A guide to becoming the ultimate Hokie

The only common characteristic between me and other Hokies is the fact that we all go to Virginia Tech together. However, that alone isn’t what creates a sense of togetherness amongst Hokies. School spirit, something that meant nothing to me before coming to Virginia Tech, is one of the ultimate keys to personally experiencing that togetherness – that unity and familiarity you only experience with your family and close friends.

So if you’re going to at least try to immerse yourself in the Hokie school spirit once during a football game, you need to look the part and do it the right way.

Don’t be the elephant in the room

If you’re not like that girl in the picture above, then you’ll make smart choices and make sure to live and breathe orange and maroon, especially during football games. I’m only allowed to be super judgmental and critical because that girl in the yellow who’s not even gesturing the Virginia Tech acronym is me…how disgraceful.

We don’t care for preppy like that one school I call, school “grape” (hint: google translate “grape” in Spanish)

Every school has their own thing. We get it. That’s why we’re just reminding all Hokies )and politely letting every student visiting from a different school know) that you need to go all out. Otherwise, we’ll smell the fear reeking from your school colors.

You can be excused from every game, as long as you attend at least one

You can’t truly call yourself a Hokie if you don’t attend at least one game, do the Hokie Pokie, dangle your lanyard, chant the chant, and bleed orange and maroon from head to toe. Only then will you realize that nothing can interrupt our Hokie school spirit; not even your grade level, GPA, race, or religion can discriminate one Hokie from another. #OnceaHokie #AlwaysaHokie

“Let’s Go Hokies!” – the hypnotic chant 

Even if you don’t force yourself to recite the chant, you’ll eventually find yourself shouting, “Hokies!” every time someone yells out, “Let’s Go”. Since Hokies embrace their Hokie school spirit to the max, the worst part is that you’ll hear this chant not just during a football game and when we win. You’ll hear people get hyped by this chant any time of the day, whether we win or lose. Yes, even when we lose, which sometimes makes me question whether we actually lost even though I watched it happen.

The importance of tailgating

Whether it’s with friends, family members or Hokies you’re meeting for the first time, don’t forget to party your heart out by tailgating or just hanging out. Cheer away your concerns and stress and believe that you will not only win this football game, but win in life as well (if you believe you will succeed as the corgi says)

The two most important men in our lives

These two people are THAT important to us Hokies and the Blacksburg community in general. Never forget these two important members of Virginia Tech – Coach Beamer (to the left) and Coach Fuente (to the right). Our winning tradition and Hokie school spirit sustained throughout these years because of Coach Beamer and we can feel in our guts that Coach Fuente will do the same.

Feed off of the Hokie bird’s school spirit 

You can go to West End for some London broil instead of drooling over our turkey. Use our wonderful Hokie to simply gain some of that Hokie school spirit vibe.

If you want to go above and beyond…

If you’ve just had enough of holding in your overflowing Hokie school spirit, you should just unleash your Hokie zeal by serving as provision – join the Homecoming parade and feed the people of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech with your Hokie school spirit energy.

If you want to go beyond “the beyond”…

You can always just hit the books and study up what a Hokie is, learn the past cheers, the evolution of our Hokie bird and so on since all Hokies are geniuses who know how to have fun and get good grades, obviously.

Still not convinced? This is for you, ladies.

I felt as if I committed the greatest sin of all when I said that I didn’t know the quarterback, Michael Brewer. My friends were in utter shock that I didn’t know about the Zac Efron doppelganger who clearly captured the hearts of many girls. So here’s a present for some of you girls. Maybe he can motivate some of you to kick-start the beginning of your Hokie school spirit because clearly he’s been helpful for my girlfriends.