Moulding Project Director for the LEGO Visits Nottoway Students

Kevin Morales, the Moulding Project Director for the LEGO Group, visited students at Crewe Primary School on December 6th, 2023. This was Mr. Morales’ first visit to an American school!  Mr. Morales was asked to speak to 2nd and 3rd grade students through a collaboration with Annah Bowan, Nottoway Public Schools, and Dr. Stephanie Playton, Longwood University. This event also supports the grant partnership, ACSE:SVRTC, initiatives.

Mr. Morales agreed to not only speak to Nottoway students, but agreed to come in person to Crewe Primary School. Mr. Morales explained that he has worked for LEGO for 13 years — from Mexico to Denmark and now in Richmond, Virginia. He is in charge of all of the machines inside the facility that actually produce the bricks and explained how the ABS plastic is moulded into the many different sizes and shapes of LEGO. Students learned that the largest kit is the World Map, black bricks are produced more than any other color, and over 500,000,000 bricks are made every day. Students were engaged in asking Mr. Morales a number of questions! Crewe Primary School’s principal, Mr. Lloyd Page, also had a few questions and showed off his own interest in LEGOs while they compared matching LEGO sneakers with Mr. Morales.

Nottoway Public Schools and Longwood University are grateful for the opportunity to introduce such an amazing career to our youth.

Computer Science & Strategic Planning Initiatives for SVRTC

The SVRTC met for their monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 including 15 members in attendance with representation from the following school divisions: Amelia County Public Schools, Brunswick County Public Schools, Cumberland County Public Schools, Danville Public Schools, Dinwiddie County Public Schools, Lunenburg County Public Schools, Mecklenburg County Public Schools, Nottoway County Public Schools, Petersburg City Public Schools, and Prince Edward County Public Schools.

The first speaker for the meeting was Kristin Hott from Code VA. Ms. Hott presented on how Code VA supports different programs. Code VA partners with schools, families and communities to bring equitable computer science education to all of Virginia’s students. They partner in grants, they partner in kind and they receive funding and seek out grants for the various needs of the divisions. Ms. Hott mentioned that if you want your school involved more with Code VA, you can make a connection request.

The second speaker, Tammy Hobson, an independent contractor that consults with Advanced Learning Partnerships in Virginia, talked about strategic planning. Ms. Hobson shared the why, how and what the strategic planning for the SVRTC is about. She went on to discuss the two pathways to achieving the “why”. The first area, network events – would involve the superintendents and business leaders. The second path would be communities of practice – which would involve the division leaders or student directors in the school systems. The “how” is planning what you would do during the meetings with the superintendents or division leaders and how to get them on board with your plan. The “what” would be a list of what you want to achieve at the meetings.

The next SVRTC meeting is scheduled for January 17, 2024.

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