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Virginia Tech students break through education barriers by leading Afghan women toward tomorrow

By Anastasia Simonenko, arts, culture and sports reporter

The expansion of the “She Leads Tomorrow” volunteer program is making an impact for Afghan women seeking education.

Every year, Virginia Tech’s Center for Refugee and Migrant Displacement Studies offers a variety of volunteer programs that connect students with refugees across the globe, from Kenya to the Middle East to Southwest Virginia.

One of these programs focuses on providing equal educational opportunities to women from Afghanistan, a country where girls are banned from attending secondary school.

Tech students develop direct relationships with mentees by helping them apply to college, prepare for interviews and put together resumes.

Virginia Tech junior Abigail Lee has helped pilot the program since it first came to campus last year. This year, alongside her fellow student leaders, Lee has worked to expand the program by recruiting more volunteers and giving more women a chance to receive support.

In an interview about her experience leading the program, Lee shared how she got involved, the impact she has seen from the work and how growing the program will open more doors.

Her comments were slightly edited for length and clarity.

Abigail Lee, student leader with “She Leads Tomorrow,” meeting with representatives of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies at Virginia Tech.

How did you first get involved with the program?

At the beginning of last school year, I got an email from the Center for Refugee and Migrant Displacement Studies (CRMDS). They had a few volunteer opportunities to help the local refugee population.

One of them stood out to me, which was “She Leads Tomorrow,” which was aimed at helping Afghan women pursue education. I had known that there’s a lot of oppression in Afghanistan and barriers to women pursuing their education.

I think it’s just always been a topic that I was passionate about. I care a lot about access to education because my mom is a teacher and my brother was a teacher. Access to education equally across the world is very important to me, as is equality across genders.

I didn’t really know much about what it was going to be about or what my role was going to be before I started.

Since it was the first year of the organization, I really played a larger role than I expected. I had to help get other volunteers or help make the curriculum, and I ended up having about 20 mentees.

What is different about this year’s program structure?

Last year, we had three mentors with about 20 mentees each, and we just thought that was pretty overwhelming for all of us. I think meeting with 20 students one-on-one is a lot.

This year, we were able to recruit a lot of new volunteers from GobblerFest, and we have about a dozen volunteers joining us, which will be great. So how we’re going to restructure it is two other program leaders and I are going to lead a large class session every week.

So all the mentees are going to get a class session each week, and then each mentor will have about three to five mentees instead of 20, and they’ll be able to meet with them one-on-one, so it’ll be much easier.

What has the experience been like?

It’s just been great. Getting to learn more about each of these women, their stories, how they got to where they are, I think it’s really inspirational.

Taking into account all the barriers that they face every day and how steadfast and determined they still are in pursuing their education, honestly, it inspires me because how am I going to skip class when there are people on the other side of the world whose literal dream is to be able to go to college?

It’s been inspirational for me, and it’s been great seeing the impact that I’ve been able to have.

I think sometimes when you’re in the nitty-gritty of daily work, and you’re like, “Oh, I have to meet with 20 mentees this week,” it can be overwhelming.

But at the end, having various messages from my mentees thanking me for my help or telling me they got into college and received scholarships has been really rewarding, to just be able to be part of their journey as well.

A lot of these women don’t have access to laptops or very reliable Wi-Fi, so they’re typing out these essays on their phones in the middle of the night, and they’re taking online classes when they can.

A lot of these women were able to go to school until about middle school. They go to high school either online or in very limited circumstances.

I think a commonality between their stories is just how resilient they are and how many hoops they’re willing to jump through to keep learning and keep pushing toward their goals.

Where do you see this program in a couple years? What do you hope to gain out of it?

I think even between last year and this year, it’s been able to expand a lot already. Last year, there was way more demand. There were hundreds and hundreds of students who wanted to be matched up, and unfortunately, there just weren’t enough student volunteers to be able to meet that load.

My hope for the future is that every student who wants a mentor can get one and that the mentors are really able to help them along their journey and be able to be a very helpful resource. I hope that it continues to grow into something that is impactful, not just for a couple of students here and there, but on a more structural level.

I mainly just hope to leave a structural impact. When I graduate, I hope that this program will continue to be in place in future years because it’s very beneficial to both the mentors and the mentees to have this system in place.

I hope that it continues beyond my graduation.

I hope to keep in touch with the women that I’ve mentored and hopefully see them go to their dream colleges, get scholarships or pursue their careers.

Local Bookseller to AI Companies: “Please Don’t Destroy Our Books”

By Nick Carlson, science and technology reporter

As AI companies buy used and antiquarian books in bulk to scan and then destroy, one Blacksburg bookseller is asking them to stop.

An internal Anthropic document, unsealed in Bartz v. Anthropic, describes the effort bluntly: “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world.”

Ellen Woodall, manager of Blacksburg Books, says the practice threatens more than physical inventory. It risks erasing history and altering what is truth. Without the original source material, there is no way to verify whether the information those models produce is accurate, or whether it has been altered along the way.

In an interview, Woodall discussed the threat and urged AI companies, “Please don’t destroy our books.”

Her comments were slightly edited for length and clarity.

AI is shaping how people access and receive information. How do you think training AI models on older texts, or AI more broadly, is reshaping the way information and truth get constructed?

That’s interesting, because if history is written by the victors, that’s a shaping of the truth as well. We’re seeing possibly not catastrophic failures yet, but if you’ve ever used a recipe you found off the internet and realized it was AI generated, you know it’s not always accurate information. So I think we should all be concerned about where we’re getting our information and whether it’s a source we can trust.

Is there a difference between scanning for preservation and scanning to train AI models?

