Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin Visit AccessVR Lab at GCubed, Sept. 26
AccessVR, GCubed, and VIPC praised for establishing the nation’s first immersive training lab in Virginia
Source: Official photo by Christian Martinez, Office of the Governor
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin donned a virtual reality headset at the AccessVR Lab at GCubed to experience a collaborative project initiated by AccessVR and GCubed Enterprises, Inc. (GCubed), in association with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), as part of a larger initiative celebrating the work the nonprofit entity G3 Community Services and other community partners on Monday, Sept. 26, in Stafford, Virginia. The governor praised AccessVR for its forward-thinking contributions to workforce development in training interns and reskilling adults for jobs in the emerging immersive economy.
Governor Glenn Youngkin acknowledges AccessVR for its role in helping Virginia to become a global leader in specialized workforce development, empowering virtual citizens for the new immersive economy. (Excerpted: Full video can be viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/governorva/videos/1606252229790106)
“AccessVR, which is this amazing partnership with GCubed Community Services, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) and Germanna [Community College], established the nation’s first immersive learning lab for specialized workforce development, right here in Virginia. That is, in fact, stepping outside of what is normally done into something that changes lives.”
— Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin
AccessVR’s Lead Lab Tech Caius Ruscella, a senior computer game design student at George Mason University, prepped the governor to experience a virtual recreation of the Barley Naked Brewing Company in Stafford, Virginia, a project initiated by VIPC.
“The Governor was very enthusiastic about getting in the headset and fully experiencing VR,” said Ruscella. “He and his wife had fun with it.”
He said Youngkin played tavern games of corn hole and darts and took a 360-degree tour of the physical space, all designed by lab interns who are recently graduated or soon-to-graduated college students from Virginia. Ruscella, who was a full-time lab intern this summer for AccessVR, now serves as a junior developer at the lab, managing VR projects and interns, hosting visitors, and training interns in Unity development.
“I got a high-five from the governor! I’ve been doing VR development for several years now, and to be congratulated and recognized for the work I’ve been doing in this rising immersive industry was a big thing for me.”
— Caius Ruscella, AccessVR Lead Lab Tech
Join A Growing Network of Labs
AccessVR’s growing network of immersive learning labs provides citizens, schools, colleges, and businesses with access to shared knowledge, resources, training, and partnering opportunities, developing the talent and innovations that will fuel the immersive economy of tomorrow. The AccessVR Lab at GCubed, which opened on March 28, 2022, is the first lab established within this growing network.
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