MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s high school graduation rate of 89.4 percent last year was the third-highest in the nation, coming in just behind Iowa and New Jersey.
However, like the intrepid mountain climber who sets off the avalanche when he tries to plant a flag at the peak, the celebration was short-lived.
Because only 55 percent of those post-seniors enrolled in college last fall.
More than 30 of the graduates who went on to college the year before had to take remedial classes just to catch up.
And currently, one in five of West Virginia’s 18-to-24-year-olds with high school diplomas aren’t in school or even working.
That’s according to a report released earlier this month by WalletHub, an online financial site that tracks such metrics.
Which is why the state is eyeing another mountain.
“West Virginia’s Climb,” is the name of the initiative that put down its first footholds Wednesday July 25 in Morgantown.
A matter of degree(s)
Former Gov. Bob Wise opened the morning session of the summit, which runs through July 26 at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.
The initiative aims to equip 60 percent of all West Virginians — not just those newly graduated from high school — with a college degree, or post-secondary certificate of professional training, by the year 2030.
More than 400 educators and administrators from across the state are in town for summit.
West Virginia’s Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC), the College Foundation of West Virginia and state Department of Education are linking up for the initiative.
Go tell it on the mountain
Carolyn Long, HEPC’s interim chancellor, said while that 60 percent goal is lofty — it’s still not out of reach.
“We know we can get them out of high school,” Long said. “We have that.”
Long, whose resume includes stints as a classroom teacher and county school superintendent, said West Virginia Climbs, with its emphasis on collaboration between education and business, is a big step — like crossing that first chasm on a trek up a literal mountain.
“If I was back in front of a classroom, I’d say, ‘Look, if you work hard, I’m going to work just as hard for you, because I know you can do it.’”
Part of the work of climbing the mountain in West Virginia is commencing in the flatlands of central Indiana.
A student, by any other name
The Lumina Foundation, an education advocacy group based in Indianapolis, is providing grant monies and its expertise in Web design and business networking to carve those partnerships here.
Just 31 percent of West Virginians between the ages of 25-64 hold at least an associate degree after high school, said Scott Jenkins, who directs strategic operations for Lumina.
And increasing numbers of college students in the Mountain State are in the nontraditional category, he said. That means single moms and dads going back to school after being downsized.
“Don’t just picture high school kids,” he said. “Picture people who are the parents of high school kids.
Up in the morning and off to school
Of the 11.6 million jobs created after the Recession of 2010, he said, 11.5 of them require a college degree, or other post-secondary training.
That’s what Teresa Murphy, a counselor at Wahama High School, in Mason County, tells the students she sees every day.
Wahama houses students in grades 7 through 12, which means, Murphy said, a world-in-microcosm of academic expectations and attainment-dreams.
“I get the little kids and I get the seniors,” she said.
“I put a lot a lot of emphasis on the importance of college, but I’m talking about the other programs they can do. Really, I tell them to do anything they can, academically, to acquire the skills they’ll need.”
