant to amuse or

divert the audience in between bouts of blandly directed crime investigation.

By the end of the first act, it can be assumed that Costner’s and Harrelson’s roles were written specifically for them: Hamer is a no-nonsense grouch who cracks maybe two smiles during the runtime; Gault, a scruffy wisecrack whose heart of gold will hardly keep him from butting heads with whoever might get in his way. Screenwriter John Fusco sketches the two characters with lazy scribbles, explicitly telling us almost anything interesting about them through the words of other people, one of the most sluggish writing techniques there is. Every 20 minutes or so, the lead actors are thrown into forcibly comical situations that implore them to play to type, so much so that all we end up seeing on screen are the Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner we’ve come to know over the decades, rather than the two heroes into whom they should be breathing life.

Despite its deeply flawed narrative and characterization, “The Highwaymen” is not by any means a total failure of the craft. The two leads perform just about the best that they can with the material they’re given; Harrelson, in particular,

NETFLIX / TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE Woody Harrleson (“Maney Gault”) and Kevin Costner (“Frank Hamer”) in “The Highwaymen.”

further confirms his status as Hollywood’s chief charmer.

And the film, lensed by Oscarnominated cinematographer John Schwartzman, is often quite gorgeous to look at, making the most of an often dry, colorless landscape with masterful composition and lighting. However, the beauty on screen is often distracted from by maddening, rapid-fire editing. Even scenes dominated by dialogue are littered with unnecessary cuts, suggesting the filmmakers

were desperate to force a sense of energy into an otherwise by-the-numbers narrative.

“The Highwaymen” is, in many ways, a film that settles with being average. Though a nicely shot movie, it puts little effort into building engaging characters or conveying its historical source material in a way that will fascinate the audience. It’s hard to shake the notion that the film is meant to simply play in the background as you do homework or fold laundry, snagging your

attention every now and again to give you a fleeting giggle or eyebrow-raise, ironically embodying the worst characteristics of the streaming revolution.

I give “The Highwaymen” two and a half out of five stars. For a more in-depth discussion of the film, listen to the latest episode of my podcast, Reel Underdogs.

@JB3Writes

A million little reasons to stream ABC’s newest hit drama right now “A Million Little Things,” which just finished its first season, is available to stream on Hulu.

CALLIE FENTRESS lifestyles staff writer

Friendship isn’t a big thing: It’s a million little things.

It may sound like a cliche, but that phrase is given a deeper meaning through each thrilling episode of ABC’s new hit show, “A Million Little Things,” which just finished its first season at the end of February. The show, which has since been renewed by ABC for a second season, premiered in September and has captivated viewers ever since with its portrayal of difficult topics and characters that you learn to love more with each passing episode.

Throughout the first season, the show touches on some topics that can often be uncomfortable, including suicide, adultery, cancer and depression. In the first episode alone, we learn about the seemingly random and tragic suicide of Jon Dixon, a member of the main friend group in the show. Jon, an avid believer that “everything happens for a reason,” is painted through

flashbacks and other characters’ descriptions as the glue that held the group together; he always offered his support to anyone who needed it and thought up creative solutions to spin any unfavorable occurrence into a positive situation.

The group also consists of three other men: Gary, Eddie and Rome. When all four men got stuck in an elevator together years before, they discovered that they were all superfans of the same hockey team, turning an unfortunate incident into a friendship.

After Jon’s death, the group struggles with the notion that without Jon, there is no backbone to the group. Upon discovering the secrets they’ve kept from each other — affairs with others in the group, unplanned pregnancies, the discovery of Jon’s secret apartment — the men are left wondering if they truly know as much about each other as they had previously thought.

