One Hokie, many roles

When Cate Langhorn chose to study English at Virginia Tech, she assumed her interest in technology would take a back seat. But that wasn't the case.

Langhorn has found ways to blend her varied interests. She leads an engineering undergraduate research project alongside her leadership roles in the English Club and Her Campus at Virginia Tech, an student-run online magazine for women.

“I thought coming into Virginia Tech that majoring in English meant giving up my interest in computer science,” she said.

A double major in English and philosophy, Langhorn views her college experience through the lens of Virginia Tech’s guiding principle, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Across her roles, she focuses on using communication, mentorship, and collaboration to help fellow Hokies succeed.

“I think leadership is a big part of serving a community,” she said. “I’ve definitely encountered leaders that believe there’s the leader and then there’s the rest of the team. For me, I’ve never understood that.”

As secretary of the English Club, Langhorn helps organize meetings, coordinate communication, and support events that bring Virginia Tech students together around a shared love of literature and writing. She sees the role as a way to build connections and make the English community more welcoming, even for students who have not yet arrived. One initiative that stood out to her involved writing letters to high school students who were recently accepted into the English program at Virginia Tech. Club members wrote to these incoming Hokies to help them better understand the English department and the community they would soon be joining.

“It just makes such a difference to connect with people who are already part of the Virginia Tech community,” Langhorn said.

As senior editor for Her Campus at Virginia Tech, she mentors writers, helps develop story ideas, and supports students as they find their voices. The role also provides tangible professional opportunities, from business-related events to making sure every member walks away with a headshot and a polished LinkedIn profile.

Still, no role on campus reflects her range of interests more unexpectedly than the one she holds in the College of Engineering.

Langhorn is part of GrayUR, an undergraduate interdisciplinary, intercollegiate research course in the College of Engineering led by Collegiate Assistant Professor David Gray. The year-long program consists of several student-driven research teams. She leads one of these, a seven-person group of students, working across story, graphics, music, and programming roles. Together, they are developing a full-scale role-playing game inspired by classics from the 1980s and 1990s, such as the original “Zelda” and “Final Fantasy” video games.

“I have aerospace engineers working on the story alongside creative writing majors, mining engineering majors working on the music, creative technologies majors on graphics, and you just get to orchestrate this really beautiful, creative project,” she said. “It’s a privilege to see people grow and broaden their experiences throughout the project.”

She also sees the experience as another way to practice Ut Prosim by supporting the growth and success of her peers. The work has reshaped how she views the ways that English majors can contribute in technical spaces.

For Langhorn, the project reflects how students from different backgrounds can come together to support one another. It also allows them to learn from each other’s perspectives and grow through collaboration.

Balancing leadership roles, academics, and research can be challenging, but Langhorn says passion makes the difference. For other students hoping to find their footing across unexpected fields, her advice is simple: follow your interests, even when the path does not look the way you imagined.

“Because I love what I’m working on, it doesn’t feel like a chore,” Langhorn said.

Written by James Duncan, a student writer who is majoring in sports media and analytics, with a minor in professional and technical writing