VT Stories Oral History with Marvin Boyd, October 9, 2015 (Ms2016-015)

Shelby W: I thought we could just maybe start by just telling me your name for the recording, when you were born, where you're from, kind of how you grew up, what years did you go to Tech.

Marvin B: Okay. So I'm Marvin Boyd, originally from Chesterfield, Virginia, which is just outside of Richmond. I graduated from Tech in 2001. Actually I graduated twice. I was a December graduate in 2000 and then graduated also in May of 2001. The story I tell people is I was in a class my senior year and decided that I didn't want to leave Tech. I actually added on a second major and stayed an extra year.

Shelby W: And so it only took you another one year to get...

Marvin B: It took me... So I basically did my first degree; I had enough credits to actually graduate early, so I did that one in 2000 and then stuck on to 2001, May of 2001.

Shelby W: That's awesome. What were your degrees in?

Marvin B: Management Science and Information Technology and Business Management, so both out of Pamplin.

Shelby W: What did you do after you graduated the second time?

Marvin B: Actually they were concurrent, so I basically never left Tech, so I was here for a full five years. I moved to the DC area and started working at a company called Freddie Mac and I've actually been there since.

Shelby W: Nice. What was the reason you wanted to come to Tech in the first place?

Marvin B: So I had looked at only in-state schools, so I applied to Tech, UVA, JMU, and VCU. My parents neither of them had gone to college, so I was the first of my family to go to college, so there wasn't a strong alumni past that I was chasing after. I loved the campus. I heard lots of great things about Tech's reputation, so I was thinking ahead to getting a job one day that would help. The football program at the time really wasn't as big, but actually graduating from a large school like 2:00Tech it's nice being an alum to have that connection. I travel quite a bit. Literally a week ago I was in an airport in Dallas and there were people there watching the game, so it's easy to find Tech people everywhere. Shelby W: I get that a lot from friends of mine that have graduated. They say that wherever they've moved to in their towns from - I've got some in Austin and Tucson that they find their little Hokie clicks and are able to kind of keep being Hokies. Marvin B: Yeah. So thinking if I had gone to a smaller school maybe that couldn't have happened.

Shelby W: Right, or not as easily anyway.

Marvin B: Right, right.

Shelby W: When you were looking at different schools did you tour all of the other campuses?

Marvin B: I did, everywhere except VCU, and actually I also applied to William & Mary; I forgot that one. I didn't tour VCU. Honestly I looked at it as more of a safety school and just in case something 3:00happened. But I got in everywhere and Tech gave me the largest financial aid package, so that was also positive for me.

Shelby W: That's always nice.

Marvin B: Yep, yep.

Shelby W: What was one of the first things that you remember about Tech or maybe your first day of class? Do you have a sensory memory like a smell or an image that sticks out to you?

Marvin B: When I was a student or before being a student?

Shelby W: Whichever one might be strongest for you.

Marvin B: Just thinking back immediately I kind of think of move-in day, lots of crowds, lots of excitement in the air. Yeah, just lots of things going on at one time.

Shelby W: Right. It's definitely like a frenzy excitement like everywhere on campus.

Marvin B: Yeah.

Shelby W: Kind of the same feeling you kind of get now.

Marvin B: Right, exactly.

Shelby W: It's a good time of year. Do you have any professors or mentors that really stuck out to you during your time here that you were kind of guided by or inspired by?

Marvin B: So one of the biggest things I was involved with when I was a student I was an RA. I started as an RA my sophomore year and then I was an RA coordinator in my second year, and then I was a head RA of O'Shaughnessy for the last two years. So a lot of the people in Student Affairs were you know, big I guess as mentors and people. I think like Jerry Kawoski or Larry Robertson or [Gail] Kirby. At one point I was even thinking about going into Student Affairs myself once I graduated, but you know, just a lot of people from that side. There were a lot of business professors and people in Pamplin as well. Do you want the names or is that what you were looking for?

Shelby W: I mean if you would like to give them, it's all up to you.

Marvin B: I didn't know what you were specifically for, but lots of people across campus.

Shelby W: Right. Were you an RA for O'Shag all the years or just the last year?

Marvin B: I started in West AJ and then I was in New Residence Hall West the year it opened. I'm not sure if they've renamed it, but I think it's still New Residence Hall West.

Shelby W: I want to say that they have, but maybe not.

