Category: News

By: Stephanie Ramos Vargas, Crime, Justice and Safety Reporter 

BLACKSBURG, Va. – There has been an increase in pedestrians in the downtown area of Blacksburg where people walk around the city from one place to another including business places, restaurants and the Virginia Tech Campus area. People are walking more and thus pedestrains share the road with vehicles.  

Businesses and organizations downtown see these interactions each day. While there are crosswalks, signals and with the recent lower speed limit to help manage traffic, some businesses owners say they still see conflict between drivers and pedestrians.  

Tracie, with Blacksburg Inc., said she has seen an increase in the number of people walking downtown.  

“Main Street was never built for this many cars,” Tracie said. 

She explained that more individuals are opting for walking over driving, which she believes is a good thing. With more pedestrians being involved, both drivers and pedestrians are still sharing the same road. Most of the cars passing through the town center travel through Main Street. Meaning there are many opportunities where drivers and pedestrians come into contact.  

The number of pedestrians also changes throughout the year. With Virginia Tech football games and other events bringing more people downtown, Tracie said large groups sometimes cross the road before the signal tells them to do so. 

Jessica Jones, owner of New River Art & Fiber, sees pedestrian traffic outside her business throughout the week.  

Jones describes the pedestrian traffic around her business as “heavy” and said people are in the area throughout the day and night. She said Saturday mornings during the farmer market and the weekend nights after 8 p.m. are often busy. 

Jones said pedestrian signals have been added near her business, but she still sees conflicts at crosswalks.  

“People almost get hit in those crosswalks all the time, even with the addition of the new walk sign,” Jones said. 

One issue Jones notices is the drivers turning while pedestrians have the walk signal. She said drivers making the right turn on red will turn into a crosswalk while pedestrians are crossing.  

She also mentioned drivers in the flashing yellow turning lane.  

“A lot of drivers just go, even though pedestrians have to walk sign and the right of way,” Jones said.  

Intersection crosswalk right outside New River Art & Fiber. Blacksburg, Va on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (photo by Stephanie Ramos Vargas, TheNewsFeedNRV.com) 

Jones said she would like the traffic signals to separate pedestrian and vehicle movement. Under the system, she described traffic in every direction, would stop while pedestrians crossed. Vehicles traffic will continue after the pedestrian crossing period is done.  

“I would like to see pedestrians have full access to the intersections at one time, and no cars are allowed to go,” Jones said. 

Businesses can also help identify problems around downtown, according to Tracie. Owners and employees spend time in the area and may notice when a signal or crosswalk is not working.  

“We can rely on them sometimes to let us know that something is not working properly,” Tracie said. 

She said businesses may contact officials when they notice a problem, which allows the issue to be reported.  

Some locations present more challenges than others.  

Tracie pointed out the area from the post office and the UPS Store. That there is no crosswalk directly connecting the two sides of the street; she shared that people do not always want to walk to the nearest intersection and just cross there.  

A view from the front of the post office showing how far the crosswalk is. Blacksburg, Va on Friday, Sept 18, 2026. (photo by Stephanie Ramos Vargas, TheNewsFeedNRV.com) 

She also mentioned the area around Draper Road and Jackson Street, where pedestrian space meets vehicle traffic.  

Tracie said changes have been made downtown as pedestrian and vehicle traffic increases. One of those changes was lowering the downtown speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph. 

“I love that they change it from 25 to 20,” Tracie said.  

She said the lower speed limit can encourage drivers to slow down and watch for pedestrians.  

More people walking can also affect downtown businesses. Instead of driving through Main Street, pedestrians have more opportunities to see stores, restaurants, and other places downtown. 

Still, Jones’ experience shows that having a crosswalk or pedestrian signal does not prevent all conflict. Drivers may be turning while pedestrians are crossing, and both groups must pay attention to signals and traffic around them.   

Jones believes changing the timing of traffic signals could reduce some other interactions. Tracie also said pedestrian safety can continue to improve as downtown grows.  

“We can always improve things that we’re doing safely,” Tracie said. “I think making the community aware is part of that.” 

As more people walk downtown Blacksburg, pedestrians and drivers will continue to use the same streets. Crosswalks, traffic signals and speed limits can guide them, but Jones’s and Tracie’s observations show that pedestrian safety also depend on how people respond to those measures.  

