Harrisonburg’s Loft at Liberty Street, near Magpie Diner, was filled with conversation and decorated with Lego flowers Wednesday night as Shenandoah Valley residents came together to celebrate their achievements.
Entrepreneurs, educators and innovators from across the valley technology sector gathered at the Loft for a night of networking and camaraderie at the Shenandoah Valley Technology Council’s 2024 TechNite event. This was the first TechNite since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Leigh Evans, executive director of SVTC and organizer for the event.
Attendees came to represent areas like Weyers Cave, Staunton, and Harrisonburg, on behalf of organizations like James Madison University, Dynamic Aviation, GloFiber, and local governments.
Attendees received name badges provided by the organizers as people began filing into the space around 6 p.m. After an hour passed, allowing people to arrive and network with their peers, Evans took the stage to begin a ceremony to honor trailblazers in the local tech community.
“This is what we get when we choose to be a community,” Evans said to the crowd, made up of dozens of people. “And what I heard from all of you — 111 of you in one-on-ones [conversations], and a lot of you in group settings — what I heard from almost everyone was, ‘TechNite is important, and, let’s do it a little differently.’ We are kind of starting from scratch.
“It’s really inspiring and really incredible to be a part of something like this. SVTC has been a part of the community for 27 years, and it’s time to make that known outside of this room,” he said.
Evans also said that it was time for the tech community to make itself known beyond simply people affiliated with it and find who else could benefit from what it could offer.
Three awards were given to influential individuals in the community. The awards recognized leadership and innovation in community impact and education. Bartek Drewnowski, president and CEO of Dagesch America Incorporated, received the Innovation in Community Impact award.
Lorena Rodriguez, an information technology system analyst at InterChange Group, Inc. received the Dr. John Noftsinger Leadership Award. Rodriguez said it was her mission to make the tech sector a safe place for single mothers with children to work in.
Andrei Dacko, founder of Juice Works 3D, received the Innovation in Education award. Dacko said he had no idea he was nominated, let alone that he would receive the award.
“I am utterly shocked,” Dacko said. “I did not expect to win this award. But, I’m also extremely grateful, so it’s this juxtaposition, right? Between shock and extremely grateful. This was a vision that started in 2011, with a group of students that I took to MIT when I was still teaching. I said, ‘One day, I’m going to have my space where we can scale this effect of teaching students, kids, how to invent and commercialize their ideas.’ The next step is to continue partnering with stakeholders in the community, industry, academia, small business, to help us accomplish our mission.”