Throughout the season, the bonds among the characters deepen as they begin to uncover the mystery

behind Jon’s suicide. The mental health adds an important topics, and keeps so intriguing — it’s a million plot thickens with each aspect of realness to the the audience’s attention little things. new episode, introducing show. Rome’s hesitance with the dramatic twists and I give the first season of new drama and slowly to tell his wife about his sporadic humor sprinkled “A Million Little Things” but surely offering some depression and his internal throughout the season. four stars out of five. comfort and explanation struggle with the decision The entire first season is to the looming question of to go to therapy are just available to stream on Hulu, “Why?” surrounding Jon’s two examples of a very so if you’re looking for a death. Gary, Eddie and real portrayal of somebody new show to binge watch, Rome are left to deal with struggling with mental look no further. From the their own demons without illness and the effects it can diverse characters to the Jon, and are faced with the have on a person’s life. heavy topics to the riveting realization that nothing in “A M i l l ion Lit t le mysteries, it’s not just one @CollegiateTimes life is ever certain, while Things” packs in a bunch of thing that makes this series Delilah must learn to cope with the crippling guilt she feels regarding her marriage to Jon. While not as comprehensive in its flashback scenes — the character of Western Road Jon could be much more WesternPerimeter Perimeter Road fleshed-out than he is — Virginia Tech Campus Virginia Tech Campus “A Million Little Things” TownofofBlacksburg Blacksburg makes up for the areas it Town lacks in with its seemingly Citizen Information Meeting Citizen Information Meeting endless supply of drama April 22, 2019, 5 – 7 p.m. and plot twists. Every April 22, 2019, 5 – 7 p.m.

The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center few episodes bring a new The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center 901 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA 24061 surprise that Jon left behind 901 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Come see conceptual plans for a new 2.61-mile, two-lane divided roadway that would for the clan, and the indiCome Fork see conceptual plans for aDrive new on 2.61-mile, two-lane dividedTech. roadway connect Prices Road and Southgate the campus of Virginia Connections vidual storylines begin to that would connect Prices Fork Road and Southgate Drive on the campus of could to other existing roads will be developed as part of the project.

Phases of this project mesh together as added Virginia Tech.

Connections to other existing roads will be developed as part of be further developed and constructed as future funding becomes available.

The new road details make sense of them the project.

Phases of this project could be further developed and constructed and connections are intended to relieve congestion, improve connectivity and enhance in the bigger picture. safety. as future funding becomes available. The new road and connections are The cast does an excellent intended relieve congestion, improve connectivity andSalem enhance safety. job, and the inclusion of Review the projecttoinformation at the meeting or after at VDOT’s District Office touchy subjects such as located atReview 731 Harrison Avenue, Salem VA, 540-387-5353, 800-367-7623, TTY/TDD 711. the project information at the meeting or after at VDOT’s Salem District Officewith located at 731 Harrison Salem VA,Section 540-387-5353, 800-367-7623, In compliance the National HistoricAvenue, Preservation Act, 106 and 36 CFR Part 800, TTY/TDD 711. public participation is requested to determine if properties listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places will be affected by the project.

In compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106 and 36

CFR Part 800, public participation requested to determine if properties listed Give your written or oral comments at theismeeting or submit them by May 2, 2019, to Tim or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places will be affected Dowdy, Project Manager, 731 Harrison Avenue, Salem, VA 24153. Comments also canby be thetim.dowdy@vdot.virginia.gov. project. emailed to Please reference “Western Perimeter Road Public Comment” in the subject heading.

Give your written or oral comments at the meeting or submit them by May 2,

2019, to Tim Dowdy, Project 731 Harrison Salem, VA 24153.

VDOT ensures nondiscrimination and Manager, equal employment in allAvenue, programs and activities in Comments canTitle be emailed to Civil tim.dowdy@vdot.virginia.gov. accordance with Titlealso VI and VII of the Rights Act of 1964. If youPlease need more information in regards to yourPerimeter civil rightsRoad on this project or need in special assistance for reference “Western Public Comment” the subject heading. persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Tim Dowdy at the phone VDOT ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and numbers listed above. activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If you need more information in regards to your civil rights on this project or need State Project: 0314-060-R32, P-101 UPC: 108871 special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Tim Dowdy at the phone numbers listed above.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ETHAN CANDELARIO State Project: 0314-060-R32, P-101 UPC: 108871 Someone watching a TV show, April 6, 2019.

editor@collegiatetimes.com

April 9, 2019 PAGE 7

collegiatetimes.com

Stuck on campus and need to cry? Stick to these ideal sob spots Three prime locations in McComas, Newman and Squires offer plenty of privacy so you can shed a tear or two.

