VT Stories Oral History with Apryl Alexander, April 21, 2016 (Ms2016-015)

 Jenny Nehrt: Okay. Great. You can start by telling me your name, where you were born, and what today is.

Apryl Alexander: Okay. My name is Apryl Alexander. I was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. Today is April 21, 2016.

Nehrt: What years did you go to Tech?

Alexander: I was here from 2001 and graduated in 2005.

Nehrt: Wonderful. So you were born in Alexandria?

Alexander: Louisiana.

Nehrt: Louisiana.

Alexander: Yes. [Laughs]

Nehrt: How was that growing up there?

Alexander: Actually I didn't even grow up there. I stayed there until 2. Both of my parents were in the Air Force, so we moved around frequently growing up, so I was born there and lived there until 2, then we moved to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

Nehrt: Oh wow.

Alexander: Hmm. And then we moved to Panama City, Florida for another three years and then moved to Berlin, Germany and then our final base was in Dover, 1:00Delaware and that's where I graduated high school.

Nehrt: Were both your parents in the Air Force?

Alexander: Yes. Both were air traffic controllers.

Nehrt: Did you have a favorite place that you lived?

Alexander: Berlin, definitely, yeah. It's just nice, the culture and the food, so I loved it a lot, yeah.

Nehrt: You lived on base there though, but did you get to travel the city?

Alexander: Yes. Actually kind of where we lived the base housing was still close to the city, so you had German stores nearby. Our ice cream man was German and things like that. Some of our friends even went to like the bilingual school, which was actually John F. Kennedy Elementary School, so there was a lot of kind of intermingling between the two cultures.

Nehrt: Neat. Did you pick up any German while you were there?

Alexander: We actually did take German in elementary school, so I had in and then when I got back to the States and took Spanish I lost it, and so I know a little here and there, but not fluent by any means.

Nehrt: What was your family like? Do you have brothers and sisters?

Alexander: Yes. I do have one younger brother who is two years younger, and so we were kind of together during all the moves and things like that and we're really close still.

Nehrt: Oh that's nice. When did you first start thinking about college?

Alexander: I think I kind of always knew I was going to go to college. Very early on I wanted to be a veterinarian and that's kind of what I was committed to all through elementary school, all through high school, and so I knew that one day I would be looking for a vet school. I just knew from early that that was going to be the trajectory for me.

Nehrt: How did you find Virginia Tech when you're hopping all over the globe?

Alexander: Well it was because of their animal science program, so I was looking for programs mostly on the east coast with strong animal science programs and Virginia Tech had like one of the best. So when it came down to making my 3:00decision I went for it knowing that they had the animal science program, and then also the vet school later on I thought that that's where I would stay.

Nehrt: Neat. That's really neat. So did you get to visit campus before?

Alexander: I did. I believe I was accepted and then me and my mom drove down to kind of tour the campus, get a look at facilities. I think there was some scholarship kind of banquet, so I was interviewed for scholarships at that time, and just really liked the campus and it felt like a really kind of home close-knit environment, and so that's when I knew that I was going to select Virginia Tech.

Nehrt: Did it seem really different from all the other places that you lived being like a small rural area?

Alexander: Yeah, a small town, the mountains were here. You come onto campus and you see the cows is the first thing you see and so it's like oh that's a little different. But knowing that they had an animal science program and things like that it made sense, but having kind of that farm rural agricultural environment was a little different.

Nehrt: What made you want to do veterinary science?

Alexander: I just was always in love with animals. I had a passion for that. We had animals growing up, whether it was dogs, hamsters, fish, one cat until I found out I was allergic, and so was the whole family, and so animals were just a big part of our life. They are a part of your family, especially when you are having those transitions, and so that's like kind of the reason I made that choice, initially.

Nehrt: Yeah, very neat. What was your first memory of Tech?

