Here’s a roundup of news briefs from around Southwest and Southside. Send yours for possible inclusion to news@cardinalnews.org.
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Virginia Tech to open first Innovation Campus building in Alexandria on Friday
Virginia Tech will hold the opening ceremony for the first academic building at its Innovation Campus in Alexandria on Friday.
The creation of the Innovation Campus was part of Virginia’s winning bid for the Amazon HQ2 headquarters. The campus is designed to produce engineers, computer scientists and business leaders to support Northern Virginia’s technology sector.
The 10 a.m. event will be livestreamed.
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Sweet Briar College win takes gold in Governor’s Cup
A wine made from grapes grown at the Sweet Briar College farm has taken gold in the Commonwealth of Virginia Governor’s Cup 2025 wine competition. This is the college’s first time entering.
Sweet Briar’s wines are crafted from grapes grown in nearly 18 acres of vineyard tracts in two separate locations on the college’s campus. The vineyards include merlot, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes. The gold medal wine, Earned the Rosé, was formulated from merlot grapes from Sweet Briar’s vineyard. Sweet Briar College Farm entered two other wines in the Governor’s Cup competition, the 2023 Leading the Way Chardonnay and 2023 Meadow Merlot; both earned silver medals.
Sweet Briar College Farm’s wines are made in collaboration with Michael Shaps Wineworks and bottled in Charlottesville. Sweet Briar College Farm LLC is the agricultural entity of Sweet Briar College responsible for wholesale produce, honey production and winemaking and is led by John Thomas, director of physical plant and project management; Peter Bryan, vice president for administration and chief operating officer; and professor Lisa Powell, who heads the school’s agriculture program.
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NRV Leading Lights seeks nominations for volunteers to honor
NRV Leading Lights is seeking volunteer award nominations from across the New River Valley for the 2024-2025 year. Leading Lights awards are focused on the impact of a volunteer’s work and leadership. The website is open to accept nominations for the seventeenth annual awards. The nomination deadline is March 21. Nominations should be submitted via the online form at https://leadinglightsnrv.org/nominations.
Those who have been nominated before but not selected as a distinguished recipient may be nominated again. Individuals and organizations are highly encouraged to submit nominations for outstanding New River Valley volunteers they know or volunteer with. Administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, club sponsors and youth mentors are asked to nominate young people for the high school and college awards. Groups and organizations cannot be nominated for awards.
Awards are given in three categories: community (seven awards), high school (two awards) and college (two awards). In the community award category, an award is reserved for a volunteer in each county/city of the New River Valley (Floyd County, Giles County, Pulaski County, Radford City), two in Montgomery County (due to population size), and one across the entire NRV to recognize lifetime volunteer achievement. Nominees must be current residents of the NRV. If being nominated for a student category, they must be currently enrolled in a school/college in the NRV. Distinguished recipients in each category will be selected on the following criteria:
- Strong community involvement
- Demonstrated lifestyle of dedicated, continuous, long-term involvement in the community
- Proven leadership
- Creativity in initiating and implementing projects that lead to a better quality of life
The NRV Leading Lights organization recognizes volunteers in the New River Valley each year in an annual banquet scheduled for April 29. The organization honors distinguished recipients by making a monetary donation to the nonprofit of their choice.
For more information, contact NRV Leading Lights board of directors at leadinglightsnrv@gmail.com or visit https://leadinglightsnrv.org/.