JOHN BATTISTON lifestyles editor

Though Virginia Tech is inarguably the best place on the planet, your four years as a student here will pack their share of stress, heartache and losses to ODU, so inevitably, you’ll sometimes need a good cry. Though it is perfectly dignified to retreat to your bedroom, car or the nearest bathroom stall to unleash an unholy flood of emotion, sometimes the feels will hit at the least convenient time and place, in which case you’ll need to seek out some alternatives. If you find yourself stuck on campus when salty tears threaten to bubble to the surface, make sure you’re near one of these three quality, on-campus sob spots.

So u n d booths in Newman Library We all have those moments when we wish we had, to quote a legendary news anchor, our very own “glass case of emotion.”

Well, what if I told you

that you could, and that it’s soundproof? If your day just isn’t going as planned and you think you might contract a case of the weepies, the Media Design Studio has you covered. Make a quick online reservation of their one-to-two-person sound booth, located on the fourth floor of Newman Library, and you’ll have the freedom to wail away your problems without disturbing other students. The booth contains several windows, so passersby will be made perfectly aware that you’re suffering but won’t feel obligated to ask you about it.

Piano practice rooms On-campus music rehearsal spaces are great spots where students can express themselves — regardless of whether they can actually play the instruments in question. Both the second floor of Squires Student Center and the third floor of Henderson Hall have a number of piano practice rooms where you’re free to drown the sounds of your sobs with whatever

gut-wrenching piano ballad is on your heart at the moment — I recommend “Carry On” by Fun for maximum catharsis. Even if you’re not the most experienced pianist in the world, you can get just as much out of one of these rooms if you pound out the angstiest rendition of “Chopsticks” this cruel world has ever seen.

On the treadmill in McComas Studies clearly indicate that one of the best things you can do for your emotional health is get some exercise. Luckily, you go to one of the fittest colleges in the nation, with access to some of the highest-quality exercise spaces a student could hope for. Still, if you find yourself on the squat machine in McComas when you suddenly remember you have a 10-page case study due tomorrow, and no added weight can hold back the crocodile tears crawling their ways into your ducts, make a beeline for the row of treadmills on the top floor,

JOHN BATTISTON / COLLEGIATE TIMES A student’s legs protrude from a sound booth in Newman Library, April 8, 2019.

next to the running track.

This is a prime place to cry for several reasons: You’ll be facing an open window, so nobody in the gym will see the very obvious splotches on your cheeks; when you really get running, the people who can see you will just assume you’re sweating through your eyes; and the immaculate view of Lane Stadium will remind you of happier times when you get

to jump to “Enter Sandman” with the people you love most in this world.

Though it’s totally understandable to want to go somewhere private and unnoticeable to get in a cry, keep in mind that crying is normal and healthy for everyone, and is nothing to be ashamed of. If you ever feel emotionally unstable to the point of detriment, don’t hesitate to reach out to the

Cook Counseling Center, or to find someone you trust with your feelings to help you work things through.

And remember to always be thankful that you’re part of a loving Hokie community, and of course, that you have a campus that’s as cry-friendly as ours.

@JB3Writes

Virginia Tech Union hosts Lil Yachty at Burruss Hall

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

sports

PAGE 8 April 9, 2019

editor@collegiatetimes.com

collegiatetimes.com

collegiatetimes.com/sports

column

Virginia Tech hires Mike Men’s basketball hire Young as head coach bodes well for season Young has played a major role in the development of Wofford’s basketball program since he joined the team.

ROBBY FLETCHER assistant sports editor

Virginia Tech appears to have found Buzz Williams’ replacement in Wofford head coach Mike Young according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

Young, a Radford native, has been one of the most s u c c e s sf u l m i d - m aj o r coaches in college basketball, leading the Terriers to five NCAA Tournament appearances since 2009. He had his most successful season as Wofford’s head coach this year, guiding the team to a perfect 18–0 conference record, its first ranking in the AP Poll and the first win

in school history in the tournament against the 10-seed Seton Hall Pirates.

Young has played a major role in the development of Wofford’s basketball program since he joined the team as an assistant in 1989, where he helped guide the team from Division II to Division I and eventually into the Southern Conference where they play today. He was promoted to head coach in 2002, 13 years after being hired as an assistant, and has since been a staple of the organization ever since.