Alexander: Well actually I was in a program called the Student Transition Program known as STP, and it was a program aimed at kind of recruiting and retaining minority students. So I actually started Virginia Tech like two weeks after I graduated high school, and some of the people in the program had less time than that, that had just graduated high school the weekend before or something like that. And so I came back to campus for that second time and it 5:00was kind of the same move in process. We all moved into a dorm and we lived there for the summer. And so I just remember it being real that you were actually in college. You were kind of sitting down and had an orientation with all the people who were in the program. It was like oh wait, this is a big deal. I'm finally here in college, and so I just remember that.

Nehrt: No recoup time from high school.

Alexander: No, no, no. It was mid-June and I graduated May 30th from high school, so it was right away. You were taking classes, so you took nine credit hours, your English, Math, and another transition program like study skills and things like that, and so you were in college that summer.

Nehrt: Did you find it rewarding and helpful for the rest of the year?

Alexander: Oh absolutely. One, you built that social network, so when I did come for our first day of classes in August I knew people, so that was really helpful 6:00and having that kind of support system there.

Nehrt: Yeah. Was the program very big or was it like a close-knit group of people?

Alexander: I think it was like 20-something people in that program, and so we spent the whole summer together. We had like field trips in addition to being in classes and things like that, different social activities. And so a couple of other people in there became my best friends all through the college and the rest I still have some communication with via social media and things like that, so I kind of keep up with them.

Nehrt: That's so cool. What was the campus like back then from your memories? It wasn't that long ago.

Alexander: No, it wasn't that long ago. A little…and a lot has changed. I just drove around a few minutes ago and there were a lot of new buildings. I see that both Blacksburg and Christiansburg has now way more. I was up there [00:07:00]. In Christiansburg we didn't have that, and things like that and so just very 7:00similar. Still have like the same you come in and you see the Hokie Stone again and you get nostalgic and all of that, so pretty similar.

Nehrt: Great. When you were here for your first year and during that summer were there any notable professors, anybody who you would have considered a mentorship during your time?

Alexander: Not then. I don't think I got somebody who I considered my mentor until my sophomore year of school when I actually changed majors. Not somebody really early on, but I had people I could kind of connect with via the Student Transition Program and things like that, and then just the support system from the friends, so nobody immediately. I think part of it is sometimes you don't know what a mentor is early on in college or to seek for one and things like that, so I wasn't even thinking about a mentor at that point.

Nehrt: Just kind of getting your footing.

Alexander: Right, right.

Nehrt: So you changed majors from veterinary science to…?

Alexander: To psychology.

Nehrt: Oh, a leap.

Alexander: It was a big leap. I was taking an Intro to Psychology class as well as volunteering at the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley in Radford. And also kind of struggling during that time with the animal science. Organic chemistry kind of came into play, some of those harder classes. Also during that field training experience, that internship experience I really connected with the individuals who were in the transition living home or the shelter, and shifted kind of my wanting to work from animals to people and working with victims of interpersonal violence. And so that kind of experience and just working at the Women's Resource Center kind of changed things for me, as well as taking the Intro to Psych class with I believe it's Dr. Gellar, who 9:00is still here and very well-known. He was just a very dynamic person, very engaging. The material he made it kind of connect with you and applied it to the real world and it was just so attracting. And so all that together I made the decision to change majors which was really scary at the time. I remember just such a big change and something I was thinking I wanted to do my whole life and all of that, and so it's very different.

Nehrt: Did you have a support system that was like, "It's okay?"

Alexander: [Laughs] No. Everybody said, "What are you doing? That makes no sense, but we are going to support you. This sounds weird, but we are going to support you," so I think everybody was worried for a period of time.

Nehrt: …it's okay.

Alexander: Yeah, it's all worked out now.

Nehrt: So within the Psychology Department you found mentors and professors who were important to you?

Alexander: Yeah. I switched majors and had to catch up and get to know 10:00psychology more, and so I was taking an Abnormal Psychology class with Dr. Russell Jones. I'm a bit of an introvert so I was kind of quiet and laid back and just kind of listening to the material, but he's another one that was very engaging. He would call on you during lectures and things like that to kind of get to know you. And I think we were about to go into the summer semester. I was sitting like in the hallway studying. He said, "What are you doing this summer? I was like, "Oh you know, taking some psychology classes to kind of get me caught up," and he was like, "You're working for my lab. Come to the meeting this Friday," or something like that, and I was like, "Oh okay." And so he took me into his lab and really gave me support and helped me later on when I was applying to graduate schools and things like that.

