MORGANTOW, W.Va. — The first charter school established in West Virginia is being recognized for its efforts in the Mountain State.
The West Virginia Academy was named a finalist in the YASS Foundation’s annual YASS Prize, which highlights organizations across the country working towards transforming education. The charter school was one of eight finalists for the YASS Prize, where they received $500,000 along with the $200,000 award for being a semifinalist. Representatives from the two-year-old charter school were on hand to accept the award, which included participation in the Semi-finalist Showcase with educators from around the country. Executive Director and Co-Founder of the West Virginia Academy, Heidi Treu, participated in STOP (sustainable, transformational, outstanding, and permissionless) conversations that wrapped up the semifinalist showcase.
“Being from West Virginia, it’s a state that is notoriously stagnant,” said Treu during the Semifinalist Showcase. “And I think the only way that we can change education for these kids is to take that effort to change something, to do something permissionless, because they haven’t done in in a very long time,” she said.
The West Virginia Academy was one of thirty-three semifinalists who attended the YASS Prize awards ceremony in New York on Wednesday. The YASS Foundation recognized the Mountain State charter school for their efforts to present more choices for students who wish to take a new approach to education. This includes a method that deploys a mastery-based approach with a classical curriculum, instructing students at their individualized level of understanding, and frequent assessments to ensure students make monumental growth. For Treu and other West Virginia Academy administrators, the recognition was more than worth the struggles they endured to make the school with over 300 students a reality.
“I think we have been eye-opened and shocked when we actually look at the bureaucracy that they’ve created in districts and high-level educational spaces,” said Treu regarding the road to making the West Virginia Academy a reality.
With the charter school being named a YASS Prize finalist, they will have received a total of $800,000 from the YASS Foundation. Along with the cash prizes for advancing to the final eight schools, West Virginia Academy earned an extra $100,000 for being named a quarterfinalist. With the awarded funds intended to help with the growth of the organization, Treu and other administrators hope to use the clost to a million dollars in cash prizes to keep building and improving a school with 30 workers on staff and hopefully a 12th grade program and an additional campus.
“And I think in all of our realms and all of our areas, there is that chance that you have to take to reach the children that haven’t been reached in a very long time,” said Treu.
The West Virginia Academy was joined by 32 other semifinalists from across the county as part of the YASS Semifinalist Showcase. This includes organizations from over 25 states, including the YASS Prize Award going to Valiant Cross Academy, based in Montgomery, Alabama. Despite not winning the $1 million grand prize, the West Virginia Academy is ready to continue their work in the Mountain State and use $800,000 to present more options in education.
“I think the biggest thing is putting your voice out there, being heard, telling your story again and again,” said Treu. “There are states and areas, like the (Mississippi) Delta, things like that, that are not being seen,” said Treu.