By Kiera McMahon, education reporter

With the Virginia Tech career fair season upon us, students have opportunities to meet employers, explore internships and jobs and begin building professional relationships before the semester gets further underway. The fairs provide a chance to bring employers and students together, offering opportunities and experience for students at different stages of their college careers. For the team working in Career and Professional Development, this is one of the busiest times of the semester. According to Dr. Matthew Cowley, associate vice provost for Career and Professional Development, students can benefit from attending even if they are not yet looking for a full-time position.

“If you have the time, it’s a great thing to just go and shake some hands and network. I know that that may sound intimidating, but introducing yourself to folks who have hiring authority and asking them, ‘Hey, what do you all look for in an intern so that I can spend the next year getting ready and maybe having some of the experiences that the employers would say are valuable?’–that can be incredibly beneficial to a student,” Cowley said.

For students considering attending, Cowley recommends researching employers beforehand and developing a plan for the event. Most career fairs provide a list of participating employers, allowing students to learn about companies and positions they are recruiting for before arriving. Rather than asking recruiters basic questions, doing preliminary research can give students the opportunity to have more substantial conversations about what employers are looking for in potential employees.

The Career and Professional Development team also prepares students for career fairs, among other events, by helping them explore their interests and guiding them in looking for jobs, practicing for interviews, and networking with employers.

The timing of the fall career fair season can also give students a multitude of opportunities to refine their job-searching strategies. Students seeking summer internships have the fall fairs as an early opportunity to meet with recruiters, while the spring career fairs provide another chance to search if the first round does not result in an offer.

For graduating students, starting early can be particularly useful. Cowley said the job search can take months, making the fall an important time to identify weaknesses in resumes and interviewing skills and improve them in time for the spring semester. But Cowley knows that attending a career fair can be nerve-wracking for some students.

“I would say, you know, go with a friend. I wouldn’t hang on their side the entire time you’re at the event, but go with a friend who can help you process what’s happening and relax as you’re going through that process, that could be a really big thing,” Cowley advised.

Career fairs also offer something that online applications cannot: face-to-face interaction.

This was especially true at the 2026 Engineering Expo, where students filled Squires Student Center, prepared with tailored suits and resumes, before the event had even opened. The Engineering Expo, which is the largest student-run career fair at Virginia Tech, sees about 7,000 students every year. Kallie Allen, the 2026 Engineering Expo chair for the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC), said the event saw lines down Alumni Mall.

“So, this career fair is open to all engineering disciplines, and we also invite non-engineering majors to participate too. That includes students who are interested in switching to engineering, or maybe are interested in jobs outside of their major, and so, we’re very proud of the work we do,” Allen said.

Allen, a sophomore biomedical engineering student, has spent the summer working with companies, handling recruitment, logistics and outreach for the expo. Fourteen executive members of the SEC helped organize the event, which ran from Sept. 14 to 17.

The scale of the expo became more apparent as students moved between booths and recruiters met with hundreds of potential applicants each day. Allen said that one company reported speaking with approximately 800 students on the first day of the event. For Allen, the crowds show more than just the size of the event. The expo is intended to help students connect their education to expectations they will encounter in the professional world.

“We talk all the time at Virginia Tech about building your technical foundations, whether that’s in your classes, with workplace experiences, or with clubs or design teams, but they need a way to bridge that gap between the experiences that they have and what the industry is looking for,” Allen said.

According to Cowley, employers continue to look for many of the same competencies they sought when he was a student.

“When we talk to employers, unfailingly, these are the things that they’re looking for: They’re looking for good communication skills, whether it be written or verbal. They’re looking for somebody who can work on a team. They’re looking for somebody who shows evidence of having been a leader or having the potential to have to be a leader. They’re looking for somebody who can think critically,” Cowley said.

The only big change has been employers’ ability to discern which applicants truly possess those skills in the age of AI. With increasingly polished resumes and cover letters, employers are now looking for something more to differentiate applicants from each other. Cowley believes that this development makes career fairs even more important, as in-person interactions can leave a lasting impression on recruiters in ways that paper applications cannot.

For the fall semester, a variety of career fairs will take place through Oct. 20.