I think that there are multiple differences. For example, Project Gutenberg is with the express intent to preserve the material. Whereas, for Project Panama, books are being scanned to teach AI models and then to be destroyed. There are multiple problems with that. It’s unclear to me whether the source material is being preserved. It’s unclear to everyone whether what AI models are learning is truly useful, and whether it’s ethical in the sense that some AI companies use this to skirt copyright infringement laws. That seems like a legal and moral gray area to me right now.

How do you see this impacting copyright?

Well, I don’t know a whole lot about it. I think a lot of people don’t know a whole lot about it. I think that some AI companies have argued that if they purchase the books and then scan them, that it’s fair use because they purchased the books. It’s unclear to me. But it seems like this is an ever evolving legal landscape that until we have some real answers, maybe we should be a little more critical about what’s happening and a lot more cautious.

Do you worry about the possibility of AI companies changing wording or meaning in books?

That’s certainly something that can be done, and everyone should worry about that when the source material is destroyed. Whether you’re a historian or a scholar or just a regular person that wants to have a real sense of history, we should all be worried about history being changed. That seems pretty common sense.

Do you see the mass purchase of books to train AI models and then be destroyed as a threat to your business?

Things are changing literally minute to minute with AI. I don’t see it affecting us that much in the near future because we’re not a huge dealer of antiquarian books. Our friends over in Christiansburg, Old New River Books, will probably have to deal with it, and they’ll have to deal with it sooner than we do. I have talked to a lot of my colleagues in other cities and states that are dealing with it, and it’s scary. I certainly have a very visceral reaction to the idea of books being destroyed. I don’t necessarily think that every copy of every book needs to be preserved. I used the example of James Patterson. We don’t need 50,000 copies of his 95th bestseller floating around, I think. But when we talk about things like antiquarian books where there’s one copy left, yeah, we probably don’t want to shred that.

Why is it important to preserve physical books?

I think there are a lot of factors there. I’m biased, but for me, there’s a real aesthetic factor to it. Old books are beautiful. They’re artifacts that we can learn a lot from, not just from the text, but we can look at the binding and the script and the typeset and the materials used. These are all little bits of history that are important. You know, it’s the same reason you preserve a Mesopotamian clay tablet, even though we can just take a picture of it. I think that there is a real concern when we’re depending on duplications of information, and information that can be so easily altered. It’s nice to always have source material to go back to.

What’s your first reaction when you hear of books being destroyed?

Certainly it’s alarming, and it’s something we keep an eye on. Like Anthropic’s Project Panama, I mean, it just sounds horrifying as a bookseller, and we haven’t been affected by it yet, but I have heard from many of my bookseller colleagues that people have been buying older books in bulk. It’s very alarming. The idea of books, particularly irreplaceable ones, being destroyed is kind of the antithesis of what we do.

How would you react if a buyer bought books from your store with the intention of destroying them?

We haven’t had anyone approach us yet. We do have people approach us fairly regularly to buy old books. Often when people buy books in bulk, they’re either interior decorators or Instagram influencers that want something like these right behind you in the background of their shots. Because we haven’t had to deal with it yet, we haven’t consolidated a policy around it. We’re taking everything as it comes. I might feel a little odd asking somebody, what do you want the books for? Usually people will tell me. I would have serious second thoughts if someone is buying them to destroy them. That said, it depends on the books, right? Like if it’s a bunch of James Patterson books, they can have them. There are billions of those books, you know. If they’re older antiquarian books, then it would be a tough call.

Ellen Woodall, manager of Blacksburg Books. Photo provided by Ellen Woodall.

Freshmen, Meet the Campus Emergency Phones You Might Need Someday

By Stephanie Ramos Vargas, Crime, Justice and Safety Reporter

For Virginia Tech students, help may be closer than they think. Scattered throughout campus are blue light and indoor emergency phones that offer another way to reach public safety when students are in need of police, fire or EMS help.

Especially for the new freshman class, knowing where these phones are, also understanding what happens after the button is pressed could make a difference during an emergency.

Emergency phones are a part of the university’s layered approach to campus safety. While even though nearly every student carries a cell phone, emergency phones provide a backup source for help.

There are two main types of phones on campus. The standalone blue light phones which are located outdoors and emergency box phones that are inside buildings like residence hall and other campus spaces. Some of the older standalone phones are brown while others are a more vibrate blue color.

The phones connect to the regional public safety emergency communications center located in downtown Christiansburg. From there, a dispatcher will determine what kind of help is needed and send police, fire, or rescue help.

For Mac Babb, Chief of Police at Virginia Tech Police, the phones are a part of the broader system designed to give students multiple ways to access emergency services.

What are the emergency phones on campus and what is their main purpose?

There are two types of emergency phones: standalone blue-light phones located around campus and box phones located inside buildings.

Their primary purpose is to give people a quick way to contact emergency services. The calls go directly to the public safety emergency communications center where dispatchers can determine whether police, fire, or EMS are needed.

How does a student activate one of these phones?

It’s very simple: press the buttons.

The call goes immediately to the 911 center. A dispatcher will answer and ask questions about the emergency, and what assistance is needed and where the person is located.

When should a student use an emergency phone instead of calling 911 from a cell phone?

There really isn’t a difference. An emergency is an emergency.

If a student already has a cell phone int their hand, they shouldn’t run to a blue-light phone. They can call 911 from their cell phone or through the Hokie Ready app.

The important thing is using whichever is the fastest and most available. The emergency phones are there as an additional way to help

What happens after the emergency phone is activated?

The call goes to the dispatch center. The dispatcher asks a series of questions, takes information, and sends the call to the appropriate public safety agency.

