Q: Why did you choose Virginia Tech?
A: I went to a couple of open houses for different colleges. I had heard good stuff about Tech and when I came here for open house I fell in love with it. I decided to apply for early decision and it was the only school that I applied to.
Q: What's your major?
A: Biology
Q: What do you hope to do with that after you graduate?
A: I would like to go to Med school, but I’m not sure where yet. I’m interested in being a hematologist.
Q: Has college been what you expected?
A: For the most part. I thought the work would be hard, and it is. I also thought it would be fun, and it has been.
Q: What’s something interesting about you that many people don’t know?
A: I can juggle. I learned in elementary school in PE class and just kept practicing.
Q: How did you first meet the Campus Outreach staff when you came to VT?
A: It was on move-in day. A few of the CO staff were helping people move into my dorm, West Ambler Johnston. I met Haley, Doug, Matt, and Andrew. Haley came by the dorm later that week and hung out with my friends and me. She invited me to hang out and we started becoming friends.
Q: What are some things that you’ve done with Campus Outreach?
A: One-on-one talks with some of the staff … mostly Matt, Julia, and Haley. I went to a weekly bible study in my dorm called 10:10. I also went on a weekend retreat in Asheville, NC called Winter Blast.
Q: Of those things that you just mentioned, what has been the most helpful for you?
A: I would say the one-on-one conversations because we can be more open and personal. I’ve really gotten a lot out those.
Q: Have there been any major changes in your spiritual life since coming to college?
A: Yes, my spiritual life before coming to college was not as strong as it is now. I believed in God, but I wasn’t living for him. I wasn’t really trying to build a relationship with him. I wanted to work on that when I came to college. Now I’m definitely more enthusiastic about building my relationship with God than I was before college.
Q: Many people have a specific turning point in their spiritual lives, was there one for you?
A: Yes, I met with Matt one day at Deets coffee shop on campus. I told him I believed in God but wasn’t living for him. God was at the door but I hadn’t let him in. So that day I decided to let him in. That was in the beginning of April a couple of weeks before the shootings.
Q: I’m sure you’re tired of talking about this, but where were you when you first heard about the shootings?
A: I was in my dorm. The first shooting was actually in my dorm, one floor below where I live. I was woken up by my RA around 8:30 am. She said there was an incident in the dorm and we weren’t allowed to leave but she didn’t know what the incident was. We all had to stay in there until 1pm. In the meantime I kept checking the news on the Internet and TV and that’s how I found out that there was a shooting in my dorm and about the other shooting at Norris Hall.
Q: What was your initial response?
A: Shocked. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. It didn’t seem real. I was shocked and frightened at the same time.
Q: How has it affected you as move forward?
A: I think it just made me really appreciate life more. And to be thankful for what I have.
Q: I hear that you have gotten into the habit of eating spaghetti on Wednesday nights, could you tell me more about that?
A: Around 5:30 each Wednesday night Matt and Julia Bradner host students from Tech and Radford and feed us spaghetti. Anyone can come. It’s a free meal and I get to hang out with other students my age and get to know them! It’s a lot of fun.
Thanks Nakasha! Good luck next year.