Nehrt: Neat. What were you doing in his lab?

Alexander: Most of his research looks at disaster related trauma, so he has a residential fire lab. He looks at kind of big projects involving other disasters 11:00like hurricanes and tornadoes, tsunamis, and things like that. So I was doing a lot of work working with his grad on lit reviews and just analyzing data. And then my senior year he invited me to help collaborate in writing a book chapter on working with underrepresented populations who are [battling 00:11:30] trauma and things like that, and so that was a big deal to be collaborating with these well-known professors on this book chapter as an undergrad, and it opened so many opportunities for me later on.

Nehrt: Wow. That's fantastic. I'm excited about that, because I'm talking about, I'm a history MA, so I'm doing 1878 Yellow Fever in Memphis and how it affected the community. That's so cool.

Alexander: Yeah.

Nehrt: Do you have any favorite memories or experiences from your time at Tech?

Alexander: Oh goodness.

Nehrt: I know.

Alexander: So many. Obviously Hokie football. If you weren't a football fan you are now. [Laughs] So coming in with all those kind of good experiences. That was right when we switched to ACC. We won that first ACC Championship, so I remember the football players coming and going to the stadium and having a celebration.

Also we had a lot of great speakers brought here. Spike Lee came while I was here. Aaron McGruder who did the cartoon the Boondocks, the comic strip and the cartoon the Boondocks he came for a speech. Also the step shows were a big deal. It was once a year we had the big Overton step show. Everybody got dressed up and came up and did that, so all those kind of little social experiences kind of stuck out for me, as well as kind of the friendships I built and they were there with me during all those experiences.

Nehrt: Did you participate in the step shows?

Alexander: Oh now.

Nehrt: You just watched?

Alexander: No. I watched. I'll leave that to the professionals. [Laughs]

Nehrt: That's cool. Were you in any of the on-campus organizations?

Alexander: I was actively involved. I did a lot in terms of kind of volunteer experiences. I did have a scholarship program that got me involved in a lot of campus activities with regard to kind of volunteerism and things like that, and a few kind of leadership opportunities and just learning how to kind of build leadership skills and things like that. Then I stayed with the Women's Resource Center for a long time, even when I was graduated and was at Radford University for my master's, stayed there. So not necessarily on-campus organizations but involved in different community opportunities.

Nehrt: What were you doing at the Women's Center?

Alexander: Initially when you're serving as an intern you get 40 hours of training, kind of crisis intervention and then just learning about interpersonal 14:00violence and things like that and so you spent time working at the shelter. While there they had like a children's program, so I spent a lot of time just playing with the kids who had been pulled away from these kind of messy violent situations and things like that, offering them support, tutoring and things like that. Also worked the hotlines, so when individuals called in and needed assistance with that, those issues of leaving, guide them through that, provide them resources and all of that.

Later on, I think more when I was at Radford I was a CARE companion, which stood for Crisis Advocates Responding Effectively, so you would actually go to like the hospitals and police stations and be kind of a support system for individuals who had recently been victimized. And again, that all kind of collaborated with my psychology experience as an undergrad to really motivate me to pursue it more.

Nehrt: Those sound like very intense experiences.

Alexander: Hmm, but it was so helpful, so helpful when just working with people 15:00in the community, also kind of fine-tuning kind of what I wanted to do. It gave kind of meaning to what I was studying as well.

Nehrt: So did you have any overall difficult experiences while at Tech?

Alexander: Just the changing majors was a struggle for me, so that was kind of a difficult experience and kind of navigating that. Nothing sticks to my mind as something that was just really difficult for me. There was a lot of positive experiences just coming back and even driving around now, I was remembering kind of things that happened or places and situations. Again, I had a good support group and then built friends later on, and so having that support system was helpful during college.

