POINT PLEASANT — The Mason County Board of Education recognized students from Wahama High School during a meeting held Tuesday.

The four students acknowledged from WHS were Randy Edwards, Austin Gilbert, Danielle Lavendar and Tabitha Grindstaff. Both WHS Principal Kenny Bond and Assistant Principal Melissa VanMeter were in attendance to present their students’ achievements to the board.

Edwards was recognized for winning the District and State VFW Patriot’s Pen Award. His essay has been entered in the national competition. Edwards read his winning essay to the board members.

Gilbert was acknowledged for being the district winner of the Voice of Democracy VFW Award.

Lavendar and Grindstaff both were first-place winners in the River Sweep Award, a poster contest held at WHS. Lavendar was the junior high winner, while Grindstaff won on the senior high level.

Delegations:

• The Mason County Education Association, in conjunction with the West Virginia Education Association and the National Education Association, presented a delegation to the board to proclaim March 2, 2010 as “Read Across America Day.” This day marks the 106th birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Seuss, who died in 1991, wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books.

Lisa Searls dressed as the “Cat in the Hat” and performed a short skit, providing smiles and laughs for all those who attended the meeting.

Board members were asked to visit county schools and read to a child for 30 minutes. Board members agreed and approved the delegation.

• New Haven Elementary provided a report to the board about a collection campaign that the entire school is involved in for the tragedy in Haiti.

This campaign was designed to make all students aware of the needs of those affected. The school will also hold an assembly on Friday, Feb. 5 to showcase the accomplishments of the students’ fundraising efforts and to present a check to the Red Cross. Board members were asked to attend.

• WHS Principal Kenny Bond gave an update on the audit from the Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA). According the report given to Superintendent Dr. William Capehart and Bond, WHS “did really well.”

Bond, who read the results of the report to the board members, stated that the team of officers who audited the junior senior high school said that as soon as they walked through the doors at WHS, they felt a “positive and educative experience.”

The report also listed improvements that WHS needs to address, including very few minor physical and educational deficiencies, as well as recommendations. Corrections already have been made or are in the process of being made. Several of the recommendations included offering honor classes in the regular classes and adding a creative writing class to the curriculum.

According to Bond, deficiencies reported were minor in comparison to what other schools have scored on the OEPA. Wahama High School was chosen because it had not been audited since 2003 and Bond happens to be the 12th principal at WHS in eight years.

Capehart, who spoke with the team leader after the visit, said comments the team made included, “WHS has a warm and nurturing environment for students and staff,” “It was a pleasure to conduct the audit at WHS” and “We saw positive things at WHS that we didn’t expect.”

The board thanked Bond and VanMeter for their work along with the students and staff. “We are so proud of WHS,” Capehart said. “You pulled off a class act Mr. Bond.”

Teresa Warner, vice president of the board, said that WHS has to be “happiest school” she knows.

For more information from the Mason County Board of Education meeting, see Saturday’s edition of the Point Pleasant Register.