Information technology (IT) students in the Virginia Western Community College (VWCC) STEM program will have the opportunity to offer ideas for solving broadband and wireless communications problems in specific areas of Botetourt County as part of the upcoming BoCo Broadband Summit this fall.
The Botetourt Broadband Commission is holding the summit September 25 and 26 at Greenfield Education and Training Center. Subtitled The Rural Broadband Technology Solutions Summit, the Tuesday and Wednesday event is planned to attract all kinds of Internet and communications carriers and vendors. There will be seminars related to broadband, a chance for companies to discus partnering, and discussions about providing affordable solutions to the growing call for high-speed Internet service in rural areas— and in particular Botetourt.
During an update Friday morning in Fincastle, the Broadband Commission learned that a planned educational component for the summit has come together with the help of Amy White, Dean of STEM at VWCC. In conjunction with Bank of Botetourt, the summit will hold a Rural Broadband Concept Solutions Exhibition for the IT students. The will be a poster presentationstyle competition that will allow the VWCC students to team up to compete by presenting solutions to already existing broadband problems in Botetourt. Students are assigned “blocks” representing realworld geographic areas that are not served by broadband Internet in the county. “Their task is to assess, investigate and plan each factor and step for broadband deployment for their block. This is to include all build-out and use aspects including procurement, construction, deployment, implementation and adoption. A week prior to the BoCo Summit, students will be judged according to a rubic by a panel that includes Frank Smith of Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority, Darrell Hix of VMWare and Dave Smith of Lumos. The Eddy Communication s Telecommunications Survey for Botetourt results will be shared with the students. “Their minds are creative and uninhibited by regulatory and financial limitations,” Broadband Commission member Michelle Crook said. “We are excited to see what high level solutions they propose.” Crook said about eight teams are expected to participate. All the poster presentations will be on exhibit at the BoCo Summit, and the winning team will present at the summit and receive a scholarship from Bank of Botetourt. Bank of Botetourt is awarding a $500 scholarship to the winning team, divided among the team members, for educational expenses.
“Bank of Botetourt is excited to sponsor the Educational Community Component of the BoCo Summit,” Crook said. She is also Bank of Botetourt’s CFO. “We want to award talented area students and encourage them to help be part of the solution for the telecommunication challenges in Botetourt County.” Other plans for the summit are also coming together. Broadband Commission member Arleen Boyd provided the rest of the commission with an update on summit plans that include “Ted Talk” style speaker sessions, moderated panel groups, facilitated roundtable discussions, challenges and other components. There will be a tabletop exposition from sponsors who will be sharing their technology, services and innovations as well. The keynote speaker will be James “Jim” Baller of Baller Stokes & Lide PC who is the founder of the US Broadband Coalition. Boyd said he’s also known as “A Community Broadband Visionary.” Another special guest will be Walid Saad, Ph.D, from the Virginia Tech NetSciWiP Lab. Other speakers include representatives from the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation, Center for Innovative Technology, US Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, Southern Virginia Higher Education Center, Halifax County Agriculture Marketing & Development Director, Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association and Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority. Provider representatives expected include those from Lumos, Shentel, Cox, Craig- Botetourt Electric Co-op, MBC and others.
Those who will be at the summit include representatives of the companies that build the networks, representatives of the organizations that build the networks, representatives of stakeholders and representatives of those who have been through the process, and those who want to learn from the summit and the county’s Broadband Commission process. For more information and to register for the summit, visit www. BoCoSummit.com. The Broadband Commission will also be providing information on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, which may provide a livestream of the event.
