by Kate Evans
More than 140 Morgan County elementary, middle and high school students were recognized at the December 3 Morgan County School Board meeting for their academic and sports achievements during the previous year.
Some 99 students honored had received the highest level of achievement in at least two of three categories — math, English language arts and science — on the West Virginia General Summative Assessment were recognized at the meeting. Of those, 72 were Warm Springs Intermediate School students. Just 13 elementary and middle school students reached the highest level of performance in all three categories.
Also honored were 11 elementary and middle school students who were recognized for being the most improved from the 2022-2023 school year to the 2023-2024 school year.
Berkeley Springs High awards
Some 19 Berkeley Springs High School students were recognized for attaining the highest level of achievement on the SAT School Day exam.
Elizabeth Kessel and Lyle Loving were given the Berkeley Springs High School Academic Hall of Fame award for having the highest SAT exam score in English language arts. Kessel won the Academic Hall of Fame award for having the highest SAT exam math score and also the highest combined math and English language arts SAT exam score.
Savannah Burns and Camden Spade received the high school’s PSAT 10 Most Distinguished Award for achieving the highest score in English on the PSAT 10 exam. Spade also received the PSAT 10 Most Distinguished Award for having the highest score in math and also the highest combined math and English score on the exam.
Rylee Sauter received the PSAT 9 Most Distinguished Award for achieving the highest score on the PSAT 9 exam in English language arts.
Austin Gentile received the PSAT 9 Most Distinguished Award for achieving the highest score on the PSAT 9 exam in math and also the highest combined math and English score on the exam.
AP Scholar awards
Berkeley Springs High School students Daniel Clark, Elliot Jurick, Kyle Rankin, Lee Sheppard and Joseph Warren were recognized as AP Scholars –students who received scores of 3 or higher on three or more Advanced Placement (AP) exams.
Berkeley Springs High School students Kevin Anderson, Caelyn Bartley and Elizabeth Kessel were honored as AP Scholars with Distinction. The award is granted to students with an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
Athletics
Warm Springs Middle School Golf Team PVL Champions Rhylee Griffith, Lutrica Henry, Zander Johns, Kara Litten, Cayden Swink and Paige Waugh were honored at the meeting along with their coaches Dale McCumbee and Tim Smailes.
All MAC Cross Country runners Joshua Lucas and Brooke Miller were also recognized.
Paw Paw High School star cross country and basketball athlete Donovan Tanouye received the 2024 Perseverance Award.
Seely Foundation grants
Morgan County Schools Superintendent David Banks recognized the Tom and Virginia Seely Foundation for a number of grants that teachers and principals received from the foundation this year.
Grants included $2,500 for Skye-the Berkeley Springs High School therapy dog (written by Principal Mitch Nida), $1,000 for Berkeley Springs High School learning pods furniture for ninth graders (teacher Amy Glascock, $2,062 for the Pleasant View Elementary Battle of the Books (teacher Chelsea Delph), $5,000 for Warm Springs Middle School media center upgrade (Principal Jamie Harris) and $5,000 for a Pleasant View Elementary math coach. (Principal Christie Butts)
Other Seely Foundation funded grants Banks mentioned included $5,000 for books for the Widmyer Elementary media center (written by teacher Serenity Wise), $3,400 for Impressionism and the Youth Art Show, (intermediate school teacher Anna Ruggiero), $1,000 for Warm Springs Intermediate science lab kits (teacher Kelle Stotler), $1,000 for Paw Paw Schools Lego Club (teacher Alex Arthur),and $900 for intermediate school third grade Japanese poetry. (teacher Shanahan Elmore)
Grants awarded to Morgan County Schools totaled more than $29,000-the largest amount ever received, Banks said. He expressed his deep appreciation for the funding and all that the Seely Foundation does to support Morgan County Schools and for staff that spent time writing the grants.
Finance
The school board approved pay application 9-A for $967.50 for the Morgan County Schools School Building Authority heating, ventilation and air conditioning (VAC) project at Berkeley Springs High School as approved by Williamson Shriver Architect, Inc.
The board also approved pay application 8-B for $10,043 for the School Building Authority VAC project at Widmyer Elementary as approved by Williamson Shriver Architect, Inc.
School board president Aaron Close is still trying to set a date for their meeting with area legislators. Only Delegate George Miller and Daryl Cowley, Legislative and Regional Representative for the Governor’s Office, had responded to their invitation as of December 3.
School board vice-president Laura Smith suggested that school board members have a half-hour discussion first about what issues and priorities they want to raise with the legislators. Close said they could add that discussion to the December 17 meeting.
Superintendent Banks said they held the first personnel planning meetings at a couple of schools. Assistant Superintendent Jeromy Duelley had met with Berkeley County and Jefferson County Schools to talk with them about aligning the calendars so all three schools have similar schedules for the 2025-2026 school year.