By Hafsa Ayubi, Politics and Government Reporter

Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg used the first town-gown meeting of the fall semester Sept. 10 to answer a deceptively simple question: When an issue affects both campus and town, who is actually in charge? The public meeting at the Creativity and Innovation District brought town officials, university representatives and students together to explain where their responsibilities differ and how they work together.

The meeting, titled “Town and University Governance,” focused on how Blacksburg and Virginia Tech are led, organized and responsible for decision-making. The distinction matters in a college town where issues such as housing, transportation, development and student behavior can affect both students and permanent residents. Blacksburg and Virginia Tech share one community, but they do not share one government.

The official meeting description said the discussion would highlight the distinct responsibilities of local government and university administration, as well as how the two institutions collaborate on issues affecting the broader Blacksburg community.

For Blacksburg, authority begins with the Town Council. Blacksburg has operated under a council-manager form of government since 1952. The council adopts ordinances and resolutions, approves the town budget, sets tax rates, makes land-use and zoning decisions and establishes long-range policies. It appoints a town manager, who carries out those policies and oversees town operations.

Virginia Tech has a separate structure. The university’s Board of Visitors serves as its overall governing body, while University Council, senates, commissions and committees participate in a shared governance system that reviews issues and makes policy recommendations. That means an issue involving an off-campus development within the town, for example, can involve Blacksburg’s land-use authority, while decisions about university policies or operations move through Virginia Tech’s own administrative and governance structure.

The two systems may be separate on paper, but life in Blacksburg rarely stays neatly inside those lines.

Steve Ross, a Blacksburg deputy town manager, compared the relationship between the town and university to a family. Ross is one of two current deputy town managers listed by the town.

“We are codependent of each other like siblings we get along most of the time, but we always come together.”

Steve Ross, Blacksburg deputy town manager, explains the town’s council-manager form of government during the Sept. 10 Town Gown meeting on town and university governance.
Photo by Hafsa Ayubi, TheNewsFeedNRV.com.

That relationship is part of the reason Town Gown exists. The group brings together town and Virginia Tech staff, students and residents six times a year for conversations about issues affecting the broader community. Town Gown is co-chaired by a Blacksburg deputy town manager and Virginia Tech’s vice president for Student Affairs, with topics selected each year based on the interests and feedback of participants.

Previous Town Gown discussions show how often the two institutions’ responsibilities intersect. Meetings have addressed off-campus housing, policing, university housing, campus planning and construction, and issues where decisions made on one side of the community can have consequences on the other.

The Sept. 10 meeting also highlighted that university governance is not limited to administrators. Virginia Tech’s shared governance system includes senates representing undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, faculty, staff and administrative and professional faculty. These groups participate in a process that can send policy recommendations through University Council to university leadership.

Undergraduate Student Senate President Lindsay Ricci said understanding that system is important because many students do not realize they have representation within it. Virginia Tech lists Ricci as the Undergraduate Student Senate president for the 2026-27 academic year.

“I think it’s really important just to know what community you’re involved in, what’s going on in the community, and how to support the community just by spreading information and getting to know, getting together, to know one another, and also just hearing from the town side, and also the university side.”

For students, knowing which institution controls an issue can determine where they take a concern. A question about town zoning or an ordinance follows a different path than a concern about university policy. Other issues, including transportation and housing, can involve both institutions because their effects cross the campus boundary.

Ricci said students can also have a more direct role in university decision-making than they may realize.

“I think it’s really helpful, because I think the first thing is students knowing about us and about student governance, because they don’t know how they’re represented and how we’re directly a part of the university system, in which we get a vote on university policy recommendations.”

The Undergraduate Student Senate maintains representation on University Council and other university-level governance bodies. Four USS officials serve as representatives on University Council, where they can discuss or present issues affecting undergraduate students. University Council reviews and makes recommendations on university policy, while final authority rests with the university president and Board of Visitors.

Marlena Lester, a representative of Virginia Tech’s Administrative and Professional Faculty Senate, discusses the principles of shared governance during the Sept. 10 Town Gown meeting.
Photo by Hafsa Ayubi, TheNewsFeedNRV.com.

That structure gives student representatives a place to bring the student experience into university policy discussions.

