At this year’s virtual Spring Superintendent’s Business Breakfast, held on April 20, Superintendent Dr. Steve Walts presented his last "State of the Schools" keynote highlighting recent Prince William County Public School's (PWCS) and reflected on his 16 years with PWCS.

School Board Chairman At-Large Babur B. Lateef, M.D., also spoke at the event, thanking those in attendance who represented community and business partners for their continued contributions to education in PWCS.

SPARK, the School Division's education foundation, relies on the generous support of both monetary and in-kind donations of corporate and community partners to fund programs and initiatives. In the 2019-20 school year, more than $101,000 was awarded to teachers and schools through SPARK's Innovative Grants Program that enables great ideas to become realities, and over $60,000 in Scholarship funds were awarded to students.

The 2020 Business Partners of the Year were honored for their continued contributions to and support of opportunities for students.

AWS InCommunities and River Oaks Elementary School were awarded for their collaboration and creation of the Think Big Space; Food Lion Store #1249 and Forest Park High School Family and Consumer Science department were awarded for their Workforce Ready program; and I-66 Express Mobility Partners and the Office of Student Learning, Science and Family Life Education were awarded for their partnership supporting the 2020 Prince William - Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

Novant/UVA Health Systems was also recognized as the 2021 Sharon Henry Community Partner of the Year for its coordination of COVID-19 vaccination locations serving the Greater Prince William community.

A video presentation (link) was played during the virtual event to honor the partnership award recipients.

This event was sponsored by AlphaBest Education, Apple Federal Credit Union, Bookworm Central, Dominion Energy, Lockheed Martin, Micron, Moseley Architects, Northern Virginal Community College, NOVANT/UVA Health Systems, and Sentara Health Care.

Mason Simms, senior at Colgan High School, acted as the emcee for the event.