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SVRTC Celebrates 2025 Awardees and 30 Years of Regional Impact

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On March 19, 2025, the Blackwell Ballroom at Longwood University was filled with excitement and celebration as more than 100 SVRTC members, award recipients, and invited guests gathered for the annual SVRTC Awards Banquet. The event honored 52 outstanding individuals from 19 school divisions across Southside Virginia for their accomplishments during the 2024–2025 school year.

Represented school divisions included: Amelia County, Appomattox County, Brunswick County, Buckingham County, Charlotte County, Cumberland County, Danville City, Dinwiddie County, Halifax County, Henry County, Hopewell City, Lunenburg County, Mecklenburg County, Nottoway County, Pittsylvania County, Prince Edward County, Sussex County, Colonial Heights, and Martinsville City Public Schools.

The event began with welcoming remarks from Dr. Brent Roberts, Longwood University’s Assistant Provost for Academic Outreach and Dean of the Greenwood Library. Dr. Paula Leach, Director of the Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices and K–12 Outreach and Engagement, followed with a presentation highlighting SVRTC’s 30th anniversary—reflecting on SVRTC’s history and the role it has played in supporting school divisions through evolving trends and advancements in educational technology.

After a celebratory lunch, awardees were recognized for their hard work and dedication. The full list of 2025 award recipients is available here.

The ceremony also spotlighted this year’s SVRTC competitive awards. Tim Mays, Director of Technology for Brunswick County Public Schools, received the Technology Leadership Award for the 2024–2025 school year. Cumberland County Public Schools was also honored with the Division Leadership Award, recognizing the district’s exemplary commitment to technology integration and innovation.

Dr. Angela McDonald, Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, offered closing remarks to conclude the event.

A big congratulations to this year’s awardees!

Members Learn About Clear Touch Interactive Panels

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The February SVRTC meeting had 20 members in attendance from the following SVRTC divisions: Brunswick, Colonial Heights, Cumberland, Danville City, Dinwiddie, Franklin City, Greensville, Martinsville, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Petersburg, and Prince Edward.

Shayna Muirhead from NextWave Tech, presented Clear Touch Interactive Panels virtually to SVRTC members. She explained what Clear Touch interactive panels are: an adjustable, portable, interactive panel that is easy to move and ready to use by just plugging in the device.

She described some of the features that come with this piece of technology including apps already installed such as Google Browser, Zoom, Kahoot, and other educational applications. She also demonstrated an app called, Collage, which is a wireless way that students can cast their device onto the panel and show their work. By entering the 6-digit access code, any device can connect to the panel and up to 9 devices can be connected simultaneously. This device also comes with multiple inputs such as HDMI for PC, MAC, and Android.

Woman pointing at screen and selecting from multiple windows.

An additional feature the Clear Touch Panels have are that they can detect different touches and pick up on each finger touching the screen, along with different hand positions to erase the annotations. Ms. Muirhead described the feature called, Snowflake Mutli-teach – which is a software that allows multiple pages to be displayed onto one page and that teachers can use while teaching. Snowflake also provides multiple interactive lessons that students and teachers can use to collaborate. Teachers can easily organize and edit their lessons through this software making each lesson easily accessible.