BUCKHANNON – Upshur County Board of Education members welcomed a new student voice to their panel during the April 13 Upshur County BOE meeting.

Buckhannon-Upshur High School Senior Maggie Nolte will serve on the Upshur County BOE as a Student Board Representative and help members understand the concerns and needs of students in the county. Upshur County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sara Lewis Stankus introduced Maggie at the Tuesday, April 13 meeting and said she would be attending the BOE meetings through the end of the school year.

Maggie told BOE members that students were working to keep activities going at school.

“Our next event is a virtual Student Leadership Day where we will work on our leadership skills with other Student Council members across the state,” Maggie said.

Maggie is the daughter of Sam and Kathy Nolte of Buckhannon.

“I am involved in Student Council and competed on the Buckhannon-Upshur High School Girls Soccer team,” she said. “I used to be involved in Youth in Government, which I highly recommend to other students.”

Maggie said she is excited to be the student voice for the Upshur County BOE.

“I am excited to be able to express how students feel about school and let the Board know what we can fix and what is working,” she said. “With COVID, a lot of students are not motivated because they went through a long period of not doing too much. Bringing fun, school-related activities will get students excited, and it will be more fun to learn. I like being involved and making things better for others.”

Maggie said following graduation she plans to attend West Virginia Wesleyan College and wants to major in business.

Next, Upshur County Schools Virtual Learning Coordinator Jennifer Drake recognized some outstanding students in the Upshur County School System who were named as Upshur Stars. Drake said the students being recognized were virtual learners who worked extremely hard to exceed expectations throughout the program.

“Virtual learning is a rigorous program, and we felt they deserved to be recognized for their efforts,” Drake said. “Liam Rogosky has finished out the program for the year as of yesterday.”

Those recognized who received Upshur Stars included Aubree Bozic, Mia Bozic, Zef Bednarski, Sophia Jack, Kayla Oldaker, Gwen Rogosky, Liam Rogosky, Aubry Shay, Gareth Shay and Samantha Shay.

“It is not an easy task,” Drake said. “You know how proud we are of you all.”

Stankus said schoolwork is hard enough when students are in the school buildings.

“But when you are doing school at home, it is even harder,” Stankus said. “Thank you, so much for working so hard. We are really, really proud of each of you as remote learners and as students of Upshur County Schools.”

Finally, Rock Cave Elementary Principal Amanda Craig introduced Rock Cave Elementary School Kindergarten Aide Christina Anderson.

“Being in a small school has great advantages,” Craig said. “This year, we had an exceptional challenge to name just one person as Teacher of the Year and Service Personnel of the Year. Service personnel play an important part in our school and we wanted to give credit where credit was due.”

Craig said the selection was hard and they had to have a vote off to pick just one winner – Christina Anderson, who serves as the kindergarten aide. Craig shared comments from Rock Cave Elementary School staff members about Anderson.

“Chrissy has covered the kindergarten while Mrs. (Samantha) Gainer was out on maternity leave,” Craig read. “She has done an incredible amount of work preparing packets for full-time remote students and exercised great patience with struggling students.”

Another Rock Cave Elementary School staff member said they do not even know where to start when talking about how valuable Anderson is to the school.

“She has been an absolute Godsend to our school the way she steps in and volunteers to do anything is amazing,” Craig read. “She is selfless with her time and energy. Not only has she assisted Gainer with numerous things and completed her daily tasks, but she has gone over and above to help during the maternity leave. She stepped up and did a job and tasks she did not have to do. She even volunteered to use her time to help other classroom teachers in duties outside of her own. She is more than deserving of this award.”

Another Rock Cave Elementary School staff member said Anderson is always kind.

“She always goes out of her way to help others without any complaints,” Craig read. “She is a valued member of our team. We are thankful she is a part of our school. She is always willing to help and treats all students fairly.”

Craig said Rock Cave Elementary School is very happy to have Anderson on their team.

During each Upshur County BOE meeting, exceptional students, volunteers, teachers and staff members are recognized and join the ranks of ‘Upshur Stars’ for helping make Upshur County Schools great.