Police generally respond to calls on campus. If it’s a medical emergency, the recuse is dispatched. If it’s a fire, fire personnel are dispatched. In some cases, all the responders may come together.

How quickly does someone respond after a phone is activated?

The call is received immediately, and responders are dispatched as quickly as necessary once the information is entered.

Officers generally respond directly to the location of the activated emergency phone. However, there are circumstances where a response can be canceled.

Can students use the phones if they don’t have a life-threatening emergency but still feel unsafe?

Absolutely.

If someone is feeling unsafe, that can be a reason to contact public safety.

In those situations, contacting public safety can connect students with resources, such as safe ride, or allow officers to address a situation.

It doesn’t have to be a situation where someone is already seriously injured. If a student needs police assistance and doesn’t have another way to call, the emergency phones are an option.

What should a student do it they accidentally press the emergency button?

Stay there and talk to the dispatcher.

The worst thing someone can do is get scared and run away. If we receive a call with no information about what happened, we have to assume somebody needs help and respond to the location.

If the student stays and says it was an accident or that they didn’t realize what the button was, the dispatcher can usually cancel the call.

No one gets in trouble for accidentally pressing the button. The exception would be intentionally activating the phone for a malicious reason.

How often are the emergency phones tested?

The exterior phones are checked monthly. Personnel test the buttons to make sure they’re working properly.

If a phone isn’t functioning, a work order is submitted for repairs. Students may occasionally find one marked out of order.

If students notice that a phone isn’t working, is flashing without connecting or has been vandalized, they should report it to the security center or police non-emergency number so a repair can be requested.

What’s the biggest misunderstanding freshman may have about these phones?

I think one of the biggest misunderstandings is that they are especially for calling the police. They’re really a way to call for help. The call can result in police, fire, or rescue being dispatched depending on what the situation is.

Understanding that it’s not simply a police phone, but a way to reach public safety is probably the most important thing.

What should every freshman know about the phones before they need one?

Pay attention to where they’re located.

Students should pay attention to their surroundings and identify resources before they need them. It’s similar to entering a building and identifying the exits in case the entrance you came thought becomes inaccessible.

The goal is to train yourself to recognize the resources around you before an emergency happens.

What would you tell a student who is nervous about contacting police through an emergency phone?

Don’t be nervous about asking for help.

We want students to see the police department as a resource. Officers are there to provide assistance when students need it.

Students can also be also become more comfortable with officers’ through community and informational programs or simply by talking with officers when they see them around campus.

It’s a good thing if you never have to call the police in your life. But if you do need help, you should feel comfortable reaching out. Officers are going to respond and provide assistance requested.

Students who want more information about campus emergency phones, including their locations around campus, can visit the Virgina Tech Police website.

William “Mac” Babb, chief of police at Virginia Tech Police Department and Director of Security. Photo provided by Mac Babb.

Blacksburg Mayor speaks on Montgomery County’s 250th year anniversary.

Kyle Reeder | Politics and Local Government Reporter

Montgomery County, located in the foothills of Southwest Virginia, celebrates its 250th anniversary after its establishment in 1776. The county is home to Virginia Tech, the Blue Ridge mountains, and the New River Valley outdoor tourism.

Recently elected Blacksburg Mayor Michael Sutphin took to city hall in November 2025. Sutphin’s role as Mayor in a college town where populations, issues, and demands fluctuate throughout the year, has proven to be busy.

After serving on town council for 14 years, Mayor Sutphin is confident in his mayoral duties, and as a former Hokie, is excited to work closely with the university again. His race was a close win after an 18-vote difference with his opponent Pete Macedo.

Geographically, Montgomery County is located between the cities of Radford and Roanoke, and is often missed by interstate travelers on I-81. The county is home to two towns, Christiansburg and Blacksburg, and home to a combined population of 98,000. The growth of Montgomery County continues to climb each year, accumulating over 30,000 new residents over the past 50 years.

Of the many mayors to be elected in the town of Blacksburg, Mayor Sutfin is the youngest, and is only one of few Blacksburg mayors who is still living. This year, as the United States celebrated their 250th anniversary, Montgomery County did the same. Mayor Sutfun shared insight on the celebration, some upcoming events across the county, and local history.

Can you speak a little bit about the 250th anniversary of Montgomery County?

We are one of two localities in Virginia celebrating our 250th anniversary. The other is Washington County. The United States is celebrating their 250th anniversary too, so our celebration coincides with that. It’s something that Montgomery County in Blacksburg and Christiansburg are celebrating this year.

Why are other counties nearby not celebrating 250, but Montgomery is?

Some of the counties predate the United States and they incorporated before the US did. Montgomery was created out of what was called Fincastle County in 1776. There is a document called the Fincastle Resolutions which was passed and it broke up our counties.

The Virginia General Assembly divided Fincastle County in 1776 into three counties: Montgomery, Washington, and Kentucky. Neighboring counties like Roanoke County were officially established in 1838 and Radford County was established in 1892.

What is Montgomery County doing to celebrate?

A couple years ago, the Montgomery County Board of supervisors set up a VA250 committee that was tasked with finding ways for the community to celebrate. So, they set up a mobile museum with pop-up events in the area. The Montgomery Museum in Christiansburg has displays about the history. There is a 5k race for awareness, a community time capsule project happening, and the original Montgomery County courthouse bell, they restored it and did a commemoration event for it.

In Virginia, there’s a strong tradition of cities being separate from counties. Blacksburg is a town, within Montgomery County, so both the Montgomery and Blacksburg governments have to work very closely together to accomplish all the goals. They each provide different services.

