Nature’s Mountain Classroom Wins School-Business Partnership Award
The Pocahontas County Schools’ Nature Mountain Classroom Program was selected as a Regional School-Business Partnership Award winner.
The Nature’s Mountain Classroom Program, whose mission is:” To foster a love of Pocahontas County, West Virginia through outdoor recreation and experiential learning opportunities. Promoting the health of the whole child through physical activity, mental health promotion and nutrition education,” introduces students to various outdoor activities, including skiing and hiking, as an alternative way to enhance education. Tracy Valach, the founder of the program, works with organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, the WVU Extension Service, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the county libraries, and others to make outdoor learning fun and productive for students.
On Thursday, April 24th, Robert Crawford, the Program Director of the WV Education Alliance, which is a nonprofit organization that advocates for a quality education for all West Virginia children, came to a Nature’s Mountain Classroom program at the Yew Mountain Center to announce that Nature’s Mountain Classroom was one of 8 regional winners of their Hope for the Future: WV School-Business Partnership of the Year Award.
Regarding how the programs were evaluated, Crawford said:
“It was a kind of 2-layer event, so first the regional’s than that state winner will be announced officially at the May 15th event in Charleston,” said Crawford. “So, it was a lot of great entries. We had 73 entries. There were double digits in each of the regions for that. It was stiff competition- it was a very difficult decision. There was a regional set of judges. How we did that was one region rated entries from another region.”
The county schools received a $2,000 award for this regional win, which School Superintendent Lynne Bostic said will be used to support the Nature’s Mountain Classroom Program. Crawford added that those 8 regional winning programs will be evaluated and 1 overall state winner will be announced at The Education Summit on May 15, 2025, in Charleston and will receive an award package valued at $25,000.
Crawford explained that this award came about as a result of businesses in the state desiring to assist in the education of students, and they wanted to reward programs in which businesses work in cooperation with the schools to provide innovative educational opportunities for students. He said the Education Alliance teamed up with Hope Gas to finance the award prizes.
The students, who were all wearing red T-shirts that said “Adventure Pocahontas-Nature’s Mountain Classroom” on the front and “Not all classrooms have 4 walls” on the back of the shirt, all gathered around a banner that proclaimed “Congratulations: School-Business Partnership of the Year, Pocahontas County Schools & Nature’s Mountain Classroom” as Crawford proclaimed the award and presented the $2,000 check to Bostic.
The students enjoyed a beautiful day learning about edible local plants and hiking the many trails at the Yew Mountain Center as well as being served a great lunch.
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