New City Media

New City Media is an interactive agency based in Blacksburg, VA. They are a sponsor of KTU and are donating their valuable time and effort to create a portal for the children and the parents to log into to access the virtual lab material, lectures, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) kid news, and "why" questions answered by Tech and VBI staff that all associated with Kids' Tech University.

KTU hands-on activities

The schedule for the Jan. 31 event is on the KTU website at http://kidstechuniversity.vbi.vt.edu . Within the next week we will probably be releasing the schedule for the Feb. 28, March 28 and April 18, 2009 day events. The Jan. 31 event is a little different from the other dates due to the fact that we are going to the Math Emporium and we are divided into 2 groups of kids to do the hands-on activity- "Explorations in Math and Science Through Computer Graphics" which is led and developed by Terri Bourdon of the Math Department here at Tech.  

For the Feb. 28, March 28 and April 18th dates we are renting large halls on campus and inviting exhibits from Virginia Tech departments and the community. The planning for these events has already begun (yes, among the mist of the Jan. 31 day event!) We have a really great turn-out of departments already. Now, if I told you exactly who I wouldn't have anything else to blog about later on so I'm going to save this little piece of juicy information for the future, but be assured you will find out all about the exhibits and the departments/community organizations that are sponsoring them!

KTU has a volunteer EMT!

We just found out that we secured a volunteer EMT that will be in the lecture hall and in the Math Emporium with the children in case there is an emergency. This is great news!

KTU is 9 days away!

KTU is 9 days away...and boy are we excited about the first event on Jan. 31, 2009. The VBI staff has been working hard on all the name tags for the kids and we have had 2 of our volunteer orientation meetings! Maria (our volunteer coordinator) is busy assigning roles to each volunteer and they will be sent out tomorrow. Of course, about all of volunteers for the program will be with the children. We have a ratio of 1:10 volunteer:to children. This ratio will allow for maximum exposure to the spirit, and safety, of Tech! The police have been invited to the event and I've been told that Boomer and a couple police officers will be at the venue!

Go KTU GO!

The Roanoke Times

KTU got another donation!! The Roanoke Times donated 125 slinkies and 75 frisbees to be given out to the kids. We are going to give them at a hands-on station at the Feb. 28th day event! We decided against handing them out to the kids during the lecture...I can just see a frisbee go whizzing across the lecture hall and hit the lecturer in the head! 

3300 Artesian Bottled Water Company

3300 Artesian Bottled Water Company is a bottling plant in Bland, VA. They are donating 400 8oz and 400 6oz bottles of water to KTU to be given out with the child lunches.  

Thank you for your support!

Kids' Tech needs your help- if you are interested in helping us pick up the water from the bottling plant please let Kristy DiVittorio (at kdivitto@vbi.vt.edu or 540-231-1389) know!

Lecture halls for the first day event secured!

This month marks the first Kids' Tech University event on Jan. 31!

We have secured the student auditorium and the parents lecture halls for the Jan. 31 2009 day event! Parents are dropping off the students at the Graduate Life Center auditorium. We STRONGLY encourage the parents to watch the lecture in McBride hall rooms 100, 113 and 129. In the Graduate Life Center the students will be supervised by a volunteer (we have a ratio of 1 volunteer to every 10 students) and will be split into these groups based on their last name. Don't worry, we will have plenty of volunteers, signage and extra campus maps to point everyone around the campus!

A schedule for the Jan. 31 program will be posted later this week!

Hands-on activites of KTU!

KTU is focusing on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. So, after the lecture that focuses on a STEM discipline we have planned a hands-on activity time for the children and/or parents that focus on that same discipline. For the hands-on activity for the Math discipline (on Jan. 31) the parents will drop off their child at the Math Emporium in the University Mall to do a hands-on computer activity. The Math Emporium is a wonderful and important asset to the Virginia Tech community! The parents and the students will definitely be impressed of the facility! 

For all the other disciplines (Technology on Feb. 28, Science on March 28, and Engineering on April 18) we are renting large spaces on campus and will have many hands-on activities going on so that parents AND children can walk around and do the activities. We are really excited about these activities because it will showcase the great research and outreach activities associated with Virginia Tech, 4H and the community. 

Graduate Citizen Scholar Engagement supports KTU

Here at Virginia Tech we have a graduate program called "Citizen Scholars". Graduate students from across the campus including Forestry, Chemistry, and Sociology Departments have take part in the program. Participants take academic excellence to the next level by using the knowledge they gained in academia and using it in real world settings while volunteering their time. These graduate students are "Citizen-Scholars" interested in, "Serving the community, the state, the nation, and the world..." The program is a part of the Transformative Graduate Education initiative of the Graduate School at Virginia Tech.

For Kids' Tech University the Graduate Citizen Scholars will be helping with logistics of the program during the day events. They will be interacting with the kids by explaining their research to them and telling them all about what it's like to be a student at Virginia Tech.

Emergency Cancellation Information

Its always good to have a backup plan! But in case for some reason we have to cancel a lecture (like a lot of snow which makes it highly unlikely that anyone can even get to the lecture hall) our action plan for getting the word out is this:

1. Through an email to the parents.
2. It will be posted on the KTU homepage (http://kidstechuniversity.vbi.vt.edu)
3. There will be a message on the phone number 540-231-2100
4. We will post it on the KTU blog (http://kidstechuniversity.blogspot.com)
5. A message will be on 710 AM, 100.7 FM, Z104 FM, 95.7 FM, 94.9 FM and 2WD.