VT Stories Oral History with Duston Scarborough, April 22, 2016 (Ms2016-015)

Duston Scarborough: I'm Duston Scarborough, I was born on October 7th, in

1990 in the far away land of Anchorage, Alaska.

Jenny Nehrt: Oh wow that's far.

Duston: Yeah, my mom, she was a Navy-- I don't think she was a SEAL, but she was

in the Navy.

Jenny: Cool, so what years did you go to [Virginia] Tech?

Duston: I was here from [20]09 to December of 2013.

Jenny: Awesome.

Duston: So four and a half years, I could've left in May, but I loved it so much

I came back for another semester.

Jenny: So how long did you live in Anchorage?

Duston: My mom was only in Anchorage for a couple of months, we hopped around.

When I was young I got to see but don't remember Puerto Rico and Texas, other

places of the country that I haven't seen since, since my memories kicked in.

Jenny: Do you have a favorite place that you were living?

Duston: Umm favorite place hands down would have to be Puerto Rico. I vaguely 00:01:00remember bits and pieces, but everything I do remember is awesome and pictures,

we got really good pictures down there.

Jenny: So from all that moving around, how did you find out about [Virginia] Tech?

Duston: Well it happened when I was like young. Once we got settled in the

Hampton Roads area, cause I'm from Hampton, Virginia. Once we got settled in

there I got into 4-H, and 4-H brought me out to [Virginia] Tech every summer for

something called 4-H Congress. I was a camp counselor during the 4-H summer

camp, so I got priority when it came to selection, thanks to my extension

officers. When it came down to congress, I was here every year. Before I came to

[Virginia] Tech, I had been here at least four summers, I think. So, yeah it

helped and the fact that when it came down to decision making, [Virginia] Tech

was always at the college fairs.

Jenny: What did you do 00:02:00at the 4-H Congresses?

Duston: We came out here, we did little workshops and classes, did campers

tours, stayed overnight in the dorms, it was like four or five days where we did

little relays and different competitions. Just to kind of get us acclimated to

what it was like being on campus and staying in a dorm, doing some leadership

type of events. It was good, it was good polishing for a young kid.

Jenny: Yeah, sweet. So what was your first day like at [Virginia] Tech when you

were officially a student?

Duston: Man it was kind of awe striking. I just walked on the Drillfield it was

kind of like, woah, this is it. Cause you know like, you see it and see there's

a lot of people here, but when classes open up and people running to classes,

the Drillfield just fills up so big and I don't think I've seen that many people

in one place. But it was great, it was great. It was kind of a, I made it, kind

of 00:03:00 feeling.

Jenny: Yeah? That's cool. Did you know what you wanted to study like right away?

Duston: Yeah coming in, I've always been creative and art and a little bit out

of the box, so I knew music was what I was good at, and I said, well there's a

music industry, I know the music part, I don't know the business part. So I went

in to study business, marketing particularly because my mom, she worked in

marketing, and I wanted to be able to market myself as an artist.

Jenny: What were the classes like?

Duston: Oh Pamplin, boy. It was rigorous at times. The core courses were

rigorous and sometimes monotonous, the major courses were a lot of fun and eye

opening and kind of hands on. I did a lot of case study classes. I remember I

was doing, 00:04:00I think it was with Laurel Schirr, I was in her class, and we had a

Chevy in-semester internship where we put together for a marketing campaign.

That was the most fun I had in a class in a long time. It was very hands-on and

got me prepared how to acclimate to the workforce. It helped me become a shining

star when it comes to those lineups when it's like, do we want that person or do

we want that person? He's gone or he's in. Pamplin was good. Thanks Pamplin.

Jenny: Did you feel like you had any professors that were mentors or influential?

Duston: Oh man yes, hands down. There was a few that names slip my mind right

now, but whose impact will 00:05:00never. I forget her name, but her son and I were in a

group called expressions together, and she taught, I think it was marketing

impact on the social climate or something of that nature. And what we did was

she made us do a journal and that journal, I won't go into detail, but it helped

me out a lot personally and it helped move my vision of what I wanted to do. And

then there was an arts management course I took my final semester that was

really good too. But, yeah that was good stuff.

Jenny: Do you have favorite memories from [Virginia] Tech? It doesn't have to be

about school.

Duston: Oh man favorite memories from [Virginia] Tech hands down, our probating

was April 23, 2011 outside of Detrick Hall, it was like 7:11, I came out into my

fraternity. I came out to 00:06:00the world Omega Psi Phi, the Eta Lambda Chapter. Shout

out to my chapter. That was the best day of my life probably hands down up until

this point besides, I mean graduation was good on paper, but feeling wise? That

day was the best day.

Jenny: What was it like being in a fraternity?

Duston: Oh busy.

Jenny: Busy?