What could you tell us about Montgomery history?

The earliest European settlement was in the 1740s, and there was a strong native population before that. Some of our earliest areas were in places called Drapers Meadow, Hans Meadow, which then turned into the modern day Christiansburg and Blacksburg.

What are Montgomery County’s biggest economic drivers?

Education is probably the biggest. Within Montgomery County, the biggest employer is Virginia Tech. It’s one of the biggest draws to the community. The second largest employer is the Montgomery County School System. So, education really is our huge driver in this community. We also have a whole host of different technologies and manufacturers who are building expertise and spinning them off into companies.

What sets Montgomery County apart from other counties in Virginia?

It’s in a great location, right off the I-81 corridor, we have a straight shot up to northern Virginia or further south. We’re by the blue ridge mountains, so we have a very idyllic, beautiful location, but we also have a vibrant university and community.

So you’re celebrating 250 years now… but what do you hope to see in Montgomery county in the next 50, 100 years?

I think Montgomery county will continue to grow, but as we do, I hope we are able to hold onto what makes us special. Our character, and our history as well. I think in the next 50 years, people will still recognize us as Montgomery County for who we are. We are always thinking of what’s next. We have the Amtrak coming in in the fall of 2027, which will help Montgomery County grow.

The effects of sleep on young adults’ well-being and mental health

By Alex Frank, Health and Wellness Reporter

Have you ever stayed up late one night studying? Or maybe you stayed up late going out with friends, watching a movie, or just scrolling in bed? For many young adults, these are common occurrences. Sleep is often the first thing sacrificed when work, school and social life get busy. Lack of sleep can affect more than how tired a person feels the next day. Consistently poor sleep can affect young adults’ mental health, mood, memory and overall energy levels.

Adjusting to the newfound freedom and lack of structure that comes with life after high school can be difficult. With so much to juggle while learning how to live on your own for the first time, sleep often falls low on the priority list. One night of poor sleep can affect you the next day, but what becomes a nightly habit for many young adults can have serious effects on long-term health and well-being. Lauren Woodard is a licensed therapist for teens and young adults with a master’s in social work and a bachelor’s in psychology. In an interview, Woodard explains how hard it is to get quality sleep, the effects poor sleep has on young adults’ well-being and ways to build healthier habits.

Lauren Woodard, MSW, LCSW

Her comments were edited for length and clarity.

Why do you think sleep tends to be such a problem for young adults?

Young adults are in a unique developmental period where they are often navigating a new phase of freedom, responsibilities and demands without the structure they had at home and in high school. For many college students, living at school might be the first time they haven’t had parental supervision and structure around sleep. College is also such a unique time where you are trying to balance so many competing interests: almost 24/7 access to friends and social opportunities, classes, internships, work, clubs, sports, volunteering, dating, all while managing sleep. Sleep is typically the easiest thing to cut! I can’t think of another period of adult life.

What are the most common unhealthy sleep habits?

In my work with college students, I most commonly see a pattern of uneven sleep where students might get very little sleep during the week and then sleep in a lot on weekends to make up for it. That in and of itself can severely disrupt your natural sleep-wake circadian rhythms and can also cause what I call “Sunday Scaries Insomnia,” where it is hard to fall asleep on Sunday evenings and you start the week sleep deprived. Another is alcohol intake. Although alcohol makes people feel sleepy at first, research tells us it is a sleep disruptor, causing early wakefulness. Excessive screen time and phone use in bed is another one. The blue light from your phone and the mental stimulation of what you are watching are big sleep disruptors.

How does stress affect someone’s ability to sleep?

Stress is a large component driving sleep disruption. Stress puts your body into a naturally more alert and activated state. So if you are stressed, it would take you much longer to be able to feel like you can wind down enough to fall asleep. So think about adding an energy drink in the afternoon, the stress of an exam and scrolling on TikTok a perfect storm for impacting someone’s ability to sleep and a reason why stress management through exercise and meditation is so important.

How can poor sleep affect mood, motivation and ability to handle everyday stress?

I say this weekly to my client: Sleep is a foundational component of your mental wellness. When we’re sleep-deprived, our ability to concentrate, tolerate distress, regulate our emotions, make decisions and manage everyday stress is impacted. A decision that might feel relatively easy when you’re well-rested can suddenly feel overwhelming or even impossible when you’re exhausted. You may find yourself feeling far more anxious, emotional, or frustrated by something you would normally be able to navigate; not necessarily because the situation has changed, but because you’re trying to handle it with a sleep-deprived brain. It is like functioning all day with a phone at 10% charged.

How do phones affect young adults’ sleep habits?

I could probably do an entire interview on just this. Blue light from your phone keeps you awake and alert and blocks melatonin production, which is a sleep hormone you need to sleep well. I also hear a lot of clients say notifications stress them out, and they feel like they have to respond right away, even if they are trying to rest. One other thing I see is a downside of social media where many of my clients get caught in a comparison trap with viewing social media – it may make them feel like they are less in some way by seeing other people have things they don’t. That can result in feelings of anxiety and depression, which impact sleep.

What are the first changes you would recommend to someone who consistently gets poor sleep?

Doing a complete reset of your sleep habits might be too stressful, so I say pick one area. Some ideas are, like, set an alarm on your phone to remind you to go phone or social media free for 30 minutes before bed. Stop consuming caffeine after lunchtime. Try to wake up at the same time every morning and go to bed at the same time every night; stay within 2 hours on each end of that on the weekends. If you stay out late, still wake up within 2 hours of your normal wake-up time. Another thing is to try to keep naps short and earlier in the day if you take them. Lastly, stay out of bed unless you are sleeping.

