BUCKHANNON – Members of the Upshur County Board of Education and Administration face and solve many challenges each day.

So, during last week’s regular BOE session at Rock Cave Elementary School, several of those Upshur Stars were recognized and thanked for their outstanding performance.

“Tonight, we are celebrating some great art students and great teachers who are behind them,” Stankus said before recognizing Sherri Butler, art teacher at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School.

Prudence Newcome was recognized for her artwork.

“Prudence is currently an eighth-grade student at B-UMS but while in art class as a sixth-grader, her artistic talent became quickly evident under Mrs. Sherri Butler’s art leadership. Students selected a specific bird as subject matter for a print,” Stankus said. “Prudence created a printing plate on foam from her original drawing. Using different colors of ink and papers, she created several prints. Prudence’s print is an outstanding example of capturing the essence of her selected nuthatch. This print has been on display and enjoyed at the Upshur County Board of Education and we are pleased to present her with an Upshur Star.”

Butler said every now and then a student comes along that you are delighted to see all three years.

“I found out recently I get to have her again for eighth grade,” Butler said. “Prudence really shines in art. As soon as I met her, I could see her talent come out and she has done some many wonderful things. I save a lot of artwork for shows and I seem to save a lot of her stuff. Prudence, I look forward to working with you again this year.”

Next, BOE member Dr. Greenbrier Almond read a proclamation by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.

Stankus said the proclamation was for West Virginia School Service Personnel Week.

“We like to say, here in Upshur County, we celebrate and appreciate our service personnel,” Stankus said. “We are celebrating this during the week.”

The next to be tapped for recognition was two B-UMS teachers who completed training to be Apple-certified Teachers.

“These teachers have dedicated their personal time to earn a certification that further impacts the teaching and learning environment,” Stankus said.

Teachers receiving their Apple certification included Brian Allman and Marisa Meadows. Allman said he had never touched a MacBook before but was really motivated to learn to use it.

“It was a process to learn how to use the stuff,” Allman said. “It was good because I feel I am more prepared to use it in my classroom. Again, thank you for the opportunity. It has been an adjustment, like everything else this year, but we are making it work. That’s what we do.”

Finally, Stankus introduced a group of teachers from Rock Cave Elementary School who completed training in Schoology.

“They went above and beyond,” Stankus said. “We gave our teachers a task to be trained in our new platform.”

Schoology is new to Upshur County and is a learning management system that has been adopted to further support the teachers, students and families. According to its website, Schoology is a social networking service and virtual learning environment for K-12 school and higher education institutions that allows users to create, manage, and share academic content. As such, it will offer a commonality of communication as well as instruction for virtual and remote learner.

Those from Rock Cave Elementary completing the training include Amanda Craig, Amber Posey, Hannah Lively, Jill Stemple, Samantha Gainer and Nicky Smith. Completers not present at Tuesday’s BOE meeting included Pamela Hissam and Shanah Carpenter.