Hello, and welcome to the Virginia Western Game of Trivia, which is really a quiz, but GOT is the only acronym that makes any sense. (Cue the laugh track) The game is a quick way to relay important data points and random bits of trivia about our college … and also an excellent excuse for our game host to learn how to use Google Forms. (Ba-dum-tisssss!) But first … do yourself a favor and play this background YouTube music to get the full quiz show experience! Can you hear those happy horns? OK, much better. Our first question was sent in by the amazing (and brave) Natasha Lee, our Student Activities Coordinator. Thanks for all you do, Natasha! (Please clap!) So let’s get to today’s one and only question … (and be sure to click “View score” after you answer) … Loading… Did I hear someone ask about a prize? Ahhhhh, yes. We all win a valuable prize pack full of … knowledge! And hopefully some laughter. 🙂 Thanks again to Natasha for sharing these knowledge nuggets for our very first (deep, dramatic voice): GAME OF TRIVIAAAAHHH (echo, echo, echo). GOT some fascinating trivia? GOT data points we should share… Continue Reading Time to play the Virginia Western Game of Trivia!Read More
“Transform yourself to transform the world.”Grace Lee Boggs, author and social activist, 1915-2015 Long before Virginia Western was awarded our Title III grant, I had a crush on Achieving the Dream (ATD). I first learned about ATD as our team prepared our first Get REAL grant proposal in 2017; our budget includes money to pay for membership in the ATD network. In the years since, I’ve explored ATD’s website and found *free* resources in their “Knowledge Center,” including data-rich reports and toolkits full of practical advice, from designing college for part-time students to this practitioner’s guide to engaging adjunct faculty. ATD’s mission is to “lead and support a national network of community colleges to achieve sustainable institutional transformation through sharing knowledge, innovative solutions and effective practices and policies leading to improved outcomes for all students.” I’m emphasizing the “transformation” part, because it’s reminding me of this simple but profound quote by social activist and author Grace Lee Boggs: “Transform yourself to transform the world.” I had just read that quote in “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds,” where author Adrienne Maree Brown explained the concept of fractals, or never-ending patterns, in nature … and she emphasized what we practice at… Continue Reading We transform ourselves by learning like our studentsRead More
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Just this week — in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day — a TV critic for The New Yorker disparaged our little city on Twitter. Emily Nussbaum tweeted to her 280K followers: “LOL, just watched an episode of The Dating Game in which the prize was a trip to glamorous … Roanoke, VA. That seems more like a punishment. …” LOL, just watched an episode of The Dating Game in which the prize was a trip to glamorous… Roanoke, VA. That seems more like a punishment. <Preparing to be ratio'd by Roanoke.>— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) February 8, 2021 As you can imagine, the response was swift. By the next morning, “Roanoke” was trending on Twitter, with local citizens, journalists, the Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge tourism bureau — even Gov. Northam’s Twitter account — coming to Roanoke’s defense. Author Stephen King is also involved, and not in a good way. The Roanoke Times covered the twitterstorm here. Many of us reacted by noting what we LOVE about Roanoke, which included everything from the beautiful mountains to the families we are raising here. It was an opportunity to send some hearts to our Star City.… Continue Reading My valentine to Roanoke starts with a mean tweetRead More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
Recent Posts
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- The Game of Life – Innovation Edition! August 29, 2024
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