WINCHESTER, Va. (WHSV) – Shenandoah University and the U.S. Department of the Treasury co-hosted a small business summit Tuesday in Winchester. The event took place inside the university’s most recent project, which allowed guests to lay their eyes on a brand new learning center.
Thanks to a $12 million renovation, SU students are able to study and learn with the school’s new Hub for Innovators, Veterans and Entrepreneurs, also known as the HIVE, where they now get a whole new virtual learning experience inside a former armory.
“We’re so excited to launch this building. This building … has a lot of historical significance in the Winchester community,” SU provost Karen Abraham said.
After SU acquired the 84-year-old armory building, the university worked hard to transform it while maintaining its historical value and strived to create a future-focused learning center. Virtual Reality Design Professor Nathan Prestopnik said this new facility will help students grow.
“The students are why I’m here, right? Everything that we do in these labs and in our program is to help them grow and help them learn and help them find careers that are really exciting to them and things they want to do for the rest of their lives,” Prestopnik said. “To set them up with all this equipment and give them that leg up with really professional workspaces is definitely a real benefit to them, and it’s really exciting for me to be able to see them grow that way.”
With all of the different equipment that is now accessible, junior Gabrielle Pieklo said this space is great for more than just students.
“This will have veterans, business people, innovators, engineers. All these different people coming together in this new space will be great opportunities for everyone involved,” Pieklo said. “It’s great that they’re making a space specifically for these groups of people and these majors — and especially the veterans, because I know that Winchester is a big area for veterans — and for us to have a space for those who are students or alumni or even not students.”
The building was also used to celebrate a monumental achievement for the school as it established its centers of excellence program with the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of the treasury’s nationwide 50 States Initiative, which Abraham said was a big honor to be a part of.
“Having that opportunity, you know, to be the first academic partner, I think is really special, and really helps us to provide opportunities for our students, but also for the local community as well,” Abraham said.
Abraham said he thanks all the donors who helped make this new building possible and looks forward to the future the HIVE has in store. The university still plans to have an official ceremony for the HIVE with its donors in October.
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