Marvin B: I know the East I think became Peddrew-Yates, but I don't know if they ever did the West.

Shelby W: I feel like anybody who comes back on the campus is immediately like, "There are new buildings and they've got new names."

Marvin B: Right.

Shelby W: What are some of the things that stick out to you with that?

Marvin B: With the new buildings?

Shelby W: Yeah, or any major changes on campus, like the layout of it.

Marvin B: Just today, I typically always come and go around the drill field once and even the drill field had changed. I guess they've changed the layout or the way you go around it now, but there is always something new here. I've been fortunate enough I've come back every year since I've graduated, 6:00sometimes multiple times. And you know I hear of people who haven't been back in 10, 15 years and they come back and it's a completely different place, so I've been able to see it evolve slowly and it's kind of neat to watch.

Shelby W: Do you come back every year for the games?

Marvin B: I come back for the games. I'm on a couple of different boards as well, so I come down for different meetings and then not recently, but I would come down for Engineering Expo or Business Horizons doing recruiting for my company.

Shelby W: Are you still pretty proud of the students you receive?

Marvin B: Oh absolutely, yes, yes.

Shelby W: Does the company you work for do they pull a lot from Tech?

Marvin B: They do. We actually do recruiting over many different schools, but Tech is a big school for us.

Shelby W: Right. And you're involved in the Alumni Association now?

Marvin B: I am, yes.

Shelby W: What is your involvement?

Marvin B: So a couple of things. When I first graduated I moved up to the 7:00DC area like I said and I got involved with the National Capital Regional Chapter, and eventually became president of that chapter. Now I'm a member of the alumni board.

Shelby W: How do you find that experience looking on the other side of Tech, not looking at it as a student, but looking at it as a Board member or somebody that has maybe some influence?

Marvin B: I guess a couple of things. There is a little bit of jealousy. I look back like I see all these great things the students have now and I was like I wish I had that. And sometimes I'll even look back and you will hear of the great things that students at Tech are doing, and I will wish that oh I wish I had studied abroad. That would be one example I would throw out. Or you see a lot of the different residence halls now becoming like the learning 8:00communities and that sounds like something very exciting. The closest thing that I was involved with was when I was an RA one of the first special housing programs was the Well, so I was an RA in that, but it seems like everything is moving more to like the learning colleges and communities, so that's exciting. I can say certainly being on the hiring side Tech students are still top notch. I get the opportunity to interview a lot and I recently actually hired two Tech students, one who graduated very recently and someone else who graduated maybe 15 years ago, but always top notch.

Shelby W: Nice. If you could talk to the students now and give them one piece of advice what do you think it would be, having gone on both sides?

Marvin B: Enjoy your time here. It's very very short. For myself looking back I did very well and I think I had a good balance of both 9:00the academic side and extracurricular things, but that would be the biggest thing. It goes by in the split of a second.

Shelby W: Right. I guess what are some of the experiences that you think you were afforded at Tech or opportunities that you now reap from your experience at Tech, your experience after graduating? What was one thing or a couple of things that you took away?

Marvin B: Just experiences like memories or what specifically?

Shelby W: Experiences or memories or something that, maybe even a skillset that you took away that you then were able to apply to an opportunity after graduation.

Marvin B: Well, I think certainly the technical skills I picked up in my major has definitely helped me. I think being an RA I learned immense leadership 10:00skills by doing that. Something very very practical I could say is when I was here I was on the Planning Committee for the Business Horizons Career Fair. 00:12:06 And when I moved to DC we actually started using, the DC Alumni Chapter we actually started creating a career fair ourselves. And then we were able to, I mean when I was involved with it we were usually raising 40-$50,000 a year that we would directly put back into the scholarship fund for students in the DC area. So something very practical I learned here how to run a career fair, I was able to take up there and just duplicate it, so that immediately gave back to students at Tech.

Shelby W: What were some of your favorite memories at Tech? Either was it what you did that might have helped you with your fair later or 11:00was it going to a football game? Even if we weren't as good back then. [Laughs]

Marvin B: I think just the campus. You know every season Tech's campus is beautiful. I remember like different restaurants or things around, many of which have left, but you remember that. Certainly different activities and ring dance or the football games like you mentioned. Even just family and friends coming to town going to a game or something like that.

Shelby W: Did your family like to come in and visit you?

Marvin B: Yeah, definitely. I was an only child, so my parents would love to come and watch a game.

