A nice green salad to go with a blue ribbon?
If you have an association with Pleasant Valley Elementary School, you can say yes to both.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona last week named the Marion County school a National Blue Ribbon School for 2024.
The school near Fairmont is among the 356 schools across the country receiving the designation, Cardona said.
Counting Pleasant Valley, just three from the Mountain State made the list this year.
“It’s a testament to the exceptional achievements and educators at each of these schools,” the secretary said.
On the nominating page for its award, Pleasant Valley administrators touted the school and the interweaving of its mascot for a mission statement.
“Our school-wide expectations of ‘Bee Ready, Bee Respectful, Bee Responsible’ are the guiding factor of our students on a daily basis,” those administrators noted.
“We understand that our relationships cultivate experiences that foster lifelong experiences and passion,” they continued.
“We believe that greatness is occurring every single day, in every single classroom, for every single student.”
Those classrooms don’t necessarily have to be indoors, the school said.
Just ask Pleasant Valley faculty member Krista Blankenship, who was recently named a West Virginia state teacher of the year nominee for 2025.
Blankenship, who teaches third grade, had a cafeteria-salad bar of the future on her mind when she secured the funding last year for the construction of an agricultural high tunnel at her school.
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 within the four walls of school.
As said, 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.
The other Blue Ribbon Schools named in West Virginia are Kellogg Elementary in Wayne County and Gilmore Elementary in Jackson County.
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