“And so they just don’t know, that we can help change that and sway the vote as well, of just, putting our opinion out there there, not everyone knows about the student experience unless you’re a student,” Ricci said.

For Ricci, awareness is the first step toward participation.

“So I think it’s important for them to get involved.”

Town Gown’s purpose is not to merge the two governments, but to create a place where the people working within them can better understand how their decisions connect. The Town of Blacksburg describes the group as working toward “strengthening, nurturing and sustaining relationships” across all sections of the community.

The Sept. 10 discussion showed why knowing the difference matters. There is not always one person or institution with authority over every problem that touches Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. Sometimes the answer starts with Town Council. Sometimes it starts with university governance. And for issues that cross the edges of campus, the answer can require both sides to come to the same table.

By Erin Bailey, education reporter 

A quarter century after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center located in lower Manhattan, New York City, the day remains prevalent in the nation’s memory. Remembered both for its tragedy and for the heroes who saved countless lives, 9/11 continues to be taught in schools as a life-changing moment in American history.

Man overlooks the Sept. 11, 2001 memorial during the 25th anniversary ceremony on Friday, Sept. 2026 in New York City. Photo Courtesy (Associated Press) 

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, four commercial planes were hijacked by members of the al-Qaeda Islamic terrorist group. Two planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, killing all passengers on impact and trapping individuals in the towers. After the collision, both towers collapsed only giving some individuals the opportunity to escape. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, and United Flight 93 crashed in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which was thought to be headed to the White House for another attack.

The terrorist attack took the lives of 2,977 individuals and injured thousands located in the towers, the Pentagon and Shanksville. As the years pass, educating the importance of the attacks and how the tragedy brought the nation together stays relevant in school systems. 

According to Stephanie Miller, a fifth grade teacher at Christiansburg Elementary School, a moment of silence to honor the victims the day of 9/11 starts the conversation amongst her students in the classroom. 

“We have a conversation about the significance of the day,” Miller said. “A lot of times, my students will have stories that their parents have told them, they’ll share their parents’ stories. We talk about how it’s something that more united the country instead of tore us apart, and how they learned to adapt, build, overcome and recover from it to make us stronger together.” 

While elementary school students weren’t alive during the time of the attacks, Miller works her lesson around how the event affects her students today, explaining to her students that security and flying drastically changed following the attack. Miller’s students can often connect their experiences with flying to grasp an understanding of new laws put into place. 

Although teachers continue to educate students on the attack, a set curriculum covering the event varies from state to state based on their standards.

“Most of what we teach in elementary social studies is going to be directly to whatever the state standards are, and if there’s not a standard about 9/11, that makes it hard to bring it into your curriculum,” said Amy Allen, an associate professor of history and social science in the elementary education program in the School of Education at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech lowers the American flag to half-staff in front of Burruss Hall on Sept. 11, 2026, to honor the lives lost 25 years ago in the terrorist attack. Photo Courtesy (Erin Bailey, The News Feed NRV)

While standards may vary, Allen elaborates that patriotism holds importance in elementary education. 

“A lot of standards are about patriotism,” Allen said. “The thing that happened after 9/11 is there was a huge surge of patriotism in the U.S and people were thinking differently about what it meant to be an American, what it meant to support a cause.”

The tragedy is often taught to younger students through a series of picture books that focus on both the individuals that lost their lives and first responders who helped at the scene. 

“There are books about 9/11 that are really great books to use,” Allen said. “There’s a book about firefighters that when I was teaching that I would often use to teach about 9/11, and it wasn’t a 9/11 specific book. It was just about firefighters, but that introduced that idea. It is called “September 12: We Knew Everything Would Be Alright” and it was created by students; it taught that basically after a really tragic event, the world goes on.”

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum offers a virtual view of the memorial located in New York. The “interactive video experience” gives individuals the opportunity to walk through different exhibitions that are present at the museum without having to be in person. 

“There’s a website and it’s like a Google Maps street view where the students can kind of virtually walk through the museum and it’s like a scavenger hunt,” Miller said. “They have questions on a paper that they need to answer, so they’re going through the museum and reading the plaques, information and filling in a note sheet to educate themselves more about it.” 