Shelby W: Nice. Did they become Hokie fans after you?

Marvin B: They definitely did. Yeah, they definitely did. So when I was a chapter volunteer with the DC chapter there's training every year that they offer alumni volunteers and my parents would usually come in and 12:00there was like a dinner you would have each year and they would participate in that and then we would go to the game.

Shelby W: So they are like adopted alumni?

Marvin B: Yeah, they're adopted alumni, exactly.

Shelby W: Are they here this weekend?

Marvin B: They're not. Unfortunately, my father actually passed away a couple of years ago, but he was a diehard Tech fan, so he loved it. My mom she still loves to come down, just not this weekend.

Shelby W: Did you have a favorite season at Tech?

Marvin B: Um, probably spring, but then I also had the opportunity to spend a summer here too, which a lot of times people don't get the chance to do. I was a conference aide one summer and Blacksburg just really changes. You go downtown and you can actually get in line very easily. 13:00There's not a crowd in site. Or you go tubing on the river or something, a lot of summer activities. That was a great time as well. I'm not a big fan of the cold so I can't pick winter. [Laughs]

Shelby W: Yeah, I'm not either. I kind of like football and so I like the fall, but the spring and summer in Blacksburg are awesome.

Marvin B: Yeah.

Shelby W: I definitely agree. Why do you think so many Virginia Tech graduates like yourself become involved in the Alumni Association? Why do you think there's that pullback?

Marvin B: So, I guess I'm a little bit influenced at this point. In our board meeting we were just looking at some of the Gallup results I guess that have come out through some of the surveys and the results really showed exactly what you were saying, that compared to many other schools Tech is very different. In fact, they were telling us how Gallup is actually down here trying to understand why Tech 14:00students are different than others, why do we score higher. So I guess I would say it almost sounds like we are a research project at this point to try to figure out what are we doing here that's so different. It's a very special place. I noticed today coming in there are flags now that kind of hang I guess when you come in off of Southgate Drive that say 'Welcome Home'. I think that's even kind of part of the culture. A lot of people I think look at it that way. Certainly whenever I come down I have just very fond memories and feel that way as well. I don't know, I think it may be that Blacksburg is a little bit isolated. If you were closer to an urban area maybe there would be a lot more things to do, but because everyone is kind of put into this small environment you actually get to know people. I think also people who choose to come to a 15:00school maybe in more of a rural area maybe is a certain type of person. And then I think certainly you see things from alums or other people who come back to your community after they graduate and you get to know them and you think wow, they had great things to say about the school, there must be something special there.

Shelby W: Did you feel isolated in Blacksburg when you were here as a student?

Marvin B: No, not really. I wouldn't call it a bad isolation. I think it's good. What I really meant more of is if you went to a school next to Chicago for example there's just so many things to compete for your interest or your time and there's so many more people. Whereas here, like the summer I was here it dramatically changes. You know once the students are gone it's a 16:00completely different world here.

Shelby W: It is. So the sense of community I guess is what you're describing.

Marvin B: Yeah.

Shelby W: Is that what brought you back to work in the alumni?

Marvin B: For me I think I was just looking for a way to stay connected to the school. Like I mentioned being an RA and being involved in Student Affairs is a big thing for me, and to me it just seemed almost like a natural sort of progression if you will to it. The other thing I was recently thinking about, so I also volunteer as an EMT in Ashburn, and you know I was thinking about that the other day. I almost feel like being an RA you are helping people in that way, and then now as an EMT I'm also helping people in sort of a different way I guess. As an RA maybe I was writing people up for drinking and now I'm saving people's lives from drinking. But there is a connection, like I think there really is a lot of people who come to 17:00Tech and after they graduate they look for ways to serve, whether it's with the Alumni Chapter or with other ways in their community.

Shelby W: Do you think that that's the kind of person that is attracted to Tech or do you think it's the atmosphere that kind of is enculturated in Tech, or maybe both?

Marvin B: It could be both. I think there have been a lot of new events that have been created since I graduated, like Relay for Life is a good example. I think it's one of the biggest programs in the country and that didn't exist when I was here. From what I understand with that program there were just students who were very interested and they had the passion and they created it. I think for someone to do that that takes a special person and someone who has a strength or an interest in that. But then to get the rest of the campus that involved also 18:00takes I think a certain type of person too, so I think it's a bit of both.