Young will have his hands full as soon as he starts the position as he’ll try to help a

team that’s losing three key graduating players in Justin Robinson, Ahmed Hill and Ty Outlaw as well as potentially losing guard Wabissa Bede, who has entered the transfer portal. He’ll also have to get in contact with Tech’s incoming recruiting class, who just lost its top recruit in Anthony Harris after the news of Williams’ departure.

This is athletics director Whit Babcock’s second hire for the men’s basketball program, with the first being Williams in 2014.

@CTSportsTalk

COURTESY OF HOKIESPORTS

Mike Young, a Radford native, has been well known as one of the best coaches in the Southern Conference.

DEVIN SHEPARD sports staff writer

After what has been a tumultuous week for the Hokie basketball program, there finally seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

According to multiple reports, Virginia Tech has hired former Wofford Terrier head coach Mike Young to replace Buzz Williams, who left Blacksburg for Texas A&M this past week. Young has spent the last 12 years as the head coach at Wofford and will be looking to continue some of the success Williams found in recent years.

Young, the 55-year-old Radford native, has been well known as one of the best coaches in the Southern Conference, winning the league in five of the past 10 years and winning 20 games in all but four of those years.

He is responsible for every tournament bid in school history and his ability to grow a program into a successful one is reminiscent to what Williams did the past few years at Tech. Overall, Young brings a lot to the table as a head coach on and off the court that Tech fans should be excited about.

Young’s ability as a player development specialist is

going to be extremely valuable to the Virginia Tech program.

On his program-best 30–5 campaign this past year, the team was led by senior stars Fletcher Magee and Cameron Jackson. Both were unranked and relative unknowns coming out of high school, yet this past year, both

of opportunities for open threes. He also coaches effort and intensity on defense as evidenced by Wofford’s conference-best 65.6 points allowed per game this past season. Virginia Tech ranked third in the ACC in both threepoint percentage and defense last season.

“Young looks like a very

good coaching hire ... and he should help the Hokies not see too much of a step back from their historic success.

”

players earned All-Southern Conference First Team honors. With the losses of seniors Justin Robinson, Ty Outlaw and Ahmed Hill plus the possible exits of Chris Clarke, Wabissa Bede and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the Hokies will have to depend on the development of their underclassmen if they wish to find success in the ACC. Young’s system should help to make it an easier transition for the returning players, as it mirrors what Williams has run the past few years.

Young uses a motion offense to run players off screens and create a lot

Young looks like a very good coaching hire by Athletic Director Whit Babcock and he should help the Hokies not see too much of a step back from their historic success this past year. If he can recruit at a high level and continue to develop the players already on the roster, Young will feel the love of the Virginia Tech fanbase. With 299 wins on his coaching resume, Young will look to earn his 300th with the Hokies this fall.

@CTSportsTalk

Hokie baseball loses 2 Lacrosse suffers loss to out of 3 weekend games third top 10 ACC team The Demon Deacons beat the Hokies on Saturday, but the Hokies held off a late comeback attempt to win game three.

DAVIS CARBAUGH sports staff writer

T he Vi rginia Tech baseball team concluded its weekend series against Wake Forest losing two out of three games. The Demon Deacons swept Tech in the Saturday double-header but the Hokie held off a late comeback attempt by the Demon Deacons to win game three.

Game 1 In the first game of Saturday’s double-header, freshman catcher Carson Taylor hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to put the Hokies ahead by two runs. Taylor’s first career home run scored redshirt senior Jack Owens.

The Demon Deacons added solo home runs in the second and fourth innings to tie the game at two runs.

pitched five and a third innings, giving up five earned runs off of eight hits.

On the opposing side, junior pitcher Colin Peluse gave up two runs across six and two thirds innings to receive the win. Both teams regrouped from the 8–3 final and began to prepare for the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader shortly after.

Game 2 The Hokies started off game two in similar fashion, scoring on a first inning Owens solo homerun to right field. Later in the first, redshirt senior Luke Horanski hit an RBI double to put Tech up by two runs.

The second game was a back-and-forth battle as the Demon Deacons and Hokies exchanged the lead late in the game. Tech led 6–4 in the top of the fifth, but Wake Forest scored four

“(Wake Forest) put to-

gether a rally and closed the gap late in the game scoring nine runs. The Hokies held (them) off and finished the game ahead.

”

Following five more unanswered runs, Wake Forest built up an insurmountable five-run lead. After late home runs by both teams, the first game of the series concluded at 8–3 in favor of the Demon Deacons.