Nehrt: Yeah. What was there to do around Tech around that time? We're pretty 16:00isolated here.

Alexander: Right. So we had like a lot of house parties and things like that, so gatherings among friends. I lived off campus from software year on through graduation, so I had a lot of gatherings at my house. There were a couple of places downtown that we would go and go dancing and things like that, nothing big, but you had enough people in a community and people just had fun. You made your way. Even if it is isolating you were able to find something on campus to do.

Nehrt: Plus the area is so beautiful.

Alexander: Right, right.

Nehrt: After you graduated Tech you went to Radford?

Alexander: Yes.

Nehrt: Have you got a master's?

Alexander: Yes, a master's in clinical psychology. Like I said, I switched majors so I was a little I guess late in kind of…psychology and not sure kind of what I want to do, so I thought kind of a master's route would be helpful instead of jumping to a PhD program. Also I wasn't sure if I would be as 17:00competitive having switched and didn't have enough time to maybe get involved in more research. So I looked at master's programs and also wanted to stay near Virginia Tech, and so I decided to go to Radford and there was a professor there who had similar interests as me. And so that was kind of really helpful, and just staying in the area, getting more involved, getting more research experience, and so I attended Radford for my two years.

Nehrt: Cool. What was that like? Was it different? It's a bit smaller.

Alexander: Yeah, it was different. It was a lot smaller. The friends I built there we were coming to Tech often. Actually three or four of us actually graduated from Virginia Tech, so I knew one of the girls really well, and then the three others I had seen them in classes at Virginia Tech, maybe not had spoken to them, but I was like, "Wait, I know you. We were in Developmental Psychology together."And so we were able to connect then and we often came back 18:00to Virginia Tech for a kind of social life and things like that.

Nehrt: Cool. That's really cool. My master's program. They are small.

Alexander: Right, yeah. There was only like six of us, six or seven of us, so yeah.

Nehrt: Cool. Was the course work over there really rewarding as well?

Alexander: Oh, very much so. They do have a really strong curriculum in the area of psychology. They had two master's programs then like a clinical and a counseling, and since I graduated they've gotten a doctoral program in psychology, so their curriculum is really good and a lot of their students go on to get their doctorates if they choose that route, so they become competitive.

Nehrt: Cool. So you graduated in 2005.

Alexander: Yes.

Nehrt: Not too long ago. Do you come back to Tech a lot?

Alexander: No. After I graduated Radford I hadn't been back.

Nehrt: Really? This is the first time?

Alexander: Yeah, so this is my first time back, yeah. It's been really overwhelming. I ended up going to get my doctorate in Clinical Psychology, so I was busy with that. You have to complete an internship so I moved across country for a year, just some of the moving, and so I hadn't had time to come back. I think I went to one game in DC. My parents were in Delaware so I went to a game at the Redskins Stadium one year, but that was as close as I've gotten back to Virginia Tech.

Nehrt: Cool. Where did you do your doctorate at?

Alexander: I went to the Fuller Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. They have a doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. It's an even smaller school and that they are mostly engineering, kind of Nassau producing school, but they also have a psychology program over on the side, so I went there for my doctorate.

Nehrt: Are you still working with interpersonal violence?

Alexander: Yes. My main areas of interest are violence and victimization, and so at Radford I did have a professor who was interested in forensic psychology. And through my experiences at the Women's Resource Center I became more interested in the legal side of things, so I took that course, became really interested, so FIT had a forensic psychology concentration, so I continued on with that. They also had a marriage and family concentration, so I wanted to get that balance because I knew I wanted to work with families as well, so yeah, I went on to do like a post [doc] in forensic psychology and things like that, so that's kind of my area still of interest.

Nehrt: Awesome. Have you had very rewarding experiences since you've completed your doctorate?

