There was a somber feel to the Capitol Building 24 hours after the memorial service for Senator Robert Byrd. Students passed by the statue of the late Senator still draped with flowers and surrounded by memorial tributes. One day earlier dignitaries were on-site to memorialize a political icon for the state. I wondered as the students filed through who among them might one day work in these buildings serving as a state legislator.
I wanted steer them all to Building 5 of the complex where the offices for the State Department of Education & the Arts is housed. The generous support the Secretary of Education, Kay Goodwin, and the Director of the Governor Schools, Sherry Keffer, takes place in Building 5 to make GHA happen.
The West Virginia State Museum was a wonderful surprise with the main lobby filled with the interesting combination of antique motorcycles and beautiful handmade quilts. I highly recommend a visit to walk through the years of history for West Virginia. I stumbled upon a replica of the July 4th, 1848 Commencement Program from Bethany College, my alma mater and our host institution.
Apparently the group was exhausted from the Friday night salsa dancing activity and slept the entire trip down. I realized at the 2-hour mark how quiet bus 5 was and realized they were all mostly asleep from the afternoon tours. Moving 215 people anywhere is tough, but fortunately we have a great group of gullivers who travelled very well. We took a break on Saturday and watched a movie under the stars, ate popcorn and relaxed. A drive-in theater without the cars – something most of the students don’t have a point of reference for.
We celebrated this Fourth of July with a Washington WildThings baseball game, a cookout, and fireworks following the game (all of this AFTER classes, of course!). The students must have been a good luck charm, as the WildThings came back from trailing 8-3 in only one inning to take victory. We hope you all had a safe and fun July 4th!
In their telltale blue t-shirts, GHA students enjoyed themselves at the Washington WildThings baseball game on the Fourth of July.
-Dean Saralyn Dague
