Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Every other week, we’ll highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
Homecoming games
A Roanoke native and a Highlander who has been out of the area for a while is circling back home to offer his gridiron expertise to students.
On Feb. 14, Hidden Valley High School announced that Anthony “Bud” Tolliver ’15 had signed on as the new head football coach for the Titan’s 2025 season.
The move was reported by WSET, WDBJ, WSLS and several other local news outlets, who noted that Tolliver began his coaching career in 2015, first as an assistant at schools in Virginia and South Carolina. For the past two seasons, he’s been the head football coach at Savannah High School in Georgia.
Early on, Tolliver played football and basketball at Salem High School. He transferred to Radford as a sophomore and completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in education and mathematics while also serving in the Virginia Army National Guard.
Hidden Valley’s Scott Weaver stepped down from coaching duties in December of 2024 but will remain as athletic director, according to reports.
A gifted education
This year marks a quarter of a century that Shanda Warren ’01, M.S. ’04 has been active within the Carroll County Public Schools system.
Starting in 2000, she has served that region as a teacher, a reading coach, an interim principal and an assistant principal.
Most recently, since 2010, she's been the system's gifted aid specialist. For that work, Warren recently received the First Lego League's (FLL) Susan and Bill Duggins Volunteer Award, which is bestowed upon individuals who give extraordinary contributions of time and skill to their communities.
A Feb. 6 story in the Carroll News looks at Warren's extensive career and her efforts, her recognition by FLL and her upcoming retirement.
In the story, Warren joked that she's "a late bloomer" and recalls attending Radford University with her eldest daughter.
"We both became teachers. We went to college together; we drove in the same car," she told the newspaper.
“Being a gifted specialist has been a big joy in my life. Everything I did as a classroom teacher ... as a reading specialist ... as an interim principal, someone who works with administration closely – set me up as a gifted specialist,” Warren said.
You can read the full story on the Carroll News website.
Legacy of service
A bill introduced during the ongoing Virginia General Assembly session recognizes and honors the life of Kris Kehoe Southwick ‘98, a veteran and federal agent who earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Radford University.
Virginia House Resolution 681 was introduced Feb. 12 by Del. Delores Oates and passed the following day. Southwick died in December 2023.
Among his many other accomplishments, the bill notes that Southwick joined the United States Marine Corps in 2001 as an infantry officer, completing tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq and rising to the rank of captain.
He left the service in 2004 but served his country for two decades as a federal agent with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A father of three children, Southwick coached several youth sports in Fauquier County, including Little League baseball, and completed numerous marathons and triathlons, including the IRONMAN Maryland and the JFK 50 Mile race.
The “House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss Kris Kehoe Southwick, whose positivity, integrity, and legacy of service inspired all who knew him,” the resolution concludes.
Read the full bill here.