FAIRMONT — Salad bar of the future?
That’s the hope of Marion County educator Krista Blankenship, who was recently named a West Virginia state teacher of the year nominee for 2025.
Blankenship, who teaches third grade at Pleasant Valley Elementary School, secured the funding last year for the construction of an agricultural high tunnel at her school near Fairmont.
High tunnels are those fixtures that allow for longer growing seasons and higher crop yields, even in winter or other periods of extreme temperatures.
The educator, whose 18-year career includes stints in Monongalia and Hampshire counties, has long been lauded for bringing the outdoors indoors — to her classroom and students.
She’s also known for her “Trout in the Classroom” project, which introduces aquatic ecosystems to her students at Pleasant Valley.
The hope of the teacher is that the produce being grown on campus by way of the high tunnel will eventually end up on the cafeteria lunch menu.
Her fellow nominees:
Emily Dunkle, an agriculture instructor and Future Farmers of America advisor at Greenbrier East High School.
Bryan Hott, music and fourth grade, Mill Creek Intermediate at Bunker Hill, Berkeley County.
Seth Skiles, music, Rock Branch Elementary, Putnam County.
Kimberley Yahya, fourth-grade math, Athens Elementary School, Mercer County.
“Teachers are the seed-sowers and trailblazers within our schools,” State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt said.
“Their care and involvement in the lives of children extend well beyond academics because they are called to nurture and support the whole child,” she continued.
West Virginia’s 2025 Teacher of the Year and School Service Personnel of the Year will be announced on September 10, 2024, during a ceremony at the Culture Center in Charleston.
Visit the state Department of Education website at https://wvde.us/ for capsule biographies of the service-personnel nominees.
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