Author: Liz McCormick

Liz is WVPB's Webmaster/Digital Coordinator and Eastern Panhandle Bureau Chief, based in Shepherdstown, WV on Shepherd University's campus. Liz is a native of Charleston, West Virginia. She received a M.A. in Strategic Communication from American University in 2022 and a B.A. in Communication and New Media from Shepherd in 2014. Prior to her role as webmaster, Liz was WVPB's Eastern Panhandle reporter from 2014-2022, the House of Delegates reporter on "The Legislature Today" from 2015-2017, and she covered K-12/higher education from 2020-2022. Liz has also worked as a technical assistant and associate producer on "The Legislature Today."

Ebola Seminar Helps Ease West Virginians' Worries

In an open seminar at the Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, Ebola preparedness was the focus of discussion. It’s been in the headlines across the country for a while now, but should West Virginians really feel at risk of contracting the disease? Doctors in the state say West Virginians have little to fear.

To help the public understand what’s really going on with Ebola, a public seminar hosted by the University Healthcare Berkeley and Jefferson Medical Centers was held at the West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center in Martinsburg.

The first half of the seminar explained Ebola and the second, how prepared area hospitals are to handle it. Wayne Selzer is one of the 100 community members who attended the seminar.

“Level of preparedness can never be high enough, and the best level of preparedness is self-preparedness,” said Selzer, “So more seminars like this, along with public involvement as well will help calm who have fears against those with no training whatsoever.”

Dr. Matthew Simmons, the infectious disease specialist at Berkeley Medical Center, was one of the speakers. He says he felt like the seminar helped calm any fears the community might have, but they don’t need to feel like they have to be prepared.

Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s National Medical Center.

“There’s very little that a person in the community has to do to protect themselves from Ebola at this point, because the risk of transmission is so low,” noted Simmons.

Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, the chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s National Medical Center says you only have to worry about the virus if you’re showing symptoms.

“It really is very, very important as to where you have been, because it’s really not a widespread epidemic. It’s not at all spreading in the United States,” said DeBiasi, “So unless you had those symptoms, and you were in contact, like you were a nurse or a doctor and took care of a patient who had Ebola, then we would not worry that you had Ebola virus.”

DeBiasi tried to help put it into perspective that more people die from influenza in the US than Ebola.

“I think it’s just human nature, if it’s unusual we’re a little more nervous about it, even if it’s not really a thing you should be worried about,” said DeBiasi.

The final message the doctors gave the audience was simply…to stay calm.

Libertarian Candidate Davy Jones Says He Will Represent Middle-Class In W.Va.'s 2nd District

Libertarian candidate, Davy Jones, is running for the 2^ndCongressional District seat against Rebublican Alex Mooney, Democrat Nick Casey, and Independent Ed Rabel. Jones lives in Martinsburg and is a political newcomer. He found his way into politics after doing IT work for the West Virginia Libertarian Party.

“I believe that government has gotten way too intrusive into everybody’s life, and gotten way too bloated, and the debt that they seem to be heaping on our children that have to pay it, is just outlandish,” said Jones, “So I’ve decided that I needed to do something about that, and that’s why I decided to run.”

Jones is running on a third party ticket, which could be difficult, but he thinks he’s got a great chance.

“I think people are tired of just what’s going on, and I don’t think parties matter to them at this point,” noted Jones, “I think they’re really looking for a candidate of character, rather than a candidate of this party or that party, and I bring that to this race.”

Where Does Davy Jones Stand in His Political Agenda?

He says he will listen to West Virginians’ concerns and make decisions accordingly.
He’s pro-coal, pro-energy, and pro-constitution.
He has a “live and let live” philosophy.
He supports gay marriage.
He comes from the middle-class.

“I think that the big problem in politics today is that we’re electing people to represent us that can’t relate, that are wealthy, that come from an elitist group of people, and they can’t represent the average American, because they can’t understand how we live. I come from the middle class. I know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck. You know, deciding whether, oh, am I going to pay my electric bill this paycheck or buy food. So I think that I make a very good representative for the people of West Virginia.”

Hear from Jones when he spoke to the editorial board at the Charleston Daily Mail.

Davy Jones is banking on his pro-gun, pro-energy, and pro-constitution platform to override the difficulties of running as a third party candidate. He hopes the voters will give him a chance in Washington when they go to the polls in November.

Shepherdstown Kicks-Off Second Annual Boo!Fest

Just in time for Halloween, the second annual Boo!Fest in Shepherdstown kicks off tomorrow night starting with a Vampire Ball.

