How does it feel to float down the Clinch River? Can pumpkins and Christmas trees punch up the economies of two counties in Southwest Virginia? 

Learn that and more in Episode Four of  Save Our Towns, Virginia Tech's monthly Internet video series.

Episode Four also features Jeff Mann of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences describing his reaction when comments were made that mocked the dress and Appalachian accents of Virginia Tech students from the region. 

"I wanted those students to feel supported, and so I made it very clear that I thought that that was very bad behavior," he says. "These students ought to be proud of where they're from and not have to take such treatment." 

Save Our Towns is Virginia Tech's monthly Internet video series that is distributed to mayors and town managers in 80 Virginia towns and independent cities in 25 counties. Episode Four is posted at Save Our Towns or can be viewed in this YouTube video:

 

Save Our Towns is designed to help community leaders:

In Episode Five, due to be released in December, viewers will learn about entrepreneurs in the town of Marion, Virginia, who are treated to a boot-camp type back-to-basics training program.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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