The new Herbert Hoover High School will be opening this academic year since the devastation of the 2016 flood.
After being destroyed by flooding seven years ago, Herbert Hoover High School will reopen for students Friday morning.
Principal Michael Kelley gave the media a tour of the new facility and said he is proud of his students and his community for their resilience.
“I believe our whole community is excited about the opportunities that are going to be here for our children. Our families and children have stuck with us all the way since the flood. We have continued to achieve at a level higher in every aspect,” Kelley said.
The modern 180,000 square foot construction includes weight rooms, an in-house clinic, an auditorium, media rooms and a career and technical center filled with the latest technology.
“In meetings with with FEMA and the School Building Authority and all kinds of folks after the flood, we were told they would basically try to build back what we lost but up to modern standards,” Kelley said.
Kelley said the best part about the building will be its students and teachers who have operated from FEMA portable buildings since the flood.
“I’m grateful to my staff, my two assistant principals have been working, while I’ve been working on construction and in managing that, they have worked very hard to get school ready to open,” Kelley said. “I think I’m looking forward to seeing the students’ faces tomorrow when they come in this building for the first time.”
Three shop students and their teacher from a West Virginia high school are working this summer to build furniture for the new Intermediate Court of Appeals courtrooms.
Three shop students and their teacher from a West Virginia high school are working this summer to build furniture for the new Intermediate Court of Appeals courtrooms.
Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin won the bid to produce benches, podiums and tabletops for the main courtroom in Charleston and five satellite courtrooms.
The satellite courtrooms in Grant, Lewis, Morgan, Raleigh and Wetzel counties will allow parties to virtually argue cases.
The court was created last year to hear appeals of civil judgments from circuit courts.
The main bench is being made of walnut and will seat up to five judges, while the satellite benches are made of cherry and can be linked to the main courtroom, the Supreme Court said in a news release.
Some members of the Supreme Court and Intermediate Court of Appeals visited the shop this month to discuss details.
The students — Kole Johnson, Josh Stuart and Lane Ramsey — are working on the project during the summer and being paid $15 an hour, the release said.
“You guys wanted them to do the work and they are,” Hoover shop teacher Tim Meyer told the court officials. “They could set up a cabinet shop and make a living at this.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide West Virginia $52.3 million to rebuild Herbert Hoover High School after devastating flooding in 2016 damaged the building.
The original school building was demolished last fall after it was determined to be beyond repair.
West Virginia Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin made the announcement of the funding from FEMA in a press release Friday.
Since the 2016 flood, students and staff at Herbert Hoover High School have held classes on the grounds of Herbert Hoover Middle, outside of Clendenin in Kanawha County. The high school has been operating out of fenced in portable structures linked with a covered pier since 2017.
Students have access to science labs, smart TVs and a commons area with a covered plaza.
Herbert Hoover High’s Principal Mike Kelley said in a phone call with West Virginia Public Broadcasting that he and his staff are excited to finally be moving forward. He said, while they are grateful for the temporary facility, it is not built to last like the new building will be. He said the new building will allow the students and community to flourish and create a “new home for the Huskies.”
The new school is expected to be completed in 2021.
Demolition crews started tearing down Herbert Hoover High School in Kanawha County on Monday. The high school was damaged by high waters during the 2016 flood.
According to Briana Warner, Communications Director for Kanawha County Schools, a new high school is expected to be completed in 2021.
Herbert Hoover High School students currently attend school in portables outside of Elkview Middle School. The portables are fenced in and all linked by a covered pier or decking system. The portables include full chemistry and other science labs, smart TVs, a shop classroom, and commons area with a covered plaza.
The demolition and clean up for the old high school building is expected to be completed by this fall.
Another West Virginia school that was destroyed by severe flooding last year is receiving musical instruments for its band.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the nonprofit group Music Rising is giving $64,000 in band instruments to Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin. The school lost its instruments in the June 2016 floods and borrowed instruments after that from a nearby middle school.
Studio City, California-based nonprofit The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation selects schools and administers the grant program for Music Rising.
Foundation program director Tricia Steel says that through donations, Music Rising also gave instruments last year to flood-ravaged schools in Richwood and Summersville.
Herbert Hoover band director Meleah Fisher says the school is “tickled to death” about the donated instruments.
On the far side of the Charleston Civic Center, about a thousand blue and red clad supporters scream their support.
Many are wearing shirts emblazoned with #Riverstrong on the back. For these fans, tonight is as much about showing a community of resilience as celebrating a team making history.
That’s because last June, flooding devastated much of southern West Virginia, destroying homes, buildings and schools. One of the affected facilities was Herbert Hoover High School, which did not reopen for the 2016-2017 school year. Instead, Hoover now shares a building with Elkview Middle School. The middle school attends in the morning and the high school in the afternoon. But despite these odds, Hoover’s varsity basketball team made it to the final 8 state tournament for the first time in the school’s history.
“I think the one thing that people need to know is – ok we got flooded. We lost our high school. Our kids are going to a half a day of school cramming as many core classes as they can in a certain period of time, practicing basketball in the YMCA and they haven’t missed a beat,” said Joey Robertson, father of Hoover junior Gavin Robertson.
“The one thing I learned through all this is just how resilient students can be and just roll with the punches,” he said. “If it happened it to me, or when it did happen, I was devastated! I mean here you don’t have a high school, what’s your kid going to do? But our kids and our community, they’ve just rolled with it, haven’t let it get them down.”
Hoover was undoubtedly the underdog in Thursday’s game, but senior Chase King said the team came to fight.
“Looking back last year with all the seniors we lost and then over the summer when we lost our school, it was really hard to picture any success this year,” he said.
Both King and Coach Josh Daniels said what makes this team different is how hard the team worked both in and out of season.
“This is probably the toughest bunch of guys who’ve come through the Elk River,” King continued. “I mean so much heart comes through this program and it’s all thanks to these guys.”
On the court, King and the rest of the Huskies are battled it out against Fairmont. It was a tough slog for them. Fairmont was big, fast and strong and the Polar Bears got a couple points early in the game.
At times it seemed like the Huskies might be on the path toward clawing their way back at just five or six points behind. But as the game progressed, the Polar Bears began to build more of a lead.
And then it was over. Fairmont 59, Hoover 39.
For Hoover Principal Michael Kelley, just getting to the state tournament is a testament to the tenacity and resilience of this group of boys, though.
“I think this team – I think that’s one of the reasons – in addition to it being our first state championship team – I think it’s one of the reasons the community is so excited about it – they kind of embody what the community has gone through,” he said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that Herbert Hoover High School competed in the sweet 16 state tournament. The school actually competed in the final 8 state tournament.