Shelby W: When you were a student what was the - I guess I'm thinking about Relay for Life now, but what was the atmosphere, kind of the culture around campus? Did it feel isolated from what was going on outside in the world or did you feel connected to political problems or cultural issues that were going on?

Marvin B: I felt it was pretty isolated actually. I guess I remember two things that had happened. One was Princess Diana, the car accident. I remember being in West AJ and walking through the hall and kind of hearing out the news. And then of course the other thing was the whole Clinton/ Lewinsky controversy. That was the other big thing and the trials were going on and that 19:00sort of thing.

Shelby W: Was that something that people followed on campus?

Marvin B: I don't think so. It was sort of noise. And I'm not sure, maybe it's just personally I'm not a very political person, so it may be that I'm just not attuned to that as someone else maybe in political science or maybe history. [Laughs] But I didn't really feel there was a major connection to other events. I think it was more of a closer knit community.

Shelby W: Right. So Tech for you was a good isolation away from everything else that was kind of going on.

Marvin B: Yeah, I would say that.

Shelby W: Walking around campus now do you get the same sense of that good isolation or do you feel that has changed or shifted in any way?

Marvin B: So I think just in general in some ways I feel like I was 20:00just here, but in other ways it feels like it's been a long time. So when I was here the average student didn't have a cell phone. That was kind of a newer thing if you will. Many of the dorms didn't have internet or Ethernet. You had to connect your computer to the back of a phone and it was like a modem. It was really slow and you would have to wait to get online, so it just wasn't, I think just having Wi-Fi across the campus and everyone is on a laptop or a tablet just naturally makes you more connected to the world outside of you. Whereas you know when I was here students weren't even required to have a computer, and that was just in the early 2000s and late 90s. I think a lot has just changed with technology and just you know... I think I would also even attribute it to a lot 21:00of students now they remember 9/11. They were going through some of those events. I think there's probably even a connection to the April 16th tragedy. People are more attuned to the news and what's happening and trying to hear alerts. We just had a shooting a couple of weeks ago, so it's very common now I think for people just to want information. Whereas you know when I was here Columbine had happened, but you didn't think of that kind of thing happening at a college and that hadn't happened recently.

Shelby W: Did you have any difficult experiences at Tech? I mean nothing to that extreme, but difficult experiences that maybe have stuck with you or just something that you had to address then?

Marvin B: Not really. I can't really think of anything. The only thing I would attribute, and it wasn't Tech, my mom had some health problems 22:00when I was a junior, which thankfully she got through it, but you know again kind of being isolated away, and then she had heart surgery, so that was a lot, again, as an only child and also being very far away. But the campus itself I can't think of any negative experiences.

Shelby W: And no perhaps difficult experiences for the campus at large other than I guess the two political events?

Marvin B: No. I mean again, not that I really saw. I mean there were a couple, again just being probably an RA I was more in tune to this, so I do remember I think it was my sophomore year there was a lady who actually fell out of Slusher 23:00Tower, and so that was something that... No one ever really knew what happened, what was related to it. I think there were a couple of suicide kind of events, which is very tragic, but I can't think of anything that was just really widespread. It was more isolated kinds of events.

Shelby W: That's what I was going to ask, if it seemed like isolated events.

Marvin B: Yeah.

Shelby W: How did those events, did it seem to affect the Virginia Tech community at large or what was those like isolated probably relationships?

Marvin B: I think whenever you have an event like that it affects people, certainly people who knew those individuals. I didn't, but I knew friends who knew them. I think at large I don't think it was really kind of a widespread impact. I think it was probably more localized to different groups.

Shelby W: Right. I know now on campus that they have like a lot of resources, 24:00like Cook Counseling that the RAs are really connected with and can send students to if they have incidents or issues or anything like that. Was that kind of environment around the RA environment at that time?

Marvin B: It was. I remember we would go through training with, I don't think it was called the Cook Counseling Center at the time, but there was certainly a counseling center. And they would help us try to understand things with sexual violence or eating disorders or different types of issues like that. I'm sure now just with some of the events that have happened that they go a bit more in-depth or provide more training.

Shelby W: Right. Yeah, I think those kinds of things always get updated. Out of all the changes that you've seen what changes would you like to see 25:00at Tech as they move forward?

