BUCKHANNON – Upshur County Board of Education members confirmed the hiring of Buckhannon resident Megan Elizabeth O’Neill as administrative sssistant to the superintendent during their regular meeting held on Dec. 8, 2020.
Soon after, O’Neill said she is excited for this new opportunity after being an at-home mom for the last 17 years – and credits her family for pitching in, which has allowed her the opportunity to get back out into the workforce.
“My youngest is in fourth grade and my husband and I felt we were in the position where I would be able to go to work outside of the home full time,” O’Neill shared. “We have five children who are in the Upshur County school system – and a foreign exchange student which actually makes six. We are deeply invested in their education, and we wanted to help make this a strong, positive system for all students in Upshur County.”
O’Neill said she is passionate about education and said she feels being a part of the education system is the best way to contribute. She said while raising her family and being the mother of five children, she has learned to be very organized.
“My children are very active, and I have had to keep up with all of their appointments, sports and music groups,” O’Neill said. “They are involved in various community events and over the years, I have to make sure to keep up with where everyone had to be and when. I am very detail-oriented person and that will help me in this position.”
O’Neill graduated from West Virginia University in 2013 with a Regents Bachelor of Arts Degree with an emphasis on American history. O’Neill said she did work as the development director at St. Patrick School in Weston in 2017 and 2018. Currently, she is the PTO President at Tennerton Elementary School.
O’Neill said she is very glad to be working as the Upshur County Schools Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent and is thankful for her family pulling together and taking on additional responsibilities to make sure she has this opportunity to give back.
“I am so excited for this opportunity,” O’Neill said. “My family has been so supportive of me in this huge change and transition from everything they have known.”
“Working full time now has been a very different setting and change for us,” she said. “My seniors have pitched in and are taking my younger children where they need to be and that has been such a help. I have one son who is planning to go into culinary school. This has been a great opportunity for him. He is helping get dinner ready and prepping things before I get home and is helping to get a home-cooked dinner on the table every night. It has been such a great help for me.”