Sophomore Ian Seymour received the loss after he

unanswered runs to take an 8–6 lead. Sophomore closer William Fleming surrendered a late run to the Hokies but held on to the 8–7 lead to secure the save and win the second matchup.

Virginia Tech starting pitcher Nic Enright allowed six earned runs but kept

the Hokies alive with seven strikeouts. Relief pitcher Peyton Alford was assigned the loss after he allowed Wake Forest to take the lead in the seventh inning.

Game 3 The Hokies came out in game three poised to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Demon Deacons. Through the first four innings, the Hokies were hitting everything and scoring left and right.

In the third inning, outfielder Kerry Carpenter hit a two-RBI home run to center field that put the Hokies up by five. Tech added three more runs in the fourth inning to build a massive 8–0 lead midway through the game.

The Demon Deacons put together a rally and closed the gap late in the game scoring nine runs. The Hokies held off Wake Forest and finished the game ahead 10–9.

Freshman pitcher Chris Gerard pitched a winning per for mance, allowing three earned runs through five innings. Jaison Heard came in late in the game to record the save and conclude the series with the Demon Deacons.

By avoiding the sweep in Winston-Salem, the Hokies are now 18–14 on the season and 5–10 in the ACC. Tech returns home to face local rival Marshall at English Field on April 9. @CTSportsTalk

Despite a late comeback that included six goals in the last seven minutes, the Hokies couldn’t close against Notre Dame.

MADDIE THOMPSON sports editor

A two-game road stint ended Sunday in South Bend, Indiana, for the women’s lacrosse team, as they suffered a loss in a tooth-and-nail battle against the No. 4 Fighting Irish, 15–13. This is the third team in a row the Hokies have faced in the top 10, according to the NCAA Inside Lacrosse Poll. They will face off against two more top 10 opponents in the next two weeks, including the No.1 team in the country, Boston College.

On paper, the two teams have eerily similar stat sheets. Each team threw over 30 shots, suffered 12 turnovers and scored a goal off five free possession shots. Sophomore Paige Petty’s four goals were matched by Notre Dame’s Maddie Howe, and Morgan Berman’s 12 saves were mirrored by Samantha Giacolone in goal for the Irish.

As cliche as it is, in games like these, it all comes down to the little things. The small places where Notre Dame ran just a little faster or snapped up one more draw control is where the difference is.

And while Tech was able to come back with a fire in the second half, leading to a six-goal run to finish the game, Notre Dame’s consistency throughout the first half propelled it into a comfortable lead quickly,

ALEX NAGELI / COLLEGIATE TIMES Sara Goodwin (23) awaits the start of play. The Hokies lost 5–19 to North Carolina, March 27, 2019.

forcing the Hokies to play catch-up the entire time, which is a tiring style of play.

Out of the gate, the Fighting I r ish tossed in five goals in the first five minutes, setting an aggressive tone for the rest of the matchup, forcing Tech to battle back and respond quickly. The Hokies were able to make up for lost time, posting five of their own goals, but allowing four more before heading into the locker room. The Irish dominated on ground balls throughout the first half as well, scooping up 12 to the Hokies’ mere five.

Despite being a seemingly insignificant statistic, ground ball control is integral to being successful in a lacrosse game. Off turnovers, they can lead to power plays that involve a swift flick of the stick, where suddenly the ball is halfway down the field, and then in the back of the opposing team’s goal.

Coming out of the locker room, the Hokies had to fire quickly in order to catch up to the Irish’s decent

lead. Emma Crooks and Petty were able to put some numbers on the board for the Hokies and cut the deficit to two. To the dismay of Tech’s players, Notre Dame also took advantage of its opportunity to regroup, scoring another five goals within the next six minutes, extending its lead to eight goals.

Refusing to quit, the Hokies put their foot on the gas. They scored six goals in the last seven and a half minutes of the game from six different players, including the goal that secured Sarah Lubnow’s first career hat trick. This was accompanied by 14 shots on goal.

Next week the Hokies return home to Blacksburg to face the No.1 team in the country, Boston College, on Saturday at noon. One week later, they finish out their season and ACC game run, facing another top 10 team, No. 7 University of Virginia.

@CTSportsTalk