If you could change one sleep habit among college students, what would it be? Stop spending so much time in your bed. For many college students, especially those in dorms, their bed becomes a multi-purpose space: desk, couch, dining room and place to scroll. If possible, I encourage clients to create some distinction between where they are awake and where they sleep. We want the brain to develop a strong association between getting into bed and winding down.

First Virginia Tech game day? How to stay safe from tailgates to the final snap

by Aidan Edelson, health and wellness reporter

Your first Virginia Tech game day can be an overwhelming experience. The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad shares advice on staying safe and responsible.

With football season finally here, new students have the chance to experience their first Virginia Tech game day. Whether it’s your first time on Center Street, at the tailgating lots, or at Lane Stadium, it can be a lot for first-timers.

Senior undergraduate student and Virginia Tech Rescue Squad Chief Alec DiLeonardo has been a part of the Rescue Squad since his freshman year. This has given him firsthand experience with health and safety concerns on and around game days.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

*Virginia Tech Rescue Squad Chief Alec DiLeonardo, courtesy of @vt_rescue on Instagram.*

For a freshman experiencing their first game day, what are the biggest safety concerns they should be aware of?

For first game day of the year for freshmen, it’s an exciting time; you’re going out, you get to experience the Lane Stadium experience for the first time.

Some of the safety concerns that we, on a public safety side, want everyone to watch out for is obviously, a lot of people like to consume alcohol. We encourage you to be mindful, be smart, and to not overdo it.

Hokie Wellness actually has a really good web page called Party Positive. It has a whole page of things to consider, such as choosing if and what you drink, pace yourself, it’s not a race, eat before you drink, and make sure you designate a non-drinking driver.

So those are all things that we want people to take into account before they take a sip of alcohol. What could the potential consequences come of this if they are not responsible? This web page also talks about at what point it’s no longer just recreational drinking, and now we’re transitioning to alcohol poisoning, and when medical interventions need to take place.

If someone realizes their friend has had too much to drink, what is the safest next step?

So for us, where EMS and Rescue Squad intervene and where we get called for, on typical game days, weekends… it is a higher level of alcohol intoxication, so alcohol overdoses. Those usually are apparent if, say, your friend is now breathing abnormally. They’re breathing less than 10 times a minute. Those are things that we start to get concerned with, and where the alcohol has now transitioned from no longer just being an intoxicated state to now where medical interventions may need to be taken.

The biggest thing too is checking for pain responses. So give them a nice big old pinch right on the traps, right above your shoulder. Pinch them anywhere. If there’s no pain response, they don’t look up at you or speak to you after that, and they are fully unconscious; that’s when we encourage people to call 911.

Center Street is a big frenzy, and people are always excited to go there. That’s not our territory, but we do partner with Blacksburg Rescue and Blacksburg PD on that. Both of those agencies are staged at Center Street during the festivities. So if there is at any point where you feel a friend is either having a medical emergency or is showing signs of alcohol poisoning, find a police officer, find a rescue member, or just call 911.

Where should a student go if they start feeling sick or overwhelmed in Lane Stadium?

Kind of the same as if you have a friend, or you see someone in the stands or at Center Street, who’s exhibiting signs of unconsciousness, possible alcohol poisoning, or any medical emergencies that can pop up during these times. Find a police officer at any of the portals in the stadium, so the path out into the stands. There are always police officers there.

Come to one of our first-aid stations. They’re displayed on the scoreboard throughout the game. They are also indicated by the big red star or the cross over the doors. Any of our rescue members that are with Virginia Type Rescue will be in a high-vis vest. So either a lime green or a neon orange. That indicates that we’re EMS to people. Or, again, just call 911.

What mistakes do you see people making in their first few game days?

Overindulging or overintoxication is definitely one of the different things that we see. Some of it, too, is that they’re just not familiar with the area. So, getting lost, separating from their friends.

We always encourage you to stick together, whether you’re in a big group or not. Say you are in a group of 10, 15 people. Make sure there’s at least one or two people in there that you are always stuck with. One of the biggest things that we see is people coming to us solo. They don’t have any friends with them. Well, we need to find someone to release them with if they’re still in a certain state. In general, we encourage everyone to stick together. That’s for everyone’s safety as well.

With this new load-in procedure this year as well, when students enter the gates, pretty much whoever they’re standing with during load-in is who they’re going to be sitting next to. So when students are coming in through the portals to be seated into their seats, there’s actually going to be ushers putting them into rows, and whoever you’re sitting next to or standing next to going down the steps or going up the steps to your seat is who you are going to be stuck next to for the first half. Throughout the game, you can get a move around, but this is to help make load-in smoother and a lot safer for everyone as well.

What would you say to a freshman who’s afraid to get themselves or their friend in trouble by calling for medical help?

From an EMS side, this is something we deal with on a weekly, day-to-day basis. People are worried that they’re gonna get in trouble, and they won’t tell us stuff.

If your friend needs medical attention, call. We may ask you questions that may feel like you will get in trouble for. We are just trying to understand the full situation from an EMS side, how we can better treat that patient, your friend, if something has happened to them.

Lane Stadium cellular: The science behind game day phone signal technology

Ella Winterling, science and technology reporter

On August 24, 2026, Virginia Tech Athletic Director Brian White announced a plan to improve cellular coverage at Lane Stadium in his first address to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

Cellular signal in Lane Stadium is often impacted on gamedays, with fans experiencing trouble sending text messages or making calls. A temporary solution will be put into place for the 2026 season, with a permanent solution following suit for the 2027 season.