Historic Shepherdstown is hosting a week-long festival dedicated to Halloween. Now entering its second year, Boo!Fest in Shepherdstown will feature a variety of spooky festivities all leading up to a big trick-or-treat event and Halloween concert on October 31^st.

Throughout the week, Boo!Fest will have activities ranging from parades, face painting, haunted tours, ghost stories, and films. Classics like, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Miyazaki’s, Spirited Away, will be shown at the Opera House.

Shepherdstown’s assortment of shops have already been “spookified” for the festival, and many of the local restaurants will have Halloween-themed menus.

Boo!Fest events are open to all ages, with special emphasis to children and families.

SafeWise Report Says W.Va. is the 15th Safest State in the U.S.

West Virginia was named the 15^th safest state in the US for settling down and raising a family. According to a blog from the SafeWise.com website, West Virginia is one of the safest places to live in America coming in at number 15.

SafeWise.com, compiled the list using data from recent FBI Crime Reports along with their own research. They also created a list of the top ten safest cities within West Virginia.

Those ten safest communities are:

Stonewood
Kingwood
Paden City
White Sulphur Springs
Eleanor
Romney
Weston
Harrisville
Ripley
Winfield

The site used FBI Crime Report data from 2012 as the basis of their research then narrowed down the list to cities with a population of 1,500 or above. They analyzed the number of Violent Crimes and Property Crimes.

Author Homer Hickam Visits His Home State

Every October, author and West Virginia native, Homer Hickam, makes a trip home to West Virginia for the annual Rocket Boys festival in Beckley…but he also makes a point to stop in on his hometown of Coalwood in McDowell County during his visit.

Hickam grew up in the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia during the 1940s and 50s, when Coalwood was a busy company town and Sputnik was first launched in space. It was his childhood experiences that inspired him to write his famously known memoir, Rocket Boys later adapted into the film, October Sky. Since then, Hickam has written an array of novels including genres in science fiction, military, stories on Coalwood, and much more.

His newest work, just sent to his publisher, features a family legend about an alligator his mother raised in West Virginia in 1935, named Albert.

“My dad said, it’s either me or that alligator, Elsie, and mom, after a few days of thinking about it, said okay, but we have to let Albert go back to Florida,” Hickam said, “And so they had this awe-inspiring, sometimes funny, sometimes sad journey from Coalwood, West Virginia to Orlando, Florida.”

Hickam says he first heard about his family’s legend when he was a boy watching the television show, Davy Crockett.

“I was watching it back in the mid-1950s and my mom walked in, and looked and said, I know him, and turned around and walked out. It turned out that she was looking at Buddy Ebsen, who later played the Uncle Jed in Beverley Hillbillies.”

Hickam says Ebsen and his mom dated when she went to Florida after graduating high school, but they later became friends. When she married Hickam’s dad, Ebsen sent her a very interesting gift.

“Buddy’s wedding gift to my mom was that alligator. And so, I started over the years to try to find out more about Albert, and ultimately it became a family legend about their journey.”

Hickam’s newest novel, Carrying Albert Home should be available around Fall of next year.

Hickam resides with his wife, Linda at their home in Alabama throughout most of the year, but during his annual trip back to West Virginia, Hickam says he always makes a stop to visit his hometown of Coalwood.

While Hickam says he’s always happy to visit home, he says Coalwood has drastically changed from the time he was a boy and sadly not for the better.

“Now, unfortunately, with the coal industry the way it is, Coalwood is just a shell of what it used to be, and it’s kind of sad when I go there. McDowell County, the population is about a quarter, I think now, of what it was when I grew up there, so obviously there are a lot of empty houses with trees growing up through them. The infrastructure has collapsed.”

Although Hickam is concerned for his hometown, he says the people haven’t lost faith.

“The people there are strong, they’re intelligent, and they are working hard trying to bring the county back to some semblance of what it used to be.”

Hickam continues to make a point to visit home annually, and he hopes that through the scholarships he has available at Marshall University and Virginia Tech that more kids in the coalfields will go to college.

Apart from being an author, Hickam worked for NASA as an aerospace engineer for seventeen years. Now, he continues to show his love of Space and rockets not only through his writing, but by working at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

Hickam is on the Board of this STEM based camp. He says they don’t get enough West Virginia kids, but he does see many West Virginia teachers that attend workshops hosted by the camp.

Hickam thinks educators in West Virginia and Appalachia who are involved in STEM teachings are doing a good job. He says however, that ultimately, success comes down to the commitment of teachers and parents rather than just the technologies available today.

