Chris Clark the New Superman

Chris Clark is a man on a mission, never resting or staying in one place for too long. He has been here at Virginia Tech for five weeks and nearly had to relocate. The Bursar Headquarters launched an attack on Chris and dropped him as a student for one day during the third week of school. The reason of the attack was identified as a hold on his Hokie Account that Chris had overlooked. It gave Chris a good scare, but he quickly rectified the situation, not wanting to lose credit for this semester.

Chris is half Filipino and half African American. He was born in Fredericksburg, VA on November 8, 1989 making him a “young-in;” meaning he is still 17. Chris was the largest baby in the hospital when he was born weighing in at a whopping 10lbs 11oz. His Dad is currently a Marine and his Mom is a homemaker. Chris’s brother goes to the University of Michigan and is studying to become a civil engineer. His sister is still in middle school in North Carolina. Chris also has a cousin from the Philippines that is currently living with his family.

His family originated here in Virginia, but moved to Irvine, California before Chris started school. He began his schooling at Los Naranos Elementary School located in California. This became the location of his first life lessons. “One time we had a fire drill and I was actually scared because I thought there was a real fire. It was very frightening and I nearly fell out of my chair when the alarm went off, but before I started screaming my teacher told me it was just a drill ”(Clark).

Another time Chris received a lesson about remembrance. He couldn't participate in a Jog-Athon with his classmates because he didn't bring his permission slip to school that day. He was the only student who forgot and had to stay in the classroom with his teacher. Chris says he probably cried and sat in the corner of the room when that happened. In addition, he could write using cursive by the time he was seven, but his second grade teacher made him stop because it looked like a bunch of scribbles to her.

Then, he moved to Rockville, Maryland where he spent his third grade year. In Maryland Chris lived in a townhouse right next to Montgomery Community College. During third grade, he sat across from a girl who claimed that he was practically in love with her and attending this class became a hassle for Chris. She really confused him because he did not understand what she was talking about nor had he ever thought about girls as more than friends. That year Chris took a field-trip to Amish country Pennsylvania to compliment what he was learning in his history class. He enjoyed the break from school, but did not really understand why this group of people would not use society’s new technologies.

Next, he moved onto Ft. Belvoir army base where he spent his fourth and fifth grade years. They had just built his new school on the military base several months ago. In fourth grade he was fixated with always having his homework done and receiving a check mark for the day. Chris remembers being embarrassed and scared several days when he didn't have all of his homework done and ready for class. In addition to his grades, playing the violin became his favorite hobby that school year. Fourth grade was a busy year for him especially since he started the year being the “new kid” once again.

In fourth and fifth Chris was a safety patrol officer, so he got to wear that very important badge and orange sash. His job was to direct the students to their seats on the bus. However, everyone was bigger than Chris, so he wasn't taken seriously. In the fifth grade his class went on a field trip to a museum near by the base. He remembers feeling so sick that he almost passed out while touring the museum.

Chris’s best friend at this school lived near him in the housing complex on the base. His name was Tait Nelson Thompson and his initials were TNT. He thought Tait’s parents did purposely because of Tait’s military background. On Chris’s tenth birthday, they went to the mall to ride bumper cars and laser tag. Chris was confused at first how the bumper cars worked, making him a target for everyone. He also had trouble with how the laser tag gun functioned and lost all of his matches by huge margin. Chris regrets not keeping in contact with Tait; however, he was gone from Ft. Belvoir in a flash and remembers only a few stories from his time on the base.


Chris moved to San Diego, California temporarily before the start of sixth grade. San Diego became his favorite place to live and he would like to go back there after college. Chris spent sixth and seventh grade in Virginia. While in sixth grade his family took a trip to Lego-Land. He remembers riding on a mini-coaster at the park and thinking he was going to die because it was going too fast for him. Chris picked up the hobby of skateboarding while hanging out with his friends in California. He made some very close friends while he was on the west coast and wishes that he stayed in contact with all of them after he left.

Chris spent eighth to tenth grade in Okinawa, Japan. Each time he moved he had to leave all of his new friends from the previous location. It was very sad for Chris, but he knew he would meet new people upon arrival at his next home. Moving to Japan became his family’s largest transition they had ever made. He remembers when he stepped off the airplane how humid it was outside on the island. “It was very hard to breathe at first, but I got used to it after a few days though” says Clark. He lived on a military base and went to an American school just like when he was back at Ft. Belvoir. “On military bases everything is uniform and nothing ever changes, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation”(Clark).

He learned more Spanish than Japanese while on the island. An interesting memory from Okinawa was he saw a protest performed by the people of Okinawa over the U.S. military having such a strong presence on their island. They would stand in front of the military base and chant for hours in Japanese. Chris could not understand them, so the protests were just an annoyance.

Chris’s family next moved to Cary, North Carolina near Raleigh. He would spend half of his junior year there until he relocated to Havelock, North Carolina. He graduated high school there in Havelock and began preparing to attend Virginia Tech in the fall.

His biggest fear is dying because several places he has lived in the past seventeen years were considered hostile environments. Chris was also a video game fanatic before he came to college. His new hobby in college has become working at KFC and on school wok. Chris has never played any sports except for the time he tried out for the track team in the tenth grade. He quit after the first day because of the time requirements to be on the team.

Chris’s biggest role model is Martin Luther King Jr. He has a lot of respect for Dr. King and what he did to make his beliefs known. Chris has never been to church or pursued religion, but he does believe in God. Chris came to VT because it was the best school he got into and its engineering program is ranked very highly in the nation. His major is University Studies, but he will be switching to Mechanical Engineering in the future. “Chris is self motivated, creative, organized, and adaptable person when it comes to succeeding in new surroundings,” says Chris’s Mom.

Chris has flown all over the United States and to Okinawa assimilating himself to each new situation at hand. This includes his most recent undertaking, the “College Crusader” aka Virginia Tech. Hopefully for Chris, his dorm Barringer will be his permanent location for the next 4 years, if he can manage to keep off of the Bursar Headquarters radar. Don Don Don…