Excellence in Educational Achievement Recognized

The Pocahontas County schools held their annual Super Scholars Award Ceremony at PCHS starting at 6 pm on Thursday, May 2nd, 2023.  The PCHS gymnasium floor was filled with 186 student Super Scholars from all five county schools, while the bleachers were filled with proud parents and other family members.

School Superintendent Terrence Beam introduced the event.

“Well good evening, it’s great to see this large turnout tonight,” said Beam. “I think the first year we did Super Scholars was 2010, we were able to do it in the auditorium. We had like 110 kids that got recognized. Tonight, we are going to recognize 186 students that earned our Super Scholar status. It is a tremendous achievement for our kids. You got to remember, our enrollment has dropped a lot too, so we have less kids and we have more super Scholars.”

These students had to work very hard to achieve the status of being a Super Scholar, a designation awarded to achieving students from Grades 3 through 12. Third grade through 8th grade students must have achieved a cumulative average of at least 90% by the end of the third nine weeks in the core subjects of English Language Arts; Mathematics; Science; and Social Studies. High school students -grades 9 through 12- must maintain a 3.75 grade Point Average in all core subjects, and must have at least a “C” average in all their non-core subjects.

2023 PCHS Senior Class Super Scholars

PCHS Principal Joe Riley presented the awards to the high school Super Scholars. He described just how difficult it is to become a high school Super Scholar, saying that in order to maintain a 3.75 grade point average in all of their core subjects, a student must maintain all A’s except for only one B.

Among the graduating class of 2023 -the 12th grade seniors – there were 12 Honor Grads, plus Maxwell Oganian was the Valedictorian, and Haley Spencer was the Salutatorian.

The Golden Horseshoe winners were also announced. They were: Baylee Nelson and Thomas Arbogast, both are from Green Bank Elementary/Middle School. The WV Department of Education has administered the Golden Horseshoe Test every year since 1931, and the top-scoring students in each county are inducted as “knights” of the Golden Horseshoe Society.

The Service Employee of the Year was also announced at the ceremony – Silas Sattler, a Bus Driver at Green Bank Elementary/Middle School.

The Teacher of the Year is Kristie Smith of Marlinton Elementary School.

The schools also honored this year’s county school retirees:

  • Ruth Bland
  • Cora Lee Carpenter
  • Becky Evans
  • Ron Hall
  • Jan Jonese
  • Karen McCoy
  • Julian Rittenhouse
  • And Dondi Stemple

Story By

Tim Walker

Tim is the WVMR News Reporter. Tim is a native of Maryland who started coming to Pocahontas County in the 1970’s as a caver. He bought land on Droop Mountain off Jacox Road in 1976 and built a small house there in the early 80’s. While still working in Maryland, Tim spent much time at his place which is located on the Friars Hole Cave Preserve. Retiring in 2011 as a Lieutenant with the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland, Tim finally took the plunge and moved from Maryland to his real home on Droop Mountain. He began working as the Pocahontas County Reporter for Allegheny Mountain Radio in January of 2015.

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