“In my Coalwood school, my class, over 90% of my class went to and graduated from college. We didn’t have computers, the teachers had nothing but books and a blackboard and a piece of chalk, yet when I graduated from high school, I was well-prepared to go off to Virginia Tech and to the engineering school. Much better than a lot of the kids that were coming out of Richmond and Roanoke and Washington, DC, and you know the big schools like that. Why? Because we had dedicated teachers, and we had parents who were fully engaged in the education process.”

Hickam says after writing Rocket Boys, he never expected it to have the impact it’s had on West Virginia and the Appalachia’s, and he’s humbled so many people identify with his story.

“When you write about West Virginia and the coalfields and so on, the easiest thing in the world is to write about the poverty and the hardship and the struggle, and all that kind of thing…but what I write about is the optimism of the people, and the good life that they have crafted in the coalfields of West Virginia and the pride that they have in the state.”

Homer Hickam may no longer live in the state where he grew up, but he constantly recognizes and credits his West Virginia roots for making him who he is today.

Second Smallest School in West Virginia Works on NASA Project

Chris Poniris, STEM instructor and Carol Coryea, 7th-12th grade science teacher at Paw Paw Schools.

This week, students at a very small West Virginia school are wrapping up a very big science project…with help from NASA. They’re building a full scale model of a satellite. It’s something you might not expect to see at the second smallest school in the state…but one teacher had the ambition and enthusiasm to make it happen.

Space exploration, the universe, satellites, rockets…it’s what many kids dream about. And for the middle and high school students at Paw Paw Schools, dreams like those are not so far away. 7^th through 12^th graders here are building a full scale model of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Satellite.

“In short, the MMS mission is studying how Earth’s magnetic field works,” said Todd Ensign, the Program Manager at NASA’s Educator Resource Center in Fairmont, “In particular, you know, how it helps to protect us from high energy particles. Life on Earth would not exist, the way we know it at least, if it weren’t for Earth’s magnetic field.”

The NASA Center in Fairmont provides free training to instructors who want to teach STEM subjects. Two years ago, Paw Paw’s only 7th through 12th grade science teacher, Carol Coryea, went to one of the trainings. It was about the MMS mission and how its four satellites will monitor solar weather after they’re launched in March.

Coryea was so inspired by what she learned, she immediately brought it into her classroom. She first taught her kids about solar weather using iPads, and then they started making small, paper models of the MMS satellite.

About a year ago, she decided to take it even further when she and her students toured the MMS mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

“I asked the contact person, what would it take to build a model of the satellite,” Coryea said, “what if our students did that? And so one thing led to another, and we came up with this idea that why not build a full scale model?”

Unfinished full scale model of the MMS satellite.

She talked about her idea with her colleague, Chris Poniris, Paw Paw School’s STEM instructor. NASA was so intrigued by their enthusiasm that the agency agreed to provide all the materials for the project.

“We didn’t pick a random school in the state,” said Todd Ensign, “we didn’t pick Paw Paw because it was the second smallest school. We picked it because Carol and Chris have been very involved in NASA programs and specifically they’ve already done MMS with their students.”

The year-long project has taken over Chris Poniris’ construction and engineering shop, and Carol Coryea says sometimes space can get a little tight. But, she says, a small school like this is the ideal place for a project of this caliber.

“We have the same cohort of students,” Coryea said, “so students that I have for Science, Mr. Poniris will have for construction or megatronics, or I may have in a chemistry course or I’ve had them for biology, so we’re all working with the same group of students.”

Pieces of the full scale model ready to be put in place.

Coryea says sometimes the demands on the students can be challenging, but she and other staff take care not to let the project interfere with other subjects.

“We’ve been very cautious not to pull our kids out of courses that they need, you know…that they would be working on otherwise,” said Coryea, “We’ve done a lot of writing, we’ve done a lot of speaking and presentations, so we’ve been able to kind of support those other courses, but yet not actually ever pulling those students out of those classes.”

A year’s worth of hard work on the satellite project is about to come to fruition. On Friday, Coryea and her students will take the model to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and present it to the media and the public. After that, it will be on display at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in Charleston.

As the deadline nears, these kids are putting the final touches on the model.

9th Grader, Kelly White began working on the project with the paper models two years ago. She says it’s bittersweet to see it all coming to an end.

“It’s a little upsetting that I know that the project’s going to be over,” White noted, “but I hope we get to work on more, and it’s going to be neat to be able to see it in the museum,”

“And what’s one thing you’ll take away from this project that you’ll keep with you for the rest of your life?” asked West Virginia Public Radio reporter, Liz McCormick.

“That I can say that I built that project, I was a part of it,” White said.

Many of these kids say they might be interested in a career in a STEM field now, even if they’d never thought about it before. Carol Coryea hopes she’ll be able to take her students to see the real MMS satellites when they’re launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in March.