Alexander: Oh yes. As a part of my doctorate you have to go on an internship for a year to get kind of additional experience and training, so I went to Patton State Hospital, which is the largest forensic psychiatric facility in the nation 21:00and got to do a bunch of cool stuff. Everything you hear on television with insanity evaluations, competency to stand trial, risk assessments. I do therapy and assessment with sex offenders and things like that, and that experience led me to a post doc. And so I've had a bunch of these fun kind of experiences from kind of all my training experiences from Virginia Tech on that have been so rewarding.

Nehrt: Wow. Your life sounds really cool and like intense. I don't think I'm hard enough for it.

Alexander: It's fun. No, it's fun. [Laughs]

Nehrt: Yeah?

Alexander: Yes, yes.

Nehrt: Do people usually give you this reaction?

Alexander: Yes.

Nehrt: They do?

Alexander: Yeah. You kind of kill conversations every now and then. People are intrigued but they are also like, "That's terrifying in some ways. How do you do it?" So.

Nehrt: It's so cool though.

Alexander: Yeah, yeah.

Nehrt: Wow. You're going to continue to do that, right?

Alexander: Hmm. Currently I'm an assistant clinical professor at Auburn University, and so most of my work is at a juvenile detention facility. The Department of Psychology has had a long-standing contract with the Department of Youth Services to provide a juvenile sex offender treatment program. So I kind of work within that program doing a lot of administrative work. I also supervise graduate students who are working on their PhDs, work with undergrads on research and things like that. Kind of peeked my forensic interest and I'm still kind of going with that in my current position.

Nehrt: How do you like working with students? Is it fun?

Alexander: It is fun. I think because I've had so many positive mentors from Virginia Tech again on through FIT that made me want to give back, because my mentors have given me so many opportunities. They have been so supportive. I 23:00talk to most of them still to this day, whether it's like an email here and there every few months, and so I wanted to make sure I kind of replicated that. So my students I kind of give the same investment that my mentors gave me and I think that's important to me and something I want to continue doing.

Nehrt: I'm sure they really appreciate it.

Alexander: Yes. They get a lot of cool experiences, but again, it was the same thing I had and I have to kind of give back.

Nehrt: What makes you want to come to the alumni weekend this weekend?

Alexander: Well, initially I heard…I knew it was [spring game 00:23:44]. I said I have to go back to Virginia Tech. I have not been back. I said this is going to be the year I just go back, and so I had planned that knowing I was going to go to [spring game 00:23:52] this year. Then I found out it was black alumni weekend the same weekend and it was like okay, I have to go back because 24:00again, the mentorship, the connections I built here, I wanted to be among that community and really just absorb things and kind of reflect on my time here and how important it was to me. So all of that kind of combined together is why I decided I needed to come back this year and get kind of reconnected with my University.

Nehrt: Cool, really cool. Yeah. One of the reasons this project got started is because there was a gallup poll that got sent around to various alums from different universities to I guess measure… How should I phrase this, measure how connected alums feel with the University.

Alexander: I saw that.

Nehrt: Yeah. Virginia Tech is like crazy ahead.

Alexander: Yeah, way beyond anybody else.

Nehrt: So President Sands actually his wife got really interested in this project and they wanted to find out why, why Virginia Tech has this appeal. Why do you think so? I can ask.

Alexander: You know I've been thinking about that a lot lately, even being at Auburn University and seeing kind of their students. I actually attended their black alumni weekend last year as faculty, and noting kind of the differences and experiences between myself and them, in that we just had a kind of good connection and good network. Despite being a still unrepresented population here at Virginia Tech we still built a good network, so we were going to all those step shows. We were going to the speakers and things like that. Any time there was an event or a party we showed up and we were all there together. You know people at other universities just don't have that experience all the time. Even at Auburn right now we're going through, we just had this big kind of diversity 26:00inclusion climate survey and there were some worrisome things with regard to how students felt, even the lack of faculty that looked like them or similar to them, the lack of mentorship. And the results of that survey just like came out yesterday of kind of things that they want to do to kind of improve upon the climate. I'm not saying we didn't have that at Virginia Tech. There probably could be some things that could evolve from that, but I think I had a much more positive experience than the students I'm talking to there.

