Kanawha County Schools -

🎭🇺🇸 Capital High Shines on the National Stage! 🇬🇧🎭 Capital High School's Isaiah Canterbury recently represented West Virginia at the ESU National Shakespeare Competition in New York City, competing against 40 top students from across the country. Isaiah won FIRST PLACE — and we could not be more proud! 🥇🎉 As the national champion, Isaiah will attend a prestigious Shakespeare intensive this summer at Oxford University in England — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deepen his craft and represent CHS and WV on an international stage. Help us congratulate Isaiah on this incredible accomplishment! 👏👏👏

*May 5th Curriculum Board Meeting* The Kanawha County Schools Board of Education will host its monthly regular session meeting at 5 p.m. today (5/5). The meeting is open to the public. This meeting will be livestreamed, and can be viewed at the link here 👇 https://kcs.kana.k12.wv.us/district/board_of_education/k_c_s_livestream The agenda is available on the KCS website 👇 https://kcs.kana.k12.wv.us/common/pages/GetFile.ashx?key=GpfuDAtk

📣 You're Invited! Join the KCS Office of Exceptional Students as we review data from last year’s focus areas and state indicators, and discuss our goals for the upcoming school year. This event is open to all KCS parents, staff, and community members—your input and involvement matter as we work together to support every student’s success! 📍 Event details (including location, date, time, and satellite locations) can be found in the graphic below. Let’s come together to celebrate our progress and plan for an even better year ahead. We hope to see you there!

🎉 We’re excited to celebrate three incredible members of the Kanawha County Schools family! 🎉 These individuals bring their best to their schools every single day—and now, we get to say thank you in a big way. 💙 🏆 Principal of the Year: Karen Messinger Karen leads Pinch Elementary with heart, energy, and a deep love for her students and staff. Her passion for education is easy to see—and felt by everyone lucky enough to walk through the doors at Pinch. 🏆 Service Person of the Year: Norman Dotson Norman keeps Richmond Elementary shining—literally and figuratively. His hard work and positive attitude make a big difference every day, and the school wouldn’t be the same without him. 🏆 Teacher of the Year: Meleah Fisher Meleah brings the music to life at Herbert Hoover High School. As band director, she’s helping her students find their rhythm—and inspiring them to grow in and out of the classroom. Take a look at these moments of celebration as Karen, Norman, and Meleah received their well-deserved awards. We’re so proud of them—and grateful for everything they do to make KCS a better place for our students. 💛

🌟 First Annual Grit-O-Rama Assembly at Elk Center Elementary! 🌟 Elk Center students are learning about Grit — and the message certainly seems to have landed with students! During the Grit-O-Rama event at the school, students showed off what they have learned through heartfelt skits, inspiring words from great leaders, and a school-wide chant that could’ve shaken the roof with determination! 💪🎤 🎶 A special shoutout to the Harmony Hounds Chorus for adding so much heart and soul with their powerful performances—reminding us all to keep going, even when it gets tough. We were also incredibly honored to welcome two hometown heroes who truly embody grit: 🏅 Sophia Zheng, valedictorian of Herbert Hoover High School, encouraged our students to stay focused and never give up—no matter what life throws their way. 🤼 Conner Facemire, WV State Wrestling Champion, shared how grit, discipline, and hard work helped him succeed both on and off the mat. Their stories encouraged their younger counter parts, and we know those messages will stick. To top it all off, our students made personal pledges and added them to our Grit Pledge Wall—a colorful display of determination and unity in our main hallway. 💙📝

💡🧠 The 2025 West Virginia Academic Showdown was full of exciting matches and tense moments. Nitro High School competed well all day, and came up one match short of reaching the championship round. We could not be more proud of how well the Wildcats preformed yesterday! 👏 Congratulations to the entire team: 🔴 Jacob Bishop ⚫️ Addison Dangerfield 🔴 Evan Legg ⚫️ Isaac Tinnel 🔴 Drew Vogelaar ⚫️🔴 Coaches: Ashley Clark & Bill Clough We can't wait for next year!

The April edition of the KCS Monthly Newsletter is now available 👇 🔗 https://bit.ly/KCSApril25 Content includes: 🐍 Animals visiting an elementary school 📅 Important May events and reminders 🌟 April highlights from around the county ... and more!

💙 April is Autism Awareness Month, and we’re taking a moment to shout out some of the amazing people making a difference in Kanawha County Schools — our Autism Itinerants! KCS has four Autism Itinerants that travel from school to school, supporting students with autism, working with teachers and families, and helping create learning environments where every student can shine. ✨ Whether it’s coming up with personalized strategies, helping with communication tools, or just being a steady source of support, they’re making an impact every single day. 📸: Featured in this post is Shellie Clark. We hope you have enjoyed learning more about our Autism Itinerants this month!

🎉 Shoutout to students at Ben Franklin Career Center! 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Medical students just wrapped up their externships with WVU Medicine and CAMC and got their certificates of completion this week! 🎓 — Many of them are now starting jobs at the hospitals where they trained! 🙌 🔧 Over in the 4T program, students finished their hands-on training at the Toyota Manufacturing Plant in Buffalo and also got their certificates! 🎉 Some are heading straight into jobs at Toyota, and one student is even continuing their education through a program and is being sponsored by Toyota! 👏📚 We’re so proud of all of you! Your hard work is taking you to amazing places — and this is just the beginning. 💪💙

🏆 The morning rounds are complete at the 2025 West Virginia Academic Showdown and 🐾 Nitro High School is moving on! 🔴 The Wildcats won their first round contest against Sherman High School ⚫️ In the second round, the Wildcats won a nail biter against Grafton High School Their next matchup is at 12:30 against Berkeley Springs! Way to go, Wildcats!

