CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Just a couple of days ahead of Valentine’s Day, students and staff at schools around the state are expressing how much they love their school.
It’s part of a “Love My WV School” campaign launched by the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) on Tuesday morning at the Elk Elementary Center in Charleston.
The WVDE is using the campaign to share stories from students, teachers and other school workers using #lovemywvschool on social media pages. The story shared at Elk Elementary Center on Tuesday was the school’s coding classes that the students have loved.
“The technology that we are using and the coding, it’s teaching students to think outside of the box,” Katie Herscher, Assistant Principal at Elk Elementary Center said in a Love My WV School video.
“Not just our high flyer students but it’s teaching our students that struggle academically. They have developed that growth mindset and trial and error.”
The Elk Elementary coding program starts with pre-school and integrates skills at each academic level in systemic science, technology, engineering, and math.
VIEW: Photo gallery from Tuesday’s events
First-grader Bilal Qayyum and fourth-grader Lucy Cantrell both gave speeches in front of WVDE officials and the entire student body Tuesday morning in the gymnasium.
Both speeches focused on how the teachers have helped them with work but also with any issues they face in life. Cantrell said she wants to be a teacher when she grows up because of the influence from her teachers. Qayyum said he has fun every day at school and knows the adults are there to help him.
We had such a great morning with the students and staff from Elk Elementary Center in @KCBOE as we launched the #LoveMyWVSchool campaign! These students really do love their school! Here are a few of our favorite pictures (view them all here! https://t.co/9J4Rf3jFtg) pic.twitter.com/KrCrW9vZJl
— WV Dept of Education (@WVeducation) February 11, 2020
As part of the event, the WVDE will share the newly designed Love My WV Schools website that promotes the stories including a special section called Heroes of Education. This is a growing repository of unsung heroes who go above and beyond to support schools, educators, students, and families, a release said.
“We must work together to continue to support our educators, our students, and our families,” Dr. Steve Paine, the State Superintendent of Schools said in a release. “We believe that the Love My WV School effort will be an excellent avenue to celebrate public education, and what better time to share the love for our schools than during this Valentine’s Day season.”