News & Events

2026

CCEF board members Susan Brandt and Viki Mattox with students Tristan Wall, Peyton Stanbery, Henry Pratt and Josiah Martin, William Cartwright, Brookneal Combined School principal, and CCEF board member Linda Grubba.

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2026

Campbell County Educational Foundation received a $5,000 grant from the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council to support a Future Center at William Campbell Combined School. 

The center helps students discover their passions and dreams while creating and carrying out a plan to achieve those dreams. CCEF funding will cover furnishings and supplies for the center space, along with college and work visits, application fees, and workshops that offer help with college applications, SAT prep and resume writing.

“This generous gift will truly impact the students at William Campbell Combined School providing critical resources for these students to achieve their goals,” said CCEF Board President Rose Epperson.

An awards ceremony was held March 25 at CVCC. 

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2025

In response to industry demand, Central Virginia Community College’s dual enrollment program now includes mechatronics.

This engineering field combines mechanics, electronics, robotics and computers to design, create and maintain systems.

CVCC was awarded revitalization grants to purchase eight robotics that students manually operate and program. The programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, are industrial computers used to automate and control mechanical and electrical processes. In class knowledge is balanced with practical, hands-on training in areas such as assembly, testing and trouble-shooting. Students earn four industry certifications.

First- and second-level mechatronic workers, trained for installation, repair, and troubleshooting, start out making $18 to $22 per hour. Annual salaries for mechatronics graduates, which adds programming to the skill set, range from $60,000 to $85,000.

Some industry demand stems from lessons learned during Covid, when the United States set a goal to pivot and rebuild its own manufacturing capabilities when overseas options were limited, said Jason Clark, CVCC’s work-based learning coordinator.

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2025

Jason Clark, CTE Academy and Registered Apprenticeship Coordinator, gives a tour to CCEF donors and friends about the thriving dual-enrollment program offered high school students through CVCC.

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Fall 2025

 Campbell County Educational Foundation board members with Campbell County School Board members and school administrators: Susan Brandt, Amy Hale, Linda Grubba, Kristen Vaughan, Karen Tanner, Scott Miller, Barry Jones, student Iris Ashwell, David Phillips, Viki Mattox, Clay Stanley, Ann Parker, Rose Epperson, Gary Mattox, and Dean Farmer. To date, the foundation has donated more than $300,000 to Campbell County Schools.

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