Shenandoah’s HIVE is buzzing with activity!
The Hub for Innovators, Veterans and Entrepreneurs (HIVE) is transforming a historic Armory Building on Shenandoah University’s main campus into a future-focused and boundary-breaking technology hub, innovation accelerator, and magnet location for tech business startup, expansion, and relocation.
The HIVE is designed to be a catalyst for economic development in the Northern Shenandoah Valley and to provide well-trained bachelors and masters graduates to serve as a ready workforce. The HIVE also has a special commitment to making the Northern Shenandoah Valley the emerging technology (e.g., augmented reality and virtual reality) hub of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Scenes from the HIVE Groundbreaking Ceremony
Construction on HIVE
is Underway
Share Your Armory Memories
The Armory Building has hosted soldiers, singing stars, county fair events, dances, and so much more since it opened in 1940. The 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division of the Virginia National Guard left the armory for the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II. It’s a memory-filled site that’s fully integrated into the history of the Winchester region.
The picture, right, appeared in the Winchester Star in March 1958. The caption reads:
CHAMPION LITTLE LEAGUERS
Led by high scoring Jim Wilkins (14 points); Dick LaFoliette (10) and Floyd Leighton (8), these Hawks captured the Little League playoffs last night at the National Guard Armory. Victims of the 32-9 defeat were the Pistons, led by David Kerns and Bobby Pryor. From left to right, the champs and Recreation Department officials are: Les Singhass, assistant director, LaFolletts, Leighton, Wilkins, Harold Bowen, Terry Braithwaite, Wayne Dick, Petey Whitlock, manager, and Jim Barnett, director.”
Visit Our Armory Memories Page
Do you have Armory memories to share?
In the form below, please share your memories about the armory building, and if you have photos, share those, too, with a brief caption.
The HIVE will offer services in partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the City of Winchester, the counties of Frederick and Clarke, and local educational entities like Laurel Ridge Community College and the Emil and Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center (part of the Winchester City Public Schools), as well as other local organizations and private investors.
Interested in contributing to the success of the HIVE?
Veterans, Military and Families Center (VMFC)
This expanded center will provide military-affiliated learners opportunities in high-demand technology fields, and also provide them with comprehensive support and resources in a welcoming atmosphere and address the unique challenges that they face when entering into the university environment and the workforce. Learn more at su.edu/vets
Technology Enhanced Emergency Preparedness Center
Supports law enforcement, medical personnel and EMS from across the country in tactical medicine, cross-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional procedures to help enhance emergency preparedness and to ensure that responses to disaster events will be cohesive and coordinated to minimize loss of life.
SU Center for Entrepreneurial Thinking: A Community Technology Incubator
This will provide programming, mentoring, investor introductions and work space. Services will generally include free legal advice for patents, taxes, bookkeeping, etc., information on how to run a business from successful business people, a connection to a cohort of other business founders for idea generation, and introductions to potential investors.
SU Emergent Media Lab: A Community Makerspace
Free for students and community members, this center will provide a space to explore revolutionary technologies, to create real prototypes with a variety of types of rapid prototyping equipment such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and traditional hand tools, and to creatively explore the visual arts.
SU Center for Immersive Learning (SCiL): An Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Hub
SCiL uses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), simulation, and role playing to immerse learners in real life scenarios; provide training modules to hospitals, security forces, and schools; and support start-up businesses in this new technology frontier.
SU Center for Trust: Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Blockchain
Relatively new undergraduate and quickly growing degree programs, the cybersecurity and data analytics departments will relocate some activities to the HIVE to contribute toward the technology hub and business accelerator.
SU Center for Transformative Learning: Advancing Active Learning
The center will advance SU’s faculty capacity and provide learning opportunities for other K-20 educators in our region. As a part of this endeavor, SU’s online education programming will collaborate with national and international experts to provide best-in-class programs based on leading learning science.
SU Collaboratory: A Community “Sandbox”
As a central component of all HIVE operations, the Collaboratory will empower faculty and student driven innovation and problem-solving capacity to assist in designing futures. It also will provide co-working and problem-solving consulting for the university, startups, the community, and for national partners as needed.
Does any HIVE work without collaboration? This HIVE features a special space, partially encased in glass walls designed to reflect the HIVE’s valley and ridge home, dedicated to inspiring collaboration among entrepreneurs, innovators, learners and veterans. It’s a “collaboratory” open to all who need it.
A Part of History
The Winchester Armory was built in 1940, and members of the Virginia Army National Guard 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment set out from there for World War II’s allied June 6, 1944, D-Day Invasion. The armory remained the headquarters for the 3rd Battalion until 2009, when it moved to the Cherry-Beasley Readiness Center in Frederick County, Virginia. Over the years, the armory not only housed the guard unit but also the site of a host of community events, including dances and performances by musical acts, including Winchester-area native Patsy Cline in the early days of her career. Shenandoah acquired the site as the National Guard prepared for its move, and has been working toward incorporating this important building into the university experience ever since. The adjoining garage is home to the university’s Esports Arena.