Schools

Starting Points Family Resource Center will offer its preschool Playgroup and Wraparound Program this fall.

The Wraparound program is designed to provide morning care for children who are registered in the afternoon with the County HeadStart/Pre-K program. Its hours are Tuesday through Thursday, from 7:30 until 11:30 a.m. This program follows the exact same holiday schedule as the county program and includes morning breakfast, mid-morning snack, curriculum components that compliment the County HeadStart/Pre-K program and county bus pickup service at 11:15 a.m. to the afternoon HeadStart/Pre-K program.

The Morgan Arts Council's (MAC) first youth theater camp in Paw Paw begins Monday, August 13 and continues through Thursday, finishing up that day with a performance by the students. Any youth between the ages of five and 18 is encouraged to attend and walk-ins are welcome. A grant from the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation – Jane P. Snyder Youth Fund helps make this an affordable option for any family in the Paw Paw area. All activities take place in the gymnasium at the Paw Paw schools complex.

Camp activities are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily and take the form of a theater arts workshop taught by Brice Williams and Margi Griffiths. Both are practiced and trained theater professionals. Williams is the theater teacher at Berkeley Springs High School and Griffiths has taught numerous theater classes for MAC as well as elsewhere. They are assisted by teen aides.

The back to school night for Warm Springs Middle School is scheduled in the evening on Thursday, August 23 from 6 to 8 p.m.

At this time students going in the sixth through eighth grades can pick up a schedule, meet their teachers and discuss the expectations in the classes.

Two local students were among the 424 students who took part in Bryn Mawr College's 122nd commencement exercises on May 19 and 20 at Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Marielle Shanin Hsu of Berkeley Springs, daughter of Carol and Jean-Pierre Hsu, was awarded a bachelor of arts degree in physics. She is a graduate of Sandy Springs Friends School.

WVU

Students must maintain a 3.5 grade point average to qualify for the Dean's List. Students from Berkeley Springs were: Austin Carlisle, Engineering; Rachel Korzep, English/Secondary Education; Kristopher MacBeth, MDS/Elementary Education, Charley Phillips, Pre-Elementary/MDS; Mark Pitts, Computer Engineering; and Morgan Shields, Pre-Pharmacy.

WVU

Students must earn a 4.0 grade point average to qualify for the President's List. Students from Berkeley Springs were: Lara Omps, English; Jesse Potts, Pre-English and Adam Ward, Pre-Psychology.

The Tri-State Thunder will hold 2008 tryouts August 15 and 22, 6-8 p.m. 16U at Hagerstown Fairgrounds. All ages at Pinesburg Softball Complex. August 19 & 26 4 p.m.-? All ages at Pinesburg Softball Complex.

They are a travel ball organization based in Hagerstown with players from West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. They offer good coaching and place lots of focus on college preparation and recruiting.

County high schools may implement new graduation requirements ahead of the rest of the state if school officials get their way. According to Director of Secondary and Career Education Laura Hovermale, the county has applied for a state waiver that would allow Berkeley Springs and Paw Paw High Schools to jump ahead with state graduation rules slated to start in the 2008-2009 school year.

Hovermale told school board members about the waiver at their July 2 meeting. The new graduation requirements could easily be implemented for incoming ninth graders this year, Hovermale said. That would give school officials extra time to meet state requirements the following year.

Parents of Morgan County four year olds will have a new place to enroll their children for free pre-Kindergarten classes during the 2007-2008 school year.

School officials unanimously approved plans for the early childhood classes in a July 2 agreement with Doodlebugs Learning Station on Oakland Road in southern Morgan County.

saraH renee byrD, daughter of Debra Byrd of Berkeley Springs, and graduated from Shenandoah University of Winchester Va., with a Bachelor of Science, Degree with a major in biology and kinesiology with a concenbration in physician assisted studies.

During her college years she was elected president of the Health Professions Organization and recipient of Who's Who Among College Students in American Colleges and Universities. She also earned her certified nursing assisted certification. She has been employed by Apple Blossom Family Practice sine June of 2006.