Jeffrey Reed, Willis G. Worcester Professor and co-director of Wireless @ Virginia Tech is a professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Reed’s areas of research include cognitive radio and smart antennas. In an interview ahead of Virginia Tech’s first gameday on Sept. 5, Reed spoke about the science behind cellular technology and what impacts cellular signals.

What’s your background in cellular technology?

I’ve been here since 1992. I was here during the early days of the wireless revolution. Before that, I worked for a defense company doing military communications and got my PhD at the University of California Davis looking at interference issues.  It turns out that the key problem with cellular communications is interference issues. So it was natural for me to get involved within commercial wireless. I’ve been around, and I’ve seen a lot of things.

What is the basic science behind cell signals?

The basic science behind it and the key why cellular works is that signals get attenuated as a function of distance. So the farther you’re away from the cell tower, the lower the signal. Eventually, it reaches a point where the signal has degraded in strength enough where you could have another signal, and that could be from another tower that uses the same frequency. So, unlike a broadcast network, like a TV station or a radio station, it tries to maximize its coverage.  The cellular networks take advantage of being able to transmit in a limited region and reuse the frequencies. That gives us the ability to reuse the channels, which allows for a lot more users to be able to use the spectrum, because we reuse the channels.

Is utilizing large cell towers still the norm for cellular networks?

The big cell towers are no longer really being deployed very often.  It’s the small systems, the indoor systems that are very small. They may repeat the size of a Wi-Fi access point or a little bit more. Those have become popular, and cell sites that sit on top of a light pole — those are very popular. However, the big giant cell sites that people see from the highway — very few are being deployed.

Is it common for rural areas to have worse signals than urban areas?

That’s very true. There’s still places in the state in which there is very lousy cell phone coverage, if it exists at all. Mostly what’s being deployed now are low power systems that add capacity to the network. So you could have more simultaneous users of the cellular network. That’s the big problem in the stadium. You know, a touchdown happens, and people want to take a picture and send it to their friends and family. Everybody’s using their cell phone at the same time. There’s a capacity limit.

Are there other factors that would impact cell signals on a gameday?

If you’re moving or not, that could make a difference. It depends too on the frequency band that is being used. Lower frequency bands tend to have better propagation characteristics. They can go further. They’re not as likely to be blocked by obstacles. Higher frequencies, on the other hand, you have those issues. They tend to be shorter ranges and blocked by signals. Most of the new spectrum that has been released over the higher frequency, that’s because we ran out of spectrum in the lower frequencies.  So now we have to resort to the higher frequencies, and the propagation characteristics aren’t as good.

Theoretically, what would updating the signal in Lane Stadium look like?

I suspect that they’re going to put more cell sites around. Even now, organizations such as Verizon bring in C.O.W.S. during a game. Cells on wheels. It’s a mobile cell site. They set it up to be able to handle the additional demand for the network.  So they’ll probably deploy more infrastructure to be able to improve the capacity. They may use additional bands as well.

Does the quality of the cell signal change depending on the provider?

Yeah. Generally speaking, the best provider depends on the area. I’m not gonna go out on a limb and tell you what I think the best provider is, but if you don’t have good cell coverage, you can think about changing providers. It’s a matter of how much infrastructure they have and what frequencies you’re operating on.

What is the future of cellular technology innovation?

We’re in the 5th generation of cellular now, and starting next year, we’ll probably start the standardization for the sixth generation. So, engineers will be working together to come up with what that 6G standard will be. 5G was developed with three things in mind: mobile broadband access, ultra reliable and low latency communications and massive machine to machine communications. Mostly what people have seen, though, is the mobile broadband. We really haven’t seen much of the other applications yet. I suspect we will start to see them in 6G.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Jeffrey Reed in his office holding a cell phone. Photo Courtesy of Ben Murphy for Virginia Tech News.

Two Wheels, One Road: What Blacksburg Riders Should Know to Stay Safe

By Alex Guerra, Crime, Safety, and Justice Reporter

For cyclists and scooter riders navigating Blacksburg’s busy roads, staying safe means more than knowing how to balance on two wheels. Local bike shop employees see firsthand the equipment, habits, and road conditions that can make the difference between a safe ride and a dangerous one.

Blacksburg’s large college population, busy streets, and growing use of bicycles and scooters make two-wheeled transportation common around town. For many students and residents, bikes and scooters offer an inexpensive and convenient way to get around, but riders face risks when sharing roads with cars and navigating intersections.

Local bicycle shops are one place where riders can turn for advice before heading onto those roads. Employees regularly interact with cyclists and scooter riders, giving them insight into the safety concerns riders face and the steps they can take to protect themselves.

In an interview, Mason Cherrics, manager at Trek Bicycle Blacksburg, discussed the biggest safety concerns for cyclists in Blacksburg, common mistakes riders make, and what drivers and riders can do to share the road more safely.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you tell me a little bit about your role here and how long you’ve been working with bicycles and/or other forms of alternate transportation?  

My role here is store manager at this location, so I typically do administrative work, whether that’s backend processes like budgeting or hours management. I give hours to my teams and typically serve as the communication liaison between our store and the rest of our district, which includes Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. I’ve been working on and around bicycles since 2015, so just about 11 years. I’ve only been in this role for about a year and a half, nearly two years. Prior to that, I was a service manager at a larger location and came down here for the job.

From your perspective, what are some of the biggest safety concerns for people riding bikes or even scooters around Blacksburg?  

