Check out the Virginia Tech Academic Calendar for other important dates. 

Spring Break Activities

Spring break is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with your CALS Hokie. Encourage your Hokie to enjoy some fun and relaxing activities during their time at home! Whether it's going on a hike, visiting a local museum, having a family movie night, or even trying out a new recipe together, these moments will help you all unwind and recharge before they return to campus.

•  Plan a family hike
• Try a new activity together like pickleball, axe-throwing, or ultimate frisbee.  
•   Buy and play a new board game
•  Start a family garden
•   Watch a new movie or show
• Paint a set of family mugs
• Attend a local choral concert, theater or ballet performance
• Try out an Escape Room
• Volunteer for a local organization or school

CALS Career & Graduate Programs Fair RECAP

We are thrilled to share the success of our recent Spring Career Fair! A total of 319 students attended, engaging with 44 employers and graduate programs to explore career and educational opportunities. This event provided students with valuable networking experiences, insights into various industries and graduate programs, and information about potential career paths.

Thank you for your support in encouraging student participation—we look forward to continuing to provide these enriching experiences for our CALS students!

A Special Note from....

Students will be requesting their courses for the Fall 2025 semester through our Course Request system between March 25 – April 18.  Students will work with their advisor to prepare which courses they will need to request. Course Request is not a real-time system so students can put their request in anytime between March 25 – April 18.  Once they receive their list of courses requested prior to April 25, they can then move on to dropping or adding courses as needed when Drop/Add opens on April 25.

When students prepared for Course Request (continuing students) or Course Registration (first-time students) in the previous semester they used our Hokie Scheduler tool.  Since then, Virginia Tech has retired Hokie Scheduler to make way for a more enhanced and simplified system.  For the interim, students will need to use the Timetable of Classes to prepare the list of courses they plan to request by compiling the specific Course Registration Numbers (CRN) needed to enter for Course Request.  This is the 5-digit Maroon number on the Timetable of Classes.

Make sure your student checks to see if they have any Holds on their account.  Students can view any Holds through HokieSPA.  Steps on how to check for any Holds can be found at Viewing registration holds | Student Academic Advising | Virginia Tech.  Students cannot course request or register for courses with a hold on their account. Prior to each registration phase, review your holds and resolve them as needed. Common holds include: accounts receivable, immunization, and parking tickets; some exceptions apply such as honors system and BTP (budget tuition plan) holds. Students will need to contact the office responsible for the hold to have it resolved.

Students will take the following steps to Course Request:

1. Go to Hokiespa.vt.edu
2. Click on the HokieSPA tab
3. Then click on the Course Registration and Schedule Menu
4. Choose Course Request
5. Enter the Course Registration Numbers (CRN) found on the Timetable of Classes
6. Submit Request

Students can follow steps on Drop/Add at How to get to class add/drop screen in HokieSPA | Student Academic Advising | Virginia Tech if they need to make any changes to the Course Request results they receive. 

The university has developed some Registration & Advising Resources when using Drop/Add, which includes:

✔️ Tutorial videos (and written instructions) on how to use the registration menu in HokieSPA
✔️ Helpful tools and resources to assist with course planning

The HokieSPA Registration (add/drop) menu will be used for both Summer and Fall 2025 registration. Please review Dates and Deadlines for each term’s registration period. 

We encourage you to explore these resources in advance to ensure a smooth registration experience.

If you have any questions, please contact your academic advisor. Don’t know who your Advisor is? Find Your Advisor here.

Course Spotlight

Discover the Power of Food in Society

The Food, Agriculture, & Society minor takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how food and agriculture shapes our world. Blending insights from the social sciences, humanities, and life sciences, this program explores the deep connections between food, agriculture, and human experience.

Students will investigate how food/food systems influence culture, politics, economics, education, and science—revealing its impact on both individual, and societal levels. With hands-on learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom, this minor fosters critical thinking, civic engagement, and sustainable solutions for real-world challenges.

If you're passionate about the food system, sustainability, and its role in society, this minor offers a dynamic and enriching academic journey!

Hear what the students have to say: 

• "I absolutely loved this class. I have always been very interested in food culture and recipes and tradition. I love to cook and bake and it is a big part of our family. We all love to share recipes and cook together. I was interested in this class because I’ve never delved too much into the history of food and so I was curious when reading the description. I found all of our readings and lectures to be very intriguing and relatable in ways. It made me think about different foods in a different light. It made me consider my own lifestyle choices and how that impacts my health and the environment." (regarding HIST 1084)
• "This was my favorite class I've taken during the 7 semesters I've been at Virginia Tech for. At first I was nervous about getting the service hours done and about the amount of participation and discussion I had to be a part of, but after awhile I realized that I wasn't being judged and I enjoyed each conversation I had in class. I love that I think about food systems now and I'm glad that I was able to learn about it and its components. I've always loved serving others, but now I want to make sure helping and connecting with the community is part of my future career. Somehow this class has allowed me to dream big. I think part of this is because the stories of all the community partners and the field trips. The field trips were all wonderful and I wish I could relive those days again. I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about civic agriculture and to make connections with great people and fellow students who I can envision doing great things in the future. I'm not sure what else to say to express my gratitude. More people need to take this class!" (regarding class ALS 2204)
• "The teaching team really challenged us to think critically of our food system by encouraging us to share in class and reflect weekly on different concepts in the food system. It was very valuable for me to be able to learn through the food community in Blacksburg and surrounding areas. I always left class with a feeling of inspiration and motivation to make change within my community." (regarding class ALS 2204)
• "The small size of the class makes it easy to have meaningful conversations with one another and not feel so nervous to speak up and make a point. The discussions have been fascinating!" (regarding HIST 1084)
• "I loved, loved, loved this class! It was great to have a mutual respect in the classroom, and the accommodations were amazing." (regarding ALS 2204)

Upcoming CALS Events

March 17-27 | CALS Celebrates National Agriculture Week: A week- long event with various activities to celebrate the importance of agriculture in Virginia and nationwide. 

Thursday, May 15 | CALS Outstanding Seniors Award Ceremony: Celebrating CALS seniors who received a departmental or college award for their outstanding leadership, academic achievements, philanthropic activities, or community-focused programs. 

Thursday, May 15 | CALS Spring Commencement: Celebrating our CALS graduating seniors. Ceremony will be at 7:30pm in Lane Stadium.