BLACKSBURG, Va., July 16 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
Kevin Smith '00 was determined to be a Hokie. The list of universities he applied to while in high school was one: Virginia Tech.
That's it.Virginia Tech and nowhere else.
"I was such a diehard Virginia Tech fan that it was the only school I applied to," Smith said. "I told myself, 'If I get in, I get in.'"
That was 1996 and Virginia Tech boasted a football team coming off a Sugar Bowl win, but it wasn't just athletic glory that made the university his aspiration. In high school, Smith found a calling in forestry and Virginia Tech offered the only forestry degree program in the commonwealth.
Today, as vice president of Big...