Visibility. I would say visibility of the cyclist, visibility of the lanes they’re riding in, and visibility at different times of the day. One thing we bring up every time with any new bike sale, or with anyone interested in commuting, is lights. Be as high-visibility as possible. We even sell helmets, for instance, with attachment lights on top. If you have them on the bike, they’re down low, and a driver may or may not see them. It’s a lot easier to see because it’s up here rather than down by your waist, essentially.

What do you think makes riding in a college town particularly challenging compared to riding somewhere else?

It’s a double-edged sword. You have a younger audience, so generally, younger cyclists will be a little bit more daring and typically may not follow into a pack or be the safest riders, and vice versa with drivers. Same idea. You may not be aware of everything around you. Additionally, people make mistakes. It happens all the time. In fact, we’ve encountered three people today alone who got hit in the last couple of days. Luckily, they’re all okay. But I think it is just a lack of time and attention.

Are there any particular situations or just places around here that you’ve noticed, like intersections, crosswalks, or crowded sidewalks that you think riders should be especially cautious around?

Admittedly, I haven’t lived here long enough to know the exact places, but I have seen some issues over toward Prices Fork. There aren’t a whole lot of great places to ride, especially when you’re crossing over that bridge that’s back there. It’s especially difficult during that odd hour of the day when visibility starts to get lower. It’s not dark enough that you can’t see, but it’s not bright enough to see all the details either. I’ve seen some here and there up and down Main Street, but I’d say it’s pretty solid. I would like dedicated bike lanes all the way through. But, of course, I’m a cyclist. I’m going to want that.

What common patterns do you notice when cyclists have close calls with drivers?

The most common way that people get into these close-call situations is a misunderstanding of right of way, whether that’s at a traffic stop or a four-way intersection. A driver may not realize that a bike on the road is the same thing as a vehicle. They follow the exact same laws and rules. Everything is equal except for their size and their road presence.

Are there safety issues you notice as someone who works with bicycles that you think the average person might overlook?

A lot of e-bikes and scooters don’t have adequate brakes. There are some out there, in fact, more over time, as the industry sees this. But there’s a lot of really heavy e-bikes that do not have adequate stopping power. So if you’re cooking along at 20 or 30 miles an hour and you can’t stop, something’s going to happen, and it’s very unsafe.

What’s one piece of safety equipment that you wish more riders actually used?  

I feel like a broken record: lights. Lights. Lights. It’s one of those things that’s an afterthought for a lot of people. You don’t think you need lights until you get caught in the dark. It’s like, “Well, I’ll just never ride in the dark.” But lights are applicable to daytime use, not just at night. It’s a lot better now, but helmets are another one. For years, I knew a lot of cyclists, especially on the BMX side of things, who didn’t wear helmets, and they’ve had some really close calls over the years. Fortunately, a lot of them have learned by now. But not everyone does, and we see a lot of that clientele come through the store. They’ll make a helmet an afterthought, or they’ll say, “I’ll buy the nice bike, but I’ll cheap out on a helmet.” It’s like, do the opposite. Cheap out on the bike, get the nice helmet. You only get one brain. You can get multiple bikes. So, helmets and lights.

Mason Cherrics, manager at Trek Bicycle Blacksburg, stands in front of helmets at the store in Blacksburg, Virginia. Photo by Alex Guerra, 2026.

The AI shift begins, transforming student life at Virginia Tech

By Erin Bailey, education reporter

On Aug. 23, 2026, Virginia Tech News announced the launch of HokieAI, a university-supported platform designed to give students, faculty and staff access to vetted artificial intelligence tools. HokieAI aims to provide users with innovation while focusing on security and ethical use.

Features available through HokieAI range from drafting and revising content to coding support and image creation. The platform is designed to handle all levels of data, including high-risk information.

Virginia Tech urges interested individuals to complete a training course called AI at Virginia Tech: A Primer for HokieAI. The module supports AI literacy and responsible use.

In an interview, Carl Harris the Chief Technology Architect at Virginia Tech elaborates on how HokieAI will change higher education in the foreseeable future.

Carl Harris is the Chief Technology Architect at Virginia Tech. (Courtesy of Virginia Tech, Division of Information Technology)

His comments were edited slightly for length and clarity.

What did the process of creating HokieAI look like?

When we decided we wanted a platform like HokieAI, we looked to see what was in the market, and we decided to do competitive procurement for it, something through a request for proposals, and that process is time-consuming. Ultimately, we started in November, maybe even as early as late October, and we had responses in, reviewed and evaluated by the committee associated with that procurement, and forwarded the contract in April of this past year.

How do you envision HokieAI changing the way students approach learning, research and creative work?

I teach a course in electrical and computer engineering. My syllabus includes details about where you can and can’t use AI. The thing I always tell my students about with respect to this affecting the experience that you’re getting is, if you’re not having to think about what you’re doing, if it’s really just asking questions and then regurgitating responses, you’re getting no benefit from that. Part of our statements around literacy for AI is this notion that you still need to be the expert in whatever domain that is. In my course, it’s an electrical engineering topic, but you still need to be providing that expertise to ground what the AI is telling you. You still need to be applying your own judgment. AI doesn’t have a sense of judgment, humans do, and you need to be thinking critically about what it’s telling you.

How does HokieAI’s secure, university‑managed environment change the way students and faculty can safely use AI?

Students are already using things like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for their learning and for their research. One of our goals with this was to create a space where students could do that, where whatever they’re putting into that tool, we know isn’t being used to train models. We know it’s not being retained for any sort of purpose by the provider. We’re the provider. While we do retain some of that data, it’s mostly because we need to from a legal perspective, not so that we use different models or share with anyone. When students need to use AI in their coursework, we’re ensuring through having this tool that all students have equal access, really regardless of their ability to pay or spend more money out of pocket.

