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 00:01:00you 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, 00:02:00but actually graduating from a large school like

Tech 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. 00:03:00Honestly I looked at it as more of a safety school and just in case something

happened. 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 00:04:00B: 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 00:05:00 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 00:06:00fortunate enough I've come back every year since I've graduated,

sometimes 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 00:07:00B: So a couple of things. When I first graduated I moved up to the

DC 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 00:08:00see a lot of the different residence halls now becoming like the learning

communities 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 00:09:00looking back I did very well and I think I had a good balance of both

the 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 00:10:00RA I learned immense leadership

skills 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 00:11:00might have helped you with your fair later or

was 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 00:12:00parents would usually come in and

there 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 00:13:00changes. You go downtown and you can actually get in line very easily.

There'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 00:14:00down here trying to understand why Tech

students 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. 00:15:00I think also people who choose to come to a

school 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 00:16:00dramatically changes. You know once the students are gone it's a

completely 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 00:17:00a lot of people who come to

Tech 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 00:18:00to get the rest of the campus that involved also

takes 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 00:19:00controversy. That was the other big thing and the trials were going on and that

sort 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 00:20:00in general in some ways I feel like I was

just 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... 00:21:00I think I would also even attribute it to a lot

of 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 00:22:00attribute, and it wasn't Tech, my mom had some health problems

when 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 00:23:00fell out of Slusher

Tower, 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 00:24:00W: Right. I know now on campus that they have like a lot of resources,

like 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. 00:25:00Out of all the changes that you've seen what changes would you like to see

at 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 00:26:00administration is going to try to continue to work towards that. I know

that 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 00:27:00B: So no, so my program was actually very close.

It 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 00:28:00looking for a school

or 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 00:29:00happened 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 00:30:00on [GW] Parkway, actually Georgetown Pike, it's pretty

much 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, 00:31:00so 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 00:32:00to share?

Marvin B: Go Hokies.

Shelby W: Go Hokies. All right.