As 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, families and friends of the victims gathered for a ceremony in Memorial Plaza. The ceremony read aloud the names of the men, women and children who passed due to the attacks. A total of six moments of silence were given to mark each tragedy. An additional moment of silence was given to those who lost their lives due to 9/11 health effects. 

According to Andrew Webb, the administrator of communications, public relations and marketing for Montgomery County Public Schools, the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps performed a flag ceremony this year at Christiansburg High School marking the times that the planes would’ve hit the buildings. 

“It’s definitely on the forefront of our minds, making sure that our students are educated and know what happened 25 years ago,” Webb said.

Junior ROTC at Christiansburg High School performs flag ceremony in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks on Sept. 11, 2026. Photo Courtesy (Montgomery County Public Schools) 

By Alex Frank, health and wellness reporter

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, 343 firefighters died while responding to the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City. Twenty-five years later, people are still remembering and honoring the lives of those first responders but also the thousands of others who lost their lives in the attacks.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2026, members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, the Blacksburg Fire Department, and several sports teams met at Lane Stadium at 5 a.m.to take on the 110-story remembrance climb to signify the 110 flights of stairs it took to reach the top of the Twin Towers.

Members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets participating in the stair climb the Morning of Sept. 11, 2026. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. 

In addition to the morning climb by first responders and the Corps, many other community members took their own remembrance climb. Throughout the day, members of the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg communities climbed the steps in the stadium. 

While the stair climb is a great physical challenge, it isn’t the workout that is the main purpose; rather, they are meant to serve as a reminder of the sacrifice of the men and women who responded to the attacks on that day in 2001, as well as the thousands of other victims. 

The significance of remembrance on the day of 9/11 is not lost on many, even those who weren’t alive on the day of the attacks. 

Ryan Storm is the head Air Force physical fitness officer for the Virginia Tech Air Force ROTC. Storm is one of the cadets tasked with planning and coordinating the stair climb event. When reflecting on what 9/11 means to him, Storm explains, “I know the sacrifice that those men and women make each and every day, and on September 11^th, when their nation called on them, they ran towards the fight with no hesitation.“ Despite not being alive for 9/11, Storm is inspired by the bravery of the men and women who responded to the call that morning. Storm says the morning stair climb is “an incredible way to bring everyone together with one common goal of paying our respects and helping those participating gain a small perspective into the true pain and sacrifice.” 

One hundred ten flights of stairs are no easy task, though. It amounts to more than 2,000 stairs, and it’s easy to want to quit. Cid Wyler is a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, and he explains that, despite the difficulty, he had a strong reason not to quit. “I kept going because of the challenge itself and the desire to honor those who served on 9/11. Pushing through discomfort felt like a small way to recognize their strength and sacrifice.”

Storm hopes those who participated in the morning stair climb understand that the event is not just about climbing stairs, but about taking time to recognize the magnitude of the events of Sept. 11th. Storm wanted a way for everyone there to be able to grasp the scale so he came up with a plan, “When participants entered Lane, they were given a slip of paper with a name on it. A large number of the participants were even given a second name. Nearly twice as many people who participated in the stair climb (this morning) lost their lives that day.”

Others also completed the stair climb, in addition to the Corps of Cadets and fire department. Throughout the day, people could be seen making the trek to the top of Lane Stadium, down, and right back up again. 

A woman climbs the stairs on her own early in the morning of Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Alex Frank.

One participant, Ryley Crabtree, when asked about why he decided to participate, said this: “It was tough to get out of bed this morning, and I’m not a big runner, but it felt like something I had to do, and it felt like the right thing to do.” 

The number of people who participated in the climb throughout the day shows just how much significance remembering the Sept. 11th attacks has a quarter-century later. Many of the young people who participated were not alive, but the impact of the stories they have heard and the connection that is felt through the shared hardship of stairs is something that continues to resonate. Crabtree said, “On days like today it really feels like no matter who you are or what you believe we can all come together for a greater cause.”

Crabtree and his friends climbing the stairs Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Alex Frank. 

As participants continued making their way up and down the stairs of Lane Stadium and elsewhere throughout Blacksburg, the climb became more than a simple test of endurance and strength. To those who took the time to do it each step became a chance to remember those who werre lost in the attacks 25 years ago while also serving as a reminder of the commitment and bravery of the first responders who answered the call the morning of September 11, 2001.