🤩 As promised, here are some action shots from yesterdays Exceptional Spring Games! 😁 Big Smiles 👌 Perfect Weather 🤟 Tons of Memories Made Thank you again to everyone who made the 2025 KCS Exceptional Spring Games a success!

Mrs. White, a second grade teacher at Nitro Elementary, saw an opportunity to boost her students’ confidence with topic sentences, so Mrs. Keeling, a third grade teacher at NES, said, “Let’s mix things up!” 💡✏️ They paired up the 2nd and 3rd graders to work on an opinion writing piece together… and — it was awesome! 🙌💬 The room was full of thoughtful conversations 🧠🗣️, big ideas 💭, and lots of smiles 😄. The 3rd graders did such an amazing job explaining things to their younger buddies 💛 — total role models! We are so proud of all these young authors and the way they lifted each other up! 🥹👏 This is what teamwork, learning, and fun look like! 📸✨

💙 April is Autism Awareness Month, and we’re taking a moment to shout out some of the amazing people making a difference in Kanawha County Schools — our Autism Itinerants! KCS has four Autism Itinerants that travel from school to school, supporting students with autism, working with teachers and families, and helping create learning environments where every student can shine. ✨ Whether it’s coming up with personalized strategies, helping with communication tools, or just being a steady source of support, they’re making an impact every single day. 📸: Featured in this post is Kerri Martin. Our last Autism Itinerant Spotlight will be out Wednesday!

🥳 Sissonville Middle School is home to WQBE's March 👩‍🏫Teacher of the Month! 🤩 👏 Congratulations, Mrs. Settle — a well deserved honor! Thank you to 97.5 WQBE-FM for highlighting so many incredible teachers throughout the school year! 🤝👍

Massage Therapy students from Carver Career and Technical Education Center hit it out of the park with the Charleston Dirty Birds! ⚾💆‍♀️💆‍♂️ They had the opportunity to work with 4 staff members and 24 athletes—giving our students some real-deal, hands-on experience in sports massage. From pre-game prep to post-game recovery (and even injury therapy!), they learned a ton and had a blast doing it! 🙌🎓💪 Huge thanks to the Dirty Birds for letting us be part of your game day routine. 🐤💙✨

🎩✨ Central Elementary’s third graders brought history to life today during their Wax Museum! 🏛️👧🧒 Each student chose a historical figure, researched their life and impact, and then became that person—costume, props, and all! 🎭📚 From Jackie Robinson ⚾ and Rosie the Riveter 💪 to Annie Oakley 🎯 and George Washington Carver 🥜, the variety was amazing! Parents and visitors got to press a “button” and watch the characters come to life as students shared fun, thoughtful presentations in character. 🎙️🔘 Check out these incredible photos of our young historians in action! 📸👇 You might just spot Flo-Jo 👟💨, Jerry West 🏀, Philo Farnsworth 📺, and even Michael Johnson! Way to go, third grade—you made history unforgettable today! 💙💛

🏀 April Madness Fun at SES! 🎉✨ Mrs. Fisher’s third grade class at Sissonville Elementary crushed it with the best attendance at the school in March 👏🎯 and earned themselves an awesome reward—a basketball game 🏀 against some of their favorite SES staff members! 🙌 The whole school came out to watch 📣👀 and the third graders did NOT disappoint. The staff may have had the height ⛹️‍♂️🧍‍♀️, but the third graders had the moves 🕺💃! Quick passes, smooth dribbles, and teamwork was on point! 🤝🔥 The game ended with a score of 26–10, in favor of the staff 🏆— but don’t be fooled, the real MVPs were those third graders! 💪💙 But when it comes to the 👟 shoe game...there was no contest — third graders brought the heat with some 🔥 kicks. 📷: Sissonville Elementary School

📐✏️ Take a look at what’s happening in Mr. Ferguson’s accelerated math class at Capital High School! These students are tackling triangle proofs right now—just one part of a fast-paced curriculum that lets them complete both Algebra 1 and Honors Geometry during their freshman year. This kind of head start means they’ll be ready for AP Calculus or College Algebra by their junior year—opening the door to even more opportunities down the road. 🚪📚 It’s exciting to see them challenge themselves and grow every day. 💡🎓

🌟 BIG adventure for our littlest learners! 🌟 Preschoolers at Alum Creek Elementary went on their very first field trip — and wow, was it a blast! 🚌💨 They picnicked under the sky, explored the great outdoors like tiny scientists 🧪🌿, and got their hands messy with some fun experiments. It was a day full of giggles, curiosity, and wide-eyed wonder. We’re so proud of these brave little explorers! 💛 📸 Check out some of the adorable moments below!

💙 April is Autism Awareness Month, and we’re taking a moment to shout out some of the amazing people making a difference in Kanawha County Schools — our Autism Itinerants! KCS has four Autism Itinerants that travel from school to school, supporting students with autism, working with teachers and families, and helping create learning environments where every student can shine. ✨ Whether it’s coming up with personalized strategies, helping with communication tools, or just being a steady source of support, they’re making an impact every single day. 📸: Featured in this post is Beth Tomczak. Check back throughout the month to meet the rest of the AUI Team!