Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was founded in 1872 as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (VAM). In 1896, the school, which is located at Blacksburg in the state of Virginia, changed its name to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (or VPI for short). Nowadays, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is more commonly known as Virginia Tech or VT. This polytechnic university is renowned for its programs in architecture, agriculture, business, engineering and science. At present, this school is considered as having the largest population of full time students in Virginia. The students and alumni of this school strive to uphold the school's motto, Ut Prosim, which means "That I May Serve".

Majority of the athletics teams of Virginia Tech are known as the Hokies. However, the swimming team members fondly call themselves "H2Okies", an obvious pun on the chemical formula that represents water. Although many know that Hokie is used to refer to the fans and sports teams of VT, not many are aware of the origins of the word. In 1896, when the name of the school was changed from VAM to VPI, naturally the school needed to change its cheer. So in the same year, the student body held a new-cheer-writing contest. The Old Hokie Cheer, which was penned by OM Stull, won the first prize and was used for several years. According to Stull, the name Hokie was just something that he invented. Eventually, because of the attention-grabbing factor of the cheer, the VT students, fans, alumni, and sports teams were later called the Hokies. Nowadays, a Hokie officially means a loyal VT fan.

Most of the school traditions of Virginia Tech actually originated in 1896. In fact, even the school's official colors – Burnt Orange and Chicago Maroon - were selected in the same year. According to the committee responsible for choosing the colors, they picked the orange-maroon combo because it was a unique and special color blend, never before seen in other sports teams. The official mascot of VT is the Hokie Bird, which is very similar to turkey. The reason behind this was probably because the VT sports teams were previously known as the Fighting Gobblers. Hence, the artists who created the official mascot got their inspiration for the Hokie Bird from the good old turkey. Despite the name change, the VT stuck with their previous turkey motif. The most popular logo of the school is the stylized VT, which cannot only be seen on the uniforms of the athletes, but also on the merchandise sold to promote the school and the teams. In fact, the university had the VT logo trademarked and all merchandise that use it should be licensed.

Within the first few years after the establishment of Virginia Tech, a rivalry with the Virginia Military Institute quickly evolved. As the rivalry deepened, the Military Classic of the South, a yearly football match between VT and VMI, was held on Thanksgiving Day in Roanoke until the '70s. Nowadays, the major rivals of the VT Hokies are the Miami Hurricanes, the West Virginia Mountaineers, and the Virginia Cavaliers.