How do you see HokieAI reshaping the way faculty design courses, assignments or assessments?

One of the things that we hope is if we’re providing a tool and everyone has access to it, that those universities providing solutions will inspire faculty to get more engaged, especially those that are either still on the fence, but maybe some of them are actually behind the fence.

I can have much higher expectations for what I want students to gain out of projects, or how many projects they do, if I know a lot of the grunt work of doing those projects can be assisted with AI. It’s really rethinking higher education, thinking about what does higher education look like in the face of this very powerful tool.

How does HokieAI position Virginia Tech among peer institutions in terms of AI leadership?

Even though there are other schools doing this, we’re still among the early adopters. Not every school out there has this capability, although it’s becoming more common because I think it’s a good decision that’s relatively affordable in the concept of universal access for everyone at the university that solves a lot of the has and have nots challenges.

How do you imagine HokieAI influencing the skills students graduate with?

The opportunities for students to ask the hard questions about what are the impacts of AI societally, environmentally, what should this mean in the course of my career? I think providing the space and the opportunities to explore and have really the academic discourse about these things is key to us. Not just grappling with it, but getting through solutions and answers to some of those questions.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

We had some students asking what happens to my prompts that go into HokieAI, and will my professors be able to get access to that? Asking those questions and thinking really about the implications of this is going to be a commitment that your generation is going to have to carry forward. Getting a deeper understanding of what are the implications, where could this go, where do we not want it to go and where would we like to see it go? I think it’s really important for people in their university experience to be asking those questions.

Blacksburg school-zone cameras put student safety at center of speed enforcement

By Hafsa Ayubi, Politics and Government Reporter

Beginning Sept. 9, Blacksburg Police will begin enforcing speed limits with cameras in school zones, including along Prices Fork Road, in an effort to keep students and staff safer as they travel to and from school.

Andrew Webb, with Montgomery County Public Schools’ Communication and Public Relations Office, said the goal is not to “write a million tickets,” but to raise awareness and encourage drivers to slow down.

According to Webb, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office had already started a similar program in school zones in the Eastern Montgomery area, the Auburn area and along Prices Fork Road near Prices Fork Elementary. This summer, the Blacksburg Police Department installed cameras on Prices Fork and a couple of other places around town.

The cameras only capture photos when the school-zone lights are flashing, Webb explained. Drivers should be going 25 mph through those zones, and drivers traveling a certain speed above that limit while the lights are flashing can receive a citation from the Blacksburg Police Department.

Webb said he did not have specific data or know of a particular incident that led to the program. Instead, he repeatedly came back to one goal: keeping students and staff safe. From the school side, Webb said even preventing one incident would make the program worthwhile.

In a Sept. 3 Zoom interview, Webb discussed how the cameras work, what the school system considers success and what he hopes drivers take away from the new enforcement.

His comments were edited slightly for length and clarity.

What is the purpose of the new school-zone speed cameras?

Blacksburg is the newest group to do it. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office originally started this program, setting up speed-enforcement cameras in school zones in the Eastern Montgomery area, the Auburn area and up on Prices Fork Road where Prices Fork Elementary is.

This summer, Blacksburg and the town and the Blacksburg Police Department installed cameras on Prices Fork and, I believe, a couple other places around town. They’re aimed at keeping people safer on the roads as kids are getting to and from school.

Was there a specific incident or speeding data that led to the program?

No data that I have, but anytime we have an opportunity to do something to keep our students and staff safer as they’re headed to and from school, we’re going to take advantage of it.

We support the Sheriff’s Office and Blacksburg Police Department for pulling this off and helping keep our kids safe.

Could more Blacksburg schools get cameras in the future?

I’m not sure. Right now, I know the majority of them have these cameras. I think the only ones that we’re really missing would be Harding Avenue and Margaret Beeks Elementary.

I think the rest of them are covered by the current setup.

How do the cameras work, and are they different from Flock cameras?

Correct. These work where they’re only going to capture photos when the lights are flashing on the school zone. You should be going 25 through those zones anyway.

If you’re going a certain speed above 25 while those lights are flashing, you’re going to get a citation from the Blacksburg Police Department.

Blacksburg, Va., Sept. 3, 2026 – Andrew Webb poses for his official Montgomery County Public Schools photo. Photo: Montgomery County Public Schools.

What does success look like from the school side of the program?

I can’t necessarily speak for the police department, but for the school side of things, success is just anything we can do to keep our kids safe.

If we can save one life, one incident happening, we’ll take that opportunity anytime it’s presented.

Is the goal more about giving tickets or getting people to slow down?

That’s essentially what the goal is, to keep people safe. The way we go about that is by enforcing speed in our school zones.

Like I said before, if we can do anything to protect our kids, we’re going to do it. I don’t think the goal is necessarily to write a million tickets. I think it’s more so just awareness and really just keeping everybody safe who’s traveling down those roads.

How involved was the school system in putting the camera program together?

Honestly, we didn’t really have anything to do with it. The town and the police department, I think, found a company who specializes in this, and they partnered and made it all happen and just stuck them up in front of those school zones.

Have you heard any feedback from parents or the community about the cameras?

I haven’t heard any public feedback specifically to this program in general, but safety’s our number one priority.

I think the community recognizes that we’re doing our part, or making sure we can do everything we can to keep our kids, staff and everyone who’s in our buildings as safe as possible.

What is the biggest thing you want drivers to remember?

Just mind your speed as you’re going down Prices Fork and traveling through town whenever you see those lights flashing.

Just know that we’re trying to get our kids to and from school as safe as possible. We want everybody to be able to have a safe trip to and from school.