Welcome to The Pylon. We are thrilled to finally have you here.
After months of preparation, discussion, and brainstorming, The Pylon is here. What started as a conversation outside Squires Student Center has become Blacksburg and Virginia Tech’s newest digital publication, driven by Tech students and local residents who believe this community deserves a truly independent, local publication devoted to investigative and longform journalism, informed commentary, and submission-based creative works.
This website began as a small idea between the two of us just over a year ago. From there, a group of people who shared our vision came together to help us figure out how to make it a reality. This founding group, including the talents of Laura Copan, Megan Grondine, Emily Hughes, Alyssa Lentz, and Andrew Wimbish, met for the first time in its entirety on Sep. 3, 2015. Since then, we and our inaugural team have worked days, nights, and weekends to build the site and its four sections: Happenings, Variety, Commentary, and Craft.
Each section connects with our mission. In Happenings, you’ll find news stories of the highest quality — in-depth, investigative, and thorough. Variety publishes high-quality feature and human-interest stories rooted in the Blacksburg and Tech communities. The Commentary section collects thoughtful, well-researched perspectives on relevant and topical ideas pertinent to the university and surrounding communities in order to invite conversation from as many voices in the area as possible. Craft offers a singular digital venue that showcases Blacksburg and Tech artists, regularly reviewing written word, musical, visual, and cinematic pieces from local creatives.