This week, for 15 years, a Virginia library has been hosting a weekly Dungeons & Dragons game night for teens. It can get a little wacky. Also, we remember renowned Tennessee luthier, Jean Horner, whose fiddles were played at Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry. And, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens.
Chelsea Price, a high school and middle school teacher from Boone County, has earned West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Above and Beyond Award, which recognizes excellence and creativity in Mountain State teachers.
Price was honored by WVPB in front of her class, nominator and administrator at Scott High School in Madison, West Virginia, where she was presented a monetary award, our signature Blenko Above and Beyond blue apple paperweight, and a host of other special gifts made possible by the sponsorship of Advantage Technology. She is our winner for September.
Price teaches music and film appreciation, theatre, piano and choir at Scott High School and at Madison Middle School, she teaches two sections of choir. Price is also the director of the county’s Scholastic Team for the Arts and Greater Enrichment (S.T.A.G.E.). Since 1998, this program has provided a creative outlet for students all over Boone County in building, rehearsing, accompanying and performing in an annual county-wide musical production.
Harrison Evans
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WVPB
(L-R): Emily Price (Nominator and Scott High School sophomore) and Chelsea Price (Above and Beyond September winner) pose in front of the “Broadway Wall.”
Emily Price, a Scott High School sophomore who is not related to her teacher, nominated Chelsea Price because her involvement with the S.T.A.G.E. program influenced the teen’s life. “Ms. Price was a student in this program herself and has continued enriching the lives of students with music and drama through it. I have been in S.T.A.G.E. for eight years and have seen all the work that Ms. Price puts into the show,” Emily Price said. “Much of the work is on her own time, evenings and weekends, but what we as students get from it is special. The program has taught me discipline, given me confidence and has given me a love for music and theater.
“I have always enjoyed having Ms. Price as my teacher,” Emily Price said. “She is always encouraging us to do our best and to have confidence. She believes in her students. She has always believed in me, and I know others feel the same way.” In addition to the S.T.A.G.E. program, Chelsea Price is also passionate about choir and community service. “Ms. Price encourages her students to audition for the West Virginia All State Honor Choir and takes the students to the annual conference each year. The annual chorus concerts at Scott High School are always a beautiful sound to hear. She does an amazing job,” Emily Price said.
Harrison Evans
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WVPB
Chelsea Price posing with our signature Blenko Above and Beyond blue apple paperweight and yard sign highlighting her accomplishment.
Chelsea Price is an active member of Zion Missionary Baptist Church serving as choir director. She is a member of the Madison/Danville Jaycees and is a 4-H counselor at summer camps. She views what she does for a living as something special and says that it gives her a sense of pride. “Being a music educator is definitely one of the most rewarding careers I could ever imagine. Waking up each day to share my passion for music and acting with my students brings a new sense of adventure and excitement to each day. Working at my alma mater, Scott High School, and with the S.T.A.G.E. program, gives me a great sense of pride in knowing that something we do or say may spark that little flame of creativity in someone else to share their talents or discover talents they never knew they possessed,” Chelsea Price said. “The S.T.A.G.E. program is one I hold very near to heart… It was this very program that fostered my love for musical theater and the moto of ‘Live Life in the Spotlight.”
Chelsea Price is the final winner in our inaugural class of Above And Beyond teachers. Later this month, we will announce the first winner for our 2021-2022 class of teachers. We are taking nominations at wvpublic.org.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Reader’s Choice Awards for this year’s PBS KIDS Writers Contest. Every year, WVPB picks a select number of stories out of all the submissions to win the Reader’s Choice Awards. Those stories are either animated or adapted into live action shorts.
Rebecca Walters, an English teacher at Fairmont Senior High School in Marion County, earned West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s May 2025 Above and Beyond Award, which honors the excellence and creativity of Mountain State teachers.
Shannon Silverman, an astrophysicist at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston, West Virginia, guides us through the cosmos above the Mountain State.
WVPB recently hosted a pair of musicians from West Virginia University (WVU) to come perform live in-studio during Classical Music with Matt Jackfert. Albert Houde, associate horn professor at WVU and principal horn with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WVSO), and Sun Jung Lee, collaborative pianist at WVU, serenaded our Wednesday afternoon with a live performance of Reimaginings by Frank Gulino.