Virginia Tech

We are strong

And brave

And innocent

And unafraid

We are better than we think

And not yet quite what we want to be

We are alive to imagination

And open to possibility

We will continue

To invent the future

Through our blood and tears

Through all this sadness

We are the Hokies

We will prevail

We will prevail

We will prevail

We are Virginia Tech

Nikki Giovanni,

Poet, University Distinguished Professor

Delivered at the Convocation, afternoon of April 17, 2007