Virginia Tech's - University Relations - Virginia Tech

Abroad program sends approximately
1,200 students to as many as 48 countries
annually. Among other service initiatives,
Outreach and International Affairs organizes
the university’s volunteerism initiative,
VT-ENGAGE, and facilitates matching
volunteers to service organizations.
Virginia Cooperative
Extension
Virginia Tech’s formal involvement in
public service began more than 95 years ago
with the Virginia Cooperative Extension,
a collaborative outreach effort that now
involves Virginia Tech; Virginia State
University, the commonwealth’s second
land-grant school; the U.S. Department of
Agriculture; and state and local governments
in partnership with hundreds of thousands
of citizens. With 107 city/county offices
throughout Virginia, tens of thousands of
volunteers, and 160 programs, Extension
reaches and teaches millions of Virginians
annually. The programs help people improve
their economic, cultural, and social
well-being.
Learn more about Virginia Tech outreach
activities at www.outreach.vt.edu and
www.ext.vt.edu.
Mascots and nicknames
HokieBird, Virginia Tech’s famous
mascot, evolved from a live turkey
paraded on the playing field
sidelines to a hand-sewn turkey
costume with a papier mâché
head to today’s professionally
manufactured outfit. The path of
the mascot’s development was far
from straight and narrow. In 1913,
Floyd Meade, a local resident
nicknamed “Hard Times,” was
chosen by the student body to
serve as the team’s mascot. The
athletic teams had occasionally
been called Gobblers for several
years, so Meade trained a large
turkey that he paraded on the
sidelines and could make gobble
on command.
Fans and sports writers began
to regularly use the nickname
“Gobbler.” The term “Hokie” was
coined by O.M. Stull, Class of
1896, when he wrote the “Old
Hokie” (the “e” was added later)
spirit yell, first used in the fall
of 1896 (“Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy/
Techs, Techs, VPI”). Fans started
calling Tech teams Hokies as
well as Gobblers. In the 1980s, a
football coach who did not like the
Gobbler image encouraged use of
the nickname Hokies, and the two
monikers evolved into HokieBird.
Hampton VCE Bluebird Gap Farm 4-Hers
INSIDE VIRGINIA TECH 7