National Capital Region Hokies garner four awards from Virginia Tech Alumni Association

The National Capital Region (NCR) Chapter has garnered four 2010 awards from the Virginia Tech Alumni Association: Outstanding Community Service Project, Outstanding Chapter Officer Award, Outstanding Chapter Scrapbook, and Outstanding Chapter Award.

The Outstanding Community Service Project and Outstanding Chapter Officer Awards are both in the Chapter Superlative award category. Chapters self-nominate for the community service award and the winner is selected by the VT Alumni Association Chapter Team; the Chapter Team both nominates and selects the Outstanding Chapter Officer for the year.

The NCR Chapter's winning community service project was at the Capital Area Food Bank, the largest public nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Forty Hokie alumni volunteers spent 125 hours helping sort and store food products and donations at the food bank's warehouse. This full day of labor intensive service, which required some medium to heavy lifting, was chosen by the group last spring as a way of honoring those who lost their lives and those who were injured in the campus tragedy of April 16, 2007.

Outstanding Chapter Officer Marvin Boyd has served as president of the NCR Chapter since 2008. Under his leadership, the chapter has organized a blood drive, candlelight vigil, and memorial service on April 16; provided opportunities for community service such as fixing meals at a local food shelter; initiated a monthly book club, and planned networking socials, among other activities.

Boyd, a technical project director at Freddie Mac and resident of Ashburn, VA, graduated from Virginia Tech in 2001 with dual degrees in management science and information technology and business management. He has served in various capacities with the chapter since graduating. He started as a volunteer with the chapter's job fair and took over as chairperson of the annual event in 2004. The job fair has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. The 2010 job fair raised more than $40,000 and, for the first time, allowed the chapter to provide a scholarship to a graduate student enrolled in the National Capital Region.

Jack Hutcheson, director of Capital Region Alumni Programs, and a member of the Chapter Team, said that Boyd's record speaks for itself. "Marvin exemplifies the Virginia Tech motto, Ut Prosim, That I May Serve," he said.

Chapter officers voted NCR Hokies the Outstanding Chapter Scrapbook Award during the annual fall Chapter Officers Forum. To compete for this award, chapters are invited to display scrapbooks, which can include history and memorabilia, such as posters, photos, newspaper clippings. The NCR's winning scrapbook was a photo chronicle of 2009-2010 activities.

Lastly, the NCR Chapter received the Outstanding Chapter Award which can be earned by a chapter each year based on the completion of several requirements. These include (and all must be met):

• submitting an annual plan at the beginning of the year
• holding regular chapter meetings
• awarding a chapter scholarship
• hosting a speaker event
• participating in a community service project
• updating chapter contacts in the chapter database
• regularly submitting chapter event reports in the chapter database
• submitting an end-of-year financial report
• submitting an end-of-year summary in the chapter database

Chapters that successfully meet these criteria receive Outstanding Chapter status and are awarded a set contribution for their scholarship fund. The amount fluctuates based on the endowment that funds it; this year each of the qualifying chapters received $300. Forty-nine of 120 chapters met the criteria for the 2009-10 year.

The NCR Chapter has won this award seven times in the past 10 years, and consecutively since 2005.

"As one of Virginia Tech's largest alumni chapters, I'm proud that we have so many active volunteers who tirelessly give so much of their time," said Boyd. "We also have an extremely dedicated board of directors that continues to look for ways to grow our chapter and find new activities for our alums to get involved with. I'd encourage everyone to visit our website often, see what we are planning, and get involved!"

For more information on the NCR Chapter, contact: info@dchokies.org, 877-465-4395 x721.

Posted February 3, 2011