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MOUNDSVILLE - In all fields of learning at Marshall County Schools, Bob Wilson says the top goal is the same - enrich the students.
Wilson, who serves as Marshall County Schools' Career & Technical Education director, said that while Marshall County's more advanced CTE programs might be in their relative infancy, the dedication and diligence of students, plus the widespread support from the administration and community, gave them an edge.
"It's been a huge team effort, getting people in the right places, and everyone being on board from the top down - from the superintendent, to the teachers, to the kids, to the community," Wilson said.
Marshall County's Project Lead the Way program is set apart by running from kindergarten through 12th grade with branches for computer science, engineering and biomedical science, which gives the district's students a wide range and lots of room to grow.
"We have programs at the high school, middle school and elementary school level, and my focus is to just help the students succeed in whatever program they're going to be in," Wilson had previously said.
"... At the high school level, there's three different pathways; most people only have the one, engineering pathway. We have biomedical, engineering, and computer science. You're going to be hard-pressed to find another county in the state of West Virginia, or in the Ohio Valley, that has all three pathways at the high school level."
Wilson won acclaim in October as one of 16 administrators nationwide to be recognized as one of Project Lead the Way's Outstanding Administrators of the Year, which recognizes those who have come up with innovative ways to engage students, teachers and caregivers.
A seasoned educator, Wilson has been in his field for 20 years, starting as a welding instructor before becoming a CTE coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education. He was then hired as an assistant principal at John Marshall High School before serving as adult education coordinator, and ultimately ascending to his current role in July with the retirement of Scott Varner.
Whether a student proceeds to further education or enters the job market right out of school, Wilson said Marshall County Schools will equip them for whatever they face.
"We're continuing in the same direction as when I was across the hallway and Mr. Varner was in this seat - our main goal is helping students, whether they're career-ready or college-ready. That's our goal, is helping prepare them for whatever career field they're going to go into," he said. "With a lot of our programs, some students may take welding or auto tech, but they still want a four-year degree. Making sure they have skillsets they can always fall back on, or even if it's a hobby, or if they become unemployed, they can always use those skills for something else.
"That's really my favorite part about these jobs, is being able to help kids, giving them opportunities anywhere they go."
The administration's support, Wilson said, came in many forms, but particularly in the myriad opportunities for professional development and further education afforded to faculty.
"The support through our levy has made funding available for Project Lead the Way, for our teachers to get trained," he said. "… The principals make sure things are scheduled correctly, having the right teachers in those places, being able to fit (training) into their schedules - especially at the elementary level, where it's not really broken down into periods yet.
Wilson said the county's students recently proved themselves to be capable engineers at a robotics competition in late January, when the schools' robotics clubs attended their first competition in Parkersburg. Of the four teams sent,
"Teams have been competing for years, and for this being our first competition, we're super pleased with that," he said. "We have another competition coming up on (Feb.) 26, so I really want to build and grow on the robotics, that's going to be a big push."
Other planned programs include a carpentry concentration at JMHS and a further expansion of the schools' simulated workplace programs, where students spend their class period clocking in and doing a simulated workday for their class time. With nearly two dozen programs available to students, Wilson said, a refinement and narrowing of focus may be in order to prevent bloat.
"The students being out of school for so long, it's taken a while for us to get everyone back in a routine," he said. "Right now, we have 19 programs, so you get to a point where you can have too many and cannibalize the others. ... Almost anything you want to be, if it's not exactly there, there's something pretty close to get you there."
In May, the Marshall County Engineering Expo will see all of the county's engineering programs, from elementary students to high school grads, showing their stuff at a Business After Hours meeting, followed by a small robotics competition. The senior students will be presenting their Project Lead the Way capstones to a panel of experts, while middle school students will fly drones through the gymnasium.