Nehrt: Yeah.

Alexander: One of the things I say is Virginia Tech is a community, it's a family. Still I've done all this traveling and I haven't been back, but if I'm an airport and I have my Virginia Tech shirt on somebody is going to say something to me, some alum. Me and my mom were on a cruise two years ago, there were three other alumni on there and we all watched the Bowl game together on the cruise. You know without having to know each other and get to know each 27:00other you knew you were a Hokie and you were going to come to the bar and have that drink with each other. I don't know if other universities are like that. I just don't know, and so that's just our experience here, for whatever reason it is.

Nehrt: Very cool. So are there any changes do you think Virginia Tech could make?

Alexander: I'm not sure. You know part of what I want to do this weekend is really get to kind of come back and see the climate. Going to other universities and hearing some concerns that they have I want to know kind of what Virginia Tech is doing now too, because we did have the programs like STP. Unfortunately, it was cut because of the budget cuts. We were the last class actually, and I talk about that experience often on how important that was. I think I told our administration at Auburn I said, "I want that for our students because it was really important to have that program." And there was another one for black 28:00engineers right down in the next dorm over, so we had two communities next to each other to support. So yeah, I do want to spend this time to kind of see what needs to be done, how can I even support as an alumni, that desire to get back here and even give back is important to me. And so I know there's changes that probably could be made, but I'm just not sure what yet.

Nehrt: Is there anything I haven't asked you or story you would like to tell? It could be anything. It's okay if there isn't.

Alexander: I don't think there is. My one thing I need to do while here is go to West End. I miss West End so bad. [Laughs]

Nehrt: I always joke, my boyfriend's little brother is a freshman here and he knows everything way better than I do, because I'm like what's West End?

Alexander: You have not been to West End?

Nehrt: No. What is that?

Alexander: You haven't been to West end?

Nehrt: I live in [Major Williams] and sometimes I get bagels at Turner…

Alexander: No, okay. [Laughs] One of the things that probably stands out, we probably did miss this, is the food at Virginia Tech. We are #1 always in the food polls as well.

Nehrt: That's true.

Alexander: Because they had the best, and I had friends that worked at those facilities so you would get hooked up, but West End is way missed. Actually specifically me and my mom were talking about going tonight, is their London broil and their garlic mashed potatoes.

Nehrt: On campus, that's campus food?

Alexander: They have, I don't know if it started around my time or it was before, they have a lobster tank in there. You can get lobster, or students can get lobster. You can't get that at any other university that I know of. [Laughs]

Nehrt: Oh that's hilarious.

Alexander: West End Market is the best, their cheese fries. [Laughs] Yes, so memories around food on the campus, because we did have the best and that was kind of edible and we gathered around the different food places on campus as 30:00friends too. You would meet at Dietrich's Ice Cream Shoppe late at night and have you a Sunday or a milkshake. Yeah, that just came back to me.

Nehrt: I need to explore, I really do.

Alexander: It's a must-see before you leave here. You've been to the stadium?

Nehrt: Yes. I have been to the Hokie games.

Alexander: You've been to a Hokie game, go to West End.

Nehrt: Okay. And that's the experience?

Alexander: Those are my top two. [Laughs]

Nehrt: So you brought your mom with you?

Alexander: Yes.

Nehrt: Is she like an honorary Hokie?

Alexander: Yes she is. Actually while I was here there was Hokie Mama t-shirts that were going around, so she did have a Hokie Mama t-shirt. Also the students nominated me for an award at the black alumni reunion. It was the outstanding recent alumni award and I received it.

Nehrt: Oh congratulations.

Alexander: Yes, thank you, and so I invited my mom. Obviously she was the first 31:00one who I came here with when we did a tour and so it was only fitting.

Nehrt: Yeah, that's great.

Alexander: Yes.

Nehrt: Well if there isn't anything else you would like to add.

Alexander: No, but thank you so much.

Nehrt: Thank you for meeting with me.

Alexander: This was so much fun and rethinking about things is so good.

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