Duston: Busy. Being in a NPHC fraternity here at [Virginia] Tech, the numbers

are always small. There was never more than five members on campus at a time, so

it was very interesting having and being forced to deal with people and work

with people and not being able to shy away from conflicts. It helped me hit

things head on, helped me deal with different types of personalities. I was the

president at one point, but because I was a president didn't mean I wasn't the 00:07:00secretary, it didn't mean I wasn't the keeper of the finance. It was just

overlapping roles over and over again. But it was good, it got me prepared, it

taught me my limits being out here at [Virginia] Tech was a ball, we had a great

time. Worked hard, played just as hard.

Jenny: That's sweet. What was the social life like? What did you do?

Duston: It was only a couple years ago, so downtown was still the thing to do

once you made it to that age. Tots, good times. We had a lot of kickbacks. We

did a lot of kickbacks in the Black community, we just get together up at a

central location, play some music, play some cards, just hang out and relax.

Enjoy each other's fellowship and company. We did that quite a bit, anything

that 00:08:00was going on in Squires, big events, I would come out to.

Jenny: Did you have any difficult experiences down at [Virginia] Tech?

Duston: Absolutely there were more than a few. I remember I was a RA out here, I

saw quite a few things, I don't know if I'm still under that shhh cloak of

confidentiality so I won't breach it. But I will say that I saw quite a few

things that were both enlightening, intriguing, and disturbing as a RA.

Jenny: The best and worst sides of Virginia Tech.

Duston: I saw everything as a RA, it was definitely, there's a dark side. No I'm

just joking, but I've seen that. I did have an experience that comes to mind

where I was studying late in D2--no DX--and I had fallen asleep and 00:09:00there were

other people studying, I wasn't the only one studying I guess I was the only one

sleeping though. I don't know, it was late, it wasn't quite 2 o'clock yet

because it wasn't closed. But I woke up and I was surrounded by police officers

and they proceeded to question me, they proceeded to aggressively badger me, ask

me to leave the location and go with them, and I wasn't willing to. I knew my

rights, I didn't do anything wrong, I told them, no if we have questions we can

talk here in this public location. What it was was at that time I had dreadlocks

and somebody with dreads that apparently looked like me, I had fit the

description apparently, they had stolen someone's Hokie passport, so they were

going around looking for this person, they showed me this picture that barely

looked like me, but it was a black young man with 00:10:00dreads, I guess could have been

me. So it was frustrating, that event really upset me, if I wasn't on the

microphone I would have some choice words.

Jenny: That's fair.

Duston: It was one of those experiences that I think I needed to have just to

let me know it's real. Things are real out here. I won't say I appreciate it and

it was warm and welcoming, but I thank those officers for that. That was just

one, I had way more good times, my good days outweigh my bad days. But there

were some times out here where you felt Black. You felt kind of ostracized a

little bit, but at the same time, in the same token, there were three more

people who were welcoming and made you feel at home.

Jenny: That's good, do you think that stuff happens--?

Duston: Oh all the time. 00:11:00That was my story, I can have a couple friends come in

and tell you theirs.

Jenny: Um since you've been gone, have you come back at all?

Duston: I try to come back often. I like to consider myself an active young

alumni. If any younger alumni hear this or soon to be graduates, please be

active in alumni association because it's awesome. But yeah, I've met up and

represented the school back in my home area region.

Jenny: The Hamptons?

Duston: The Hampton Roads area. I went out there and talked to some potential

students. I've been out here on numerous occasions just to see my fraternity

brothers, to set up Black alumni reunion with the committee and things of that

nature, and just to be back out here and just unwind because Blacksburg is one

of the most relaxing places I've ever been.

Jenny: 00:12:00Well, one quick question to end, are there any changes that you've seen

since coming back or that you would like to see?

Duston: When I was out here there wasn't a lot of, the arts was kind of budding

and it wasn't thriving and I like to think that I was able to start an art show

that is still going on. Actually going on Saturday, which I'm excited to see how

they molded it and ran with it. But I love the art community and how it's

starting to develop out here. There's a lot of young artists, a lot of people

that have different types of talents and I think that the university is getting

behind it. The Moss Center for the Arts was big, it was massive, it just said

that Virginia Tech isn't just here for agriculture or engineering, we support

art, we support all types of things. That's what I like to 00:13:00see. That change is a

very positive one as always there's new construction on campus which looks nice,

but yeah. I think the arts and the Virginia Tech art community kind of budding,

emerging is something I am happy to see.

Jenny: Is there anything I haven't asked you or a story you'd like to tell that

didn't get told?

Duston: Um, no. No, hopefully this won't be my last interview, I'll tell some

more next time.

Jenny: Great that sounds good.

Duston: Thank you.

Jenny: Thank you!

[End of interview]