By Kiera McMahon, education reporter

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Virginia Tech Study Abroad Fair will be held on the Drillfield on Sept. 22, encouraging new and returning students to participate in programs that will give them opportunities to explore the world. The fair will connect students with information about programs and resources available through the Global Education Office (GEO). With the start of a new school year, the fair offers an early opportunity for students to learn how studying abroad can fit into their college experience. 

For students unsure of where to begin, the Global Education Office says there are many more options available than most expect. In an interview, Erin Doherty, the outreach strategist and events manager with the Global Education Office, spoke about the efforts the GEO makes to get students interested and prepared for studying abroad. Understanding how study abroad programs are created and advertised can help students remain informed about what the Global Education Office can do for them. Doherty said that the goal is to help students find what suits them best in terms of interest and academic success. 

Her comments were slightly edited for length and clarity. 

What role does the Global Education Office play in helping students study abroad?

So, we play a major role in it. We have the students come and talk to our peer advisors, talk about the three main things that they should consider with studying abroad, which is what their support needs are, what their budget is, and then their career and academic goals. So, we try and find programs that fit all three of those and then set them up to go talk to their academic advisor to see if any of those programs would fit their academic credits that they have left in their transcript.

So they can sit down with their academic advisor, look at the transcript, see how study abroad can fit in, and then make sure that their schedule aligns to support going to study abroad because we’re here to add to the experience of your time as a Hokie, not add to your time as a Hokie here. So we’re just trying to set you all up for the best success with that. 

What are some interests you gauge from new students in regards to studying abroad?

Where they want to study abroad is a big one, and when they want to study abroad. So, are we looking at freshman years? Sophomore years? Junior years? Typically we see sophomores and juniors go in general. So really it’s where they want to study abroad and what they’re interested in.

Are there any particular questions you hear from students?

I know we’re really excited when we hear all the different places that the students want to study, especially outside of Western Europe, because we have some great opportunities in New Zealand, Australia, as well as Japan and South Korea. Just a lot of great opportunities that don’t always come to mind when you first think of study abroad. 

How does the Global Education Office spark interest for study abroad programs?

So we have our Study Abroad Fair on September 22 on the Drillfield from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. That’s our biggest event of the year. Additionally, we were at Weeks of Welcome. We got to speak to the College of Science freshmen. And then we do a lot of tabling. 

We’re always looking to collaborate with different departments and student organizations to create an experience where we can broaden our outreach. We do a lot of classroom outreach with advisors and stuff like that.

What are the biggest misconceptions that students have?

That you have to study a different language to go abroad. There are opportunities to study abroad in a country that is not your native language where the classes are in English. And that’s really cool because it’s not as scary. 

Or that you have to do the entire semester. There’s programs for spring embedded, fall embedded, winter break, and summertime. There’s literally a program for everyone.

How does the GEO make studying abroad financially accessible?

GEO as well as other colleges on campus offer a lot of scholarships and right now, we are doing study abroad info sessions that center around financial aid and scholarships so that students are more aware of what their options are, both at Virginia Tech and outside of Virginia Tech to help fund it. In our newsletter, we talk about different deadlines and opportunities that come up. The important thing is study abroad can be affordable and the sooner you are proactive in terms of trying to figure out when you can study abroad and what kind of program, the better chance we have to help you find a way to afford it and set you up for meeting the deadlines for the scholarships to apply for. 

What do you hope students take away from studying abroad?

I hope that they come away with a better understanding of how they can impact the world positively, the difference that they can make in the world, as well as, you know, just expanding their horizons. Hokies really do make a big difference, no matter where they go, and I hope that their study abroad program increases their confidence as well as their academic experience. 

What is the most important thing that students should know about studying abroad?

Everyone can study abroad. If you’re an athlete, you can study abroad. If you’re in the cadets, you can study abroad. The main thing is, the more proactive you are, the better we can set you up for success to have those conversations with your academic advisor and financial aid. And that comes into talking to our peer advisors and our advising team because we really want to make sure that we’re steering you in the right direction. 

By Taylor Berenbaum, health and wellness reporter

Virginia Tech Dining Services has introduced several changes this semester, from a new all-you-care-to-eat model at Owens Food Court to adjustments in how students access other dining locations.

