High Points of the Valley (Graphic Illustration)

* Ninety-five classes of students have been inducted into the Order of the Golden Horseshoe by the West Virginia Department of Education. The most recent class includes 32 eighth-graders from the Mid-Ohio Valley. The honor goes to students who have demonstrated a master of Mountain State history, and is one often cherished by many adults. Certainly, here in the newsroom there are those who, upon hearing the Golden Horseshoe mentioned, will exclaim “I got that my eighth-grade year!” or, more sullenly, “I didn’t make it.” After all, it is a point of pride to have learned so much about this wild, wonderful place we call home. Congratulations to those students in Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Pleasants, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt and Wood counties who are joining the ranks of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. Well done.

* Parkersburg’s annual Touch-A-Truck event is not just a fun way for kids to see life-sized versions of the toys they may be playing with at home, it’s also an opportunity to get inside those vehicles, explore, ask questions — maybe even begin to understand there are careers associated with those vehicles. At City Park, there were fire engines, backhoes, skid steers, vactor trucks, graders, even an ambulance. Kids learned a little bit more about the humans who operate these vehicles every day, too. Heather Marks, of WVU Medicine Camden Clark EMS, said once children have a chance to ask questions, it’s easy to see “their little imaginations run.” “They’ve been awesome. They’ve been really hands-on,” Marks said. “We’ve tried to make it a little bit fun instead of daunting, because obviously anytime they get in an ambulance, they go to the hospital.” Families may have been grateful for the distraction on a rainy weekend day, but for the children involved, the event is an important way to learn and become more connected to their communities.