VTCA Attends The 2021 VAST Virtual Conference

As has become an annual tradition, VTCA Aggregate Producers once again have participated in the Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST) Conference. This year, VTCA Aggregate Producers hosted a virtual exhibit booth at the Conference. The Conference was initially planned as an in-person event, but because of COVID concerns again this year the conference was changed to a virtual event.

The in-person conference was slated to be held in Harrisonburg, VA, and VTCA members Frazier Quarry and Rockingham Precast were poised to host tours of their facilities to Conference goers. Sadly, because the Conference was changed to virtual, the tours were not held. We are hopeful that the tours can resume next year. 

VTCA made lemonade out of lemons and facilitated a virtual exhibit booth. In our booth we once again provided the What Can You Do With a Rock video and geology and aggregates literature teachers can utilize in their classrooms. 

In an exciting addition for VTCA and VAST, VTCA raffled off a glass mineral display case to one lucky school. Conference attendees entered their name into the raffle and following the conference conclusion a name was selected. The winning school is Prospect Heights Middle School in Orange County, VA. The display case will be filled with aggregates from regional VTCA Aggregate Producer members, and the Virginia Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy (FMVA) will add other rocks and minerals and will assist in curating the display case.  

The case will be delivered and filled in early January 2022. Prospect Heights Middle School staff are ecstatic! Kristen Boudreau, a teacher at Prospect Heights Middle School that submitted the winning entry wrote, “Thank you so much! I am very excited for this!”

VTCA, FMVA and Prospect Heights Middle School are planning a reception to dedicate the display case.