Marvin B: The biggest thing I would like to see I think is us to continue to move up in the rankings. I mean I think it's a great school and I know we're a land grant university, so we have a different mission than a Harvard or somewhere like that. But no, actually I went to UVA for my master's, so I look at that school and I think to myself Virginia Tech has the same quality and our numbers should be just as good or better. And I think a lot of that sometimes comes down to different scores, that those different groups used with alumni giving or whatever it may be. But that would be one of the biggest things. I think that helps the value of your degree and I would hope that the current administration is going to try to continue to work towards that. I know 26:00that they are also trying to increase I think our research capabilities, so that of course will help as well.

Shelby W: Right. What did you get your master's in?

Marvin B: IT Management, so it was in the Commerce School at UVA. And I would say I think both schools really do give a quality education. I get a lot of pushback from my friends, "You're a traitor. You went to UVA." And I honestly have nothing but good things to say about UVA as well. It's a very different school. It's a different culture, and certainly getting my master's there through more of an executive program was a different experience. I didn't live on what they call on grounds as I did with Tech. I actually lived on campus at Tech all five years, so it was a very different experience.

Shelby W: Did you feel like an outsider there or was the community just as...?

Marvin B: So no, so my program was actually very close. 27:00It was I think 35-40 or us and we took classes in the DC area and then we would also go to down to UVA for different classes as well, so it was a very good experience. I can't say anything bad about it, but certainly like I said the schools just really are very different for what they try to attract.

Shelby W: UVA is an amazing school. I mean Virginia Tech and UVA both are. I guess what would you like people to know about you that perhaps I haven't mentioned or asked you yet?

Marvin B: I think you really have covered a lot of ground today. Honestly I think you've done a great job with the questions and just keeping the flow going here. I think anyone who is out there looking for a school 28:00or has doubts I think really Tech is a solid place. You know it's a great community. It only seems to get better every time I come down here. I hope Frank helps us win the game today. [Laughs] That's the most important thing, if it doesn't rain. But really I think you've really covered a lot of ground. It will be interesting to actually listen to some of these and just hear how the experiences have changed over the years for someone like me who is headed towards like a 15-year reunion I guess and someone who has just graduated.

Shelby W: Yeah. And then the ones that are coming before you too.

Marvin B: Right, absolutely.

Shelby W: Was there anything that you thought I was going to ask but I didn't?

Marvin B: I thought you might ask more about the April 16th event, just because that's kind of I guess one of the bigger events that's happened at Tech.

Shelby W: Right.

Marvin B: I'm trying to think if there was anything else.

Shelby W: Where were you for that event?

Marvin B: I was at work actually, yeah.

Shelby W: That was a hard time.

Marvin B: I was at my desk and I remember just starting to get emails from people like check CNN or have you heard what happened and then you just watched the numbers kind of grow with the shooting and the people. At the time I was the President of the Chapter in DC, so we immediately had to scramble together to start doing a memorial service and different events. I remember we started actually having different large venues in the area and donate their space. There was a church, if you know the DC area on [GW] Parkway, actually Georgetown Pike, it's pretty 30:00much a single lane road and there's a church off it and I think it sits probably 1,000 people. We had so many people who tried to get to the event both ways to the church were blocked. We have over 1,000 people in attendance and people continued to try to get there.

Shelby W: Wow.

Marvin B: So again I think that just shows you the outpouring of people who wanted to be involved and just find a way to help. And then for years after we would continue to try to do things and it ultimately turned into like a blood drive we would do each year to remember those that lost their lives. I think that one of the bigger events recently, so that was one thing I guess I was surprised about not asking, but other than that I think we covered a lot of things.

Shelby W: Yeah. There's a lot of people in the area or from the DC area that have gone to Tech, so that sense of community I guess for those people.

Marvin B: Thankfully I didn't personally know anyone who was involved, but certainly there were a lot of people who did. And I guess maybe the other reason, going back to things you would ask, it's just because only three weeks ago or two weeks ago we had another shooting, so right now there's a lot of discussion in the political arena about gun violence and laws and all of that.

Shelby W: Right. That's one of those things I like people to bring up.

Marvin B: Sure.

Shelby W: I don't what kind of associations people may or may not have.

Marvin B: I understand.

Shelby W: They may or may not want to talk about it.

Marvin B: Right.

Shelby W: But is there any last minute thoughts you would like to share?

Marvin B: Go Hokies.

Shelby W: Go Hokies. All right.