Owens Food Court now operates as an all-you-care-to-eat dining center alongside D2. Students with unlimited meal plans can access those locations once every 60 minutes during operating hours. Other locations, including Turner Place, Perry Place, West End and Squires Food Court, offer different combinations of meal exchanges and declining-balance options.

According to Margaret Ashburn, associate director of media relations and deputy spokesperson, the changes were more than a year in the making. Dining Services developed the new plans in response to concerns that the previous Flex Plans were not meeting students’ needs and growing interest in unlimited dining options. Owens was also added to increase dining capacity for students on unlimited plans.

The new system has become a source of confusion during the first weeks of the semester. Students have questions about which locations accept their meal plans, what qualifies as a meal exchange and how to access food when popular dining centers become crowded or other concepts are closed.

To better understand the transition, a Virginia Tech Dining Services student employee who works in a leadership role and is based in Owens Hall discussed what they have observed during the first weeks of the semester. The employee requested anonymity due to their position within the department.

The employee’s comments were edited slightly for length and clarity.

From your perspective as someone working in dining, what are the biggest changes students are experiencing this semester?

The biggest issues I’m seeing are meal plan confusion, frustration and inaccessibility. The department has been changing how the plans function during the first few weeks of the semester, which has made it difficult for students and employees to understand how everything works. Building the ship as we’re sailing it, really.

Staffing is another major challenge. Because of staffing needs, some dining concepts have had to close or reduce their hours, which means students do not always have access to the variety of food options available on campus.

What has the transition to Owens’ all-you-care-to-eat model looked like from the employee side, particularly during busy periods?

It has required a significant adjustment. The way Owens is set up physically does not always align easily with the new model, particularly during peak meal times.

The biggest challenge is the combination of increased demand and the way the dining space is structured. Between noon and 2 p.m., when demand is highest, it can become especially difficult for employees to keep up with the volume of students.

The peak meal rushes have become a significant challenge. There is a mismatch between how many students need food at certain times and how much capacity the dining operation has during those periods.

Long lines and crowds are some of the biggest issues. Seating can also become limited during peak periods. Outside of those peak periods, the system can be easier to manage. During rushes, the biggest challenges are long lines, frequent instances of items being unavailable and keeping up with housekeeping.

How has the increased demand at Owens affected staffing at other dining locations?

Employees have been moved from other dining locations to help staff Owens. For example, personnel have been pulled from Hokie Grill to support the increased demand at Owens.

That redistribution of employees can mean other concepts have to close or operate with reduced staffing. I’ve seen Choolah, Pizza Hut and Dunkin’ close around noon on many days to accommodate staffing needs at Owens.

How have the changes affected the way food is prepared and served?

The focus on serving a high volume of students can affect how food is prepared. When speed and output become the priority, maintaining the same preparation process can be difficult.

For example, at Pop’s in Owens, burgers may be precooked and then warmed on the grill before being served. That differs from a made-to-order model like the one at West End.

What questions or confusion do you hear most often from students about the new dining setup?

A lot of students ask whether they chose the wrong meal plan and whether it is too late to change it. Meal exchanges are another major source of confusion. Students ask how they work and why they cannot necessarily get everything they want with one exchange.

Students also ask why so many dining concepts are closed and how they are supposed to get meals when their only free time happens to be during the busiest dining periods.

What should students understand about meal exchanges?

Meal exchange equivalencies are a big one. A meal exchange generally works like an employee meal voucher: an entrée, two sides and one drink, with a value of around $15. However, individual dining concepts can determine what qualifies as a meal exchange.

For example, at Choolah, a bowl with a Mango Lemonade may qualify as a meal exchange, while a wrap and Mango Lassi may not.

What do you think students should know about navigating Dining Services this semester?

Speak up. Students should contact Hokie Passport Services or speak with a manager if they have questions about their meal plans or dining options. They should make sure they understand the parameters of the new freedoms and the restrictions that come with them.

Student employees are doing their best to help, but ultimately we are messengers. When policies change, especially when they change quickly, it can be difficult for employees to have all of the answers immediately.

Students and their families are investing a significant amount in these meal plans, so I think it is important that the system remains transparent and user-friendly.