2008 Democrat-Pathfinder FE

In the midst of the infamous West Virginia muddy season with regular school delays and closing and an often treacherous Highway 5 - Betsy and I have been exhilarated with evening visits to the latest generations of Hidden Promise Scholars. Our exhilaration stems from meeting energetic and expectant 8th and high school students who hold the vast hidden promise of central West Virginia and are currently unresolved about their post-high school plans.

These young people have the potential to become West Virginia’s most valuable resource - far more valuable than our gas, oil, and timber resources - as they enter the workforce with the self-assurance, creativity, and communication skills that a college education develops.

To date Betsy and I have visited Hidden Promise Scholars in Calhoun, Roane, and Webster counties. In the weeks ahead, we will be visiting students and their parents in the remaining counties that compose our central West Virginia compact -- Barbour, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas, Randolph, Ritchie, Upshur, and Wirt counties.

Superintendents from each of these counties have joined with Glenville State to increase the college-going rate of public school students. West Virginia lags well behind the national average despite a better-than-average high school graduation rates. Superintendents, principals, and teachers in each county have named five students in each of grades 8 through 12 to be Hidden Promise Scholars.

As I talk to these Hidden Promise Scholars, I hear their aspirations and their challenges, their ambitions and their doubts. I hear concerns about college costs, academic uncertainties, and their close ties to families. I cannot answer these qualms with absolute certainty, but I can promise them a close look at what college is and the life opportunities that only a college education opens.

In the years ahead as these students progress through high school, Glenville State will offer academic support, summer camps on the campus, electronic tutoring, and college student mentors. Hidden Promise Scholars who eventually choose Glenville State will receive a $1,000 scholarship renewable each year. I hope all Hidden Promise Scholars will choose Glenville State, but the more important goal is that they go to college anywhere. They hold the key to the vast hidden promise of our state.