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Ut Prosim Stories: Andrew Alston

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Category: academics Video duration: Ut Prosim Stories: Andrew Alston

Hear Andrew Alston, program assistant for the Office for Inclusion and Diversity, tell his Ut Prosim Story.

What’s your Ut Prosim Story? The Office for Strategic Affairs wants to hear how Ut Prosim has made a difference in your life and how you’ve impacted the lives of others. 

Upload your short video here to be shared with the Virginia Tech community: https://tinyurl.com/UtProsimStories

For more information on Ut Prosim Stories, please visit: https://strategicaffairs.vt.edu/StrategicPlanning/Feedback.html

[00:00:03] >> Hello, my name is Andrew Alston. I'm a program assistant with the Office for Inclusion and Diversity. I've been a member of the Virginia Tech community since I first arrived for undergrad in 2010. For me, Ut Prosim is more than just a motto. It's a lifestyle that I personally choose to live every day. [00:00:22] It's something that my parents, who are my heroes, instilled in me at an early age. Growing up in a family of 10 children, my parents made many sacrifices to ensure my siblings and I had an amazing upbringing. They put our future above their own aspirations. They were the first to model this "others before self" mentality. [00:00:44] In the midst of my father sometimes working multiple jobs to provide for our family, he always found time to volunteer in our local community. On the weekends we participated in neighborhood cleanups, we volunteered at local nursing homes, we served at church, and we also spent time assisting the elderly whose families sometimes lived miles and miles away. [00:01:05] Coming to Virginia Tech was heartwarming knowing that I was joining a community that embraced the Ut Prosim and That I May Serve motto. I felt right at home. Here in Blacksburg, I'm constantly looking for opportunities to serve. From being a language partner or babysitting which sometimes turns into taking selfies with kids, to helping an older, single mother from my church and spending time with her and her amazing son who has Rubinstein–Taybi, and taking off time from work to drive to drive them to Richmond for cancer treatments, I absolutely love to serve others. [00:01:41] It brings me great joy when I'm able to use the gifts and abilities that I've been blessed with to serve others in need and put smiles on their faces. Ut Prosim is a nondiscriminatory banner that we can choose to lift.