Black History Month event creates unique experience for graduate students

This is the third year that the graduate school has held a Black History Month event for graduate students in the Northern Virginia area. And it allows the students to be able to have the opportunity, one to come to DC. Since we're in the neighboring community, and also to learn about Black and African American history and culture. It was a little intense because coming from India, I didn't, you know, I had a overall picture of how America was built. But like seeing African American history in US, when I really saw the hardships they had to go through to build America, It's something I think I would really start respecting more. And I would really be grateful to know all this. How culture evolves, how it sort of flourishes, how the struggle of one people can relate to another. There's always a depth of culture that you do not know and that was just sort of amazing witnessing. This museum is about honoring the legacy of the people who came before us. And in order to be that change, I think it gives us two things. It gives us the history to understand what the change looks like. It also gives us some background to know that this fight has been fought for a long time. And I think there's optimism there. You've seen how much the people before us have already done to get to where we are today. It's a great benchmark to see the capacity of change that we have and the potential for change that we have. Because I think that museum very much like represents that. I'm an international student myself and I don't have much of an understanding or the detail intricate of what slavery or the revolutions around slavery are looking like when it comes to the history of the US. Now coming down here to the museum along with fellow Hokies, It's truly inspiring, I would say. And all of them give you a different perspective altogether. So this is a pretty incredible experience. I am new to Virginia Tech, so this is one of the first kind of events I've done as being a new post doc here. And so to have opportunity through Virginia Tech and to do it during Black History month was really special for me. Definitely creates a sense of belonging. It's just really important to me. This history is extremely important to me and to be connected to it, this opportunity with Virginia Tech was really, really great.