TENNERTON — Officials from West Virginia Wesleyan College were on hand Tuesday at the Upshur County Board of Education meeting to announce some new upcoming programs that will be available to Upshur County Schools students.
West Virginia Wesleyan College Dean of the Faculty Dr. James H. Moore thanked Upshur County Schools Superintendent Dr. Sara Lewis Stankus and assistant superintendent Dr. Debra Harrison for inviting him and John Waltz, the college’s vice president for enrollment management, to speak with the Upshur County Board of Education about their partnership.
Moore said WVWC is excited to be partnering much closer with Upshur County Schools, and they are unveiling two new partnership programs.
“This summer we will presenting the Wesleyan Arts Academy,” Moore said. “This experience is for rising ninth through 12th-grade high school students – anybody that is involved or interested in visual arts, graphic arts, painting, dance, theater, vocal music, instrumental music or creative writing. We welcome any and all participants who are interested in those things.”
Moore said the Wesleyan Arts Academy will offer a two-week experience from June 19, 2021, to July 2, 2021.
“Information about the Wesleyan Arts Academy is available on the WVWC website which is www.wvwc.edu,” Moore said. “I am excited that I will be coming to Buckhannon-Upshur High School to speak about this.”
Stankus said the Upshur County Schools will be offering their students scholarships for the Wesleyan Arts Academy.
“Upshur County students should really feel encouraged to participate in the Wesleyan Arts Academy,” Moore said. “We want Upshur students to know they have a priority spot with the Wesleyan Arts Academy.”
The next partnership program Moore announced is the Summer Gifted Program on the campus of WVWC.
“There has been a Summer Gifted Program for many years on campus at WVWC,” Moore said. “It has been run by members of the faculty, independently of the college. We have been working with them and we are bringing that back under the official auspices of the college. This program will be for elementary school students through to talented high school students who are interested in having a summer experience where they are taking classes in a variety of sciences, creative arts disciplines and humanities. It is called the Wesleyan Summer Gifted Program and will run June 19, 2021, through July 2, 2021.”
Moore said the programs are two opportunities that will be offered as West Virginia Wesleyan College works to partner more closely with their colleagues at Upshur County Schools.
“Stay tuned for more information about that,” Moore said.
Waltz said the two entities began meeting following the ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ meetings.
“Some of our interests grew out of the needs of students here and what we saw on the college side; those discussions grew into some new ideas,” Waltz said. “We are arriving at some exciting things that will help students in a college preparatory track, the ability for students to take more classes at WVWC and just to work together to support the great momentum toward the school and all the events that are happening.”
Waltz said WVWC is excited to have a community-minded aspect embedded in their strategic plan.
“We look forward to working together with Upshur County Schools,” Waltz said.
