FAIRMONT – Cars and trucks cruising down nearby Interstate 79 told the tale.
That is, you can’t get where you need to go – if you don’t have the means.
For a year now, the PRIDE Academy of Pierpont Community and Technical College has been doing just that for young students with developmental disabilities.
The program was launched in 2022 with a $150,000 grant from the Benedum Foundation.
“It’s a college experience,” PRIDE director Darin Walker said of the program, which is housed in Pierpont’s Gaston Caperton Center in Clarksburg.
“Our students cook and clean and do shopping on their own,” he said.
“We do a lot of field trips,” he said. “It’s about independence and it’s really about being not being left out.”
Currently, 15 students are enrolled in program – and one of them is his daughter, Hannah Walker, 23, who enjoys the interaction and PRIDE doings, day-to-day.
Tuesday’s proceedings at Pierpont’s main campus in Fairmont made Hannah a household name in the school’s foundation.
Walker and his wife and Hannah’s mom, Jennifer, donated $5,000 to the establishment of the Hannah Walker Scholarship Fund, for the benefit of future students coming into the PRIDE program.
“Financial aid and scholarships and all those traditional things don’t apply to these students,” Darin Walker said.
“I would hate to see a student miss out because of financial hardship.”
Now he and Hannah will soon be appearing at a Kiwanis or Rotary meeting near you, to talk up the program publicly.
In the meantime, the mom and dad made sure to provide every avenue of experience for their daughter, who was mainstreamed in Harrison County public schools and graduated from Bridgeport High – where she was elected Homecoming Queen her senior year.
Rusty Elliott, the board chair of the Pierpont Foundation, said he likes everything about the gift, its philosophy and its motivation.
“This money will open avenues,” Elliott said.
“Young people will get experiences they might not have otherwise. If that’s not education, I don’t what is.”
Hannah, meanwhile, is signing on for a second year.
Right now, she’s in charge of the coffee cart, which makes her especially popular during final exams – what with caffeine being fuel for the sleep-deprived trying to make the semester.
She’s a Disney enthusiast (Mickey Mouse, in particular) and she’s excited for a full-time job.
The student is also a take-no-prisoners master of pickleball, a fast-moving sport that blends tennis, ping-pong and badminton into a net-rushing melee of dexterity and drive.
Pickleball, in fact, got her indirectly involved in Bridgeport city politics, mom Jennifer said.
That was when Hannah squared off against Bridgeport Mayor Andy Lang for a set.
“Tell him what happened,” Jennifer said, directing Hannah to a visitor with a notebook.
“I beat the mayor,” she said, proudly.
“But he said we could still live in Bridgeport.”
