Rhizome

Rhizome ambassadors are responsible for sharing Rhizome with their peers across campus—and beyond. In addition to tabling at Hokie Focus, they give tours, participate in information sessions, and plan Weeks of Welcome events for new Rhizomers.

The events/social team helps the program director plan events, including selecting menus for community dinners, setting up and breaking down programs, and planning and executing student-originated programs.

The social media/documentary Team attends Rhizome events, taking photographs for the community’s records. It also manages Rhizome’s Instagram and other social media accounts, posting to both publicize and commemorate events.

Rhizome’s peer mentors work closely with the program director and student leaders to make sure first year students are well acclimated to life in Rhizome and at Virginia Tech. They conduct check-in meetings with first-year students, as well as serving as guides and sounding boards for questions about life in college.

The word Rhizome is derived from the ancient Greek term rhizoma, which means “mass of roots.” An example of a rhizome occurring in nature is ginger root, which spreads out in all directions equally, with no part of the root subservient or necessary to any other. The Rhizome LLC takes this mode of being—all-over and non-hierarchical—as its inspiration. We equip students to see the interconnected and mutually reinforcing nature of both natural and human systems.

First-year students participating in Rhizome will enroll in two courses, both offered through the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design. Thinking Globally is a 1.0 credit hour course offered during the fall semester; it offers the theoretical and practical basis for sustainable development in a global context. Acting Locally is a 2.0 credit hour course offered in the spring; it is centered on a rotating yearly project that addresses a real-world problem in partnership with a campus and/or community partner.

Returning students who have not previously lived in Rhizome are required to take Thinking Globally during the fall semester. They may optionally take Acting Locally in the spring; it is not required

The core of the Virginia Tech LLC experience is weekly traditions, and Rhizome is no exception. Rhizomers gather on Thursday evenings for community dinners, design challenges, hands-on workshops, and introductions to life on campus. Additional seminars, lectures, and field trips are arranged to support the yearly theme.

Rhizome’s curricular and co-curricular learning culminates in a project based on the annual theme. Working closely with a community partner and practicing the principles of human-centered design, students provide real-world design and policy interventions to help solve complex, real-world problems using the skills and perspectives they’ve gained during the year’s study.