Students, parents and representatives of companies, colleges and the military fill the Liberty High School gymnasium during the Harrison County Career Fair.
Kuhn
Davis
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — Students from around Harrison County gathered at Liberty High School on Wednesday to explore possible careers during the Harrison County Career Fair.
The gymnasium at Liberty was packed with recruiters for companies, colleges and the military to provide students with information and perhaps a clearer snapshot of what their future might look like.
Some parents also attended the event.
“The main goal is to make sure everyone has exposure,” said Scott Davis, secondary curriculum coordinator for Harrison County Schools. “We have a wide variety of colleges and careers here tonight. The ultimate goal is to give the students a wide variety of options for their future.”
Davis said the career fair always draws a crowd.
“I would say it is pretty popular,” he said. “We have invited every single high school in Harrison County, and I would say we have had a pretty good turnout. The students seem to be excited about figuring out what they want to do with their future.”
The career fair always drums up interest in West Liberty, said Aaron Kuhn, an admissions counselor at the university located in the Northern Panhandle near Wheeling.
“This is my third year attending the fair,” he said. “Harrison County is always good for us here at West Liberty. It always gives us good exposure, and we always get a lot of kids interested in coming to school here.”
A good portion of West Liberty’s students come from West Virginia, Kuhn said.
“A lot of talented students come from here,” he said. “West Liberty is a pretty popular school, not just in West Virginia, but around the nation. We have students from 35 different states that attend West Liberty. The majority of our students, however, are from West Virginia.”
The fair has been held for over a decade now, Davis said.
“The fair to my knowledge has been going on for 20 years,” he said. “For 20 years, we have been guiding the youth of Harrison County to figure out what they want to do with their lives. This is a good experience for them to see what options there are.”
Quintavious Williams, a senior at Liberty High School, said he came to the career fair to figure out what he wants to do after graduation.
“I came here to find guidance,” he said. “Graduating high school is scary, and I want to be prepared for my future. While I was walking around, I saw different career opportunities and a couple of colleges I am interested in.”
The medical field might be calling his name, Williams said.
“I am considering going to school,” he said. “I mainly want to go to school for something medical. I think I want to become a nurse, but I have time to decide what I want to do.”
John Aloi with the 101st Airborne Division while on deployment.
John Aloi in a Chinook helicopter cockpit.
Takeoff from the base runway.
John Aloi, second from right, with his son Tim Aloi, right, his sister Stephany, left, and his father Sam “Papa” at Papa Joe’s Famous Meats.
John Aloi joined the Army of his own accord in 1992.
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WV News) — Starting as a military police officer and then becoming a decorated helicopter and airplane pilot, John Aloi flew through dust and enemy fire for his fellow soldiers.
Aloi joined the Army in 1992 with the intention of funding his college education. He served as a military policeman in the Army Reserve while he pursued a degree in criminal justice.
In 1994, Aloi needed money to continue his education at Fairmont State, so he went on active duty and was deployed to the Republic of Panama. He served in Panama until 1998, when he returned home to join the Army National Guard to seek further training to obtain a government job.
However, his plans fell through, and Aloi rejoined the Army as an active duty soldier and later became an Arabic linguist.
After completing his linguist training, Aloi went to intelligence school at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas, where here he was recruited for aviation.
From 2000 to 2011, Aloi flew Chinook helicopters for the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
During that time, he served six combat deployments. Two were in Iraq and four in Afghanistan.
“Right in the beginning, after I came out of flight school in 2001, I was in Afghanistan,” Aloi said.
Whether flying in support, slinging in howitzers and Humvees or dropping off and picking up troops in combat zones, Aloi did it all. He flew well over 200 combat missions.
“A lot of times you don’t really think about it while you are doing it,” he said. “Then after, you kind of reflect.”
Aloi said that three times during his fifth year as a helicopter pilot he came close to dying.
One time, Aloi and his crew rescued a unit of British special forces who where pinned down. Aloi placed his helicopter between the soldiers and the enemy so that the special forces could be extracted.
“We had 20-some bullet holes in the helicopter after that one,” he said.
Aloi’s crew chiefs then quickly dispatched the enemy.
Within the month, on a drop mission, a gun support helicopter crashed in the forward Army and reviewing point, Aloi said. Jumping into action, he ran to pull the two fellow service members from the wreckage as it was catching fire. One of the men was stuck because his harness straps had jammed.
“I still remember cutting the two straps off of his legs,” Aloi said. “I am not going to let my brother burn inside this helicopter. I remember telling people that when I did it, [I said], ‘This may be it,’ because the flames were actually hitting the rockets.”
Weeks later, Aloi assisted a group of Army Rangers who had been bombed. He said that after landing to aid the fallen, he could see tracer rounds flying as friendly aircraft were shot at while evacuating soldiers. To avoid being hit, since the enemy knew they were coming, Aloi and his crew took off and headed north to avoid the gunfire.
“Everything just started blowing up,” he said. “Ten more seconds and I probably wouldn’t be here today.”
Since the area was being evacuated, operators thought the area was clear and moved to strike it.
After facing so much danger, Aloi requested transfer to fly large aircraft and was soon assigned to fixed-wing training.
He was stationed at the Stuttgart Germany Air base, and flew generals and ambassadors “all over Europe,” he said.
In 2015, Aloi went back to Fort Hood in Texas to assist with a growing need for intelligence and flight missions in Afghanistan. Aloi returned for his last tour in 2016 to fly airplanes.
Aloi finally returned home to Fairmont at the end of 2017, thanks to the extra leave time he had collected. He officially retired in 2018 as a chief warrant officer 4.
Aloi’s retirement plan was to fly for contract work, but he lost his ability to fly due to exposure while deployed.
Aloi explained that the day he pulled his two friends from that crashed helicopter, the fumes from the burning wreckage compromised his lungs and heart.
“Coming back home was great. I moved back home to within seven miles from where I grew up and was raised,” he said.
Aloi realized he “couldn’t sit still,” and went to work for the FBI for three years.
Recently, after spending some time with his family, Aloi began making sausage following a recipe that was passed down from his great-grandfather Papa Joe Manchin. After giving some away, Aloi was encouraged to open his own restaurant.
Papa Joe’s Famous Meats opened in Monongah, and Aloi runs the location with his son Tim and father Sam.
Aloi looks forward to Veterans Day.
“Veterans Day is more of a celebration and Memorial Day obviously is a memoralization to the guys who are gone, to think about them,” he said.
“When I think of a veteran, a veteran to me is someone who wrote a check to the United States government, up to including the price of their life. They are willing to give all that and be away from their families. Whether we agree with what we do or don’t do in a conflict, you’re there. You’re putting your life on the line so people back home can live comfortably.
“To be a veteran is kind of like being in a brotherhood with a group of people who are willing to make the same exact sacrifices as we did. It doesn’t matter what race you are, what religion, what sex you are, you’ve got that person’s back no matter what.”
John Aloi received the Legion of Merit, a Distinguished Flying Cross, a Soldier’s Medal, “a couple” of Bronze Stars, and nine Air Medals.
“That’s just doing stuff that veterans do. A lot of people may not have that just because they weren’t in the situation to be awarded, but if they were they would have the same thing.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — Gov. Jim Justice plans to back a 5% raise for teachers and state employees during the 2024 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature.
Justice, during a press briefing Wednesday, said the pay increase would offset proposed Public Employees Insurance Agency premium increases currently under discussion.
“I am absolutely going to put forward another 5% pay raise,” he said. “It should more than offset any raises in PEIA. We need to do that, and we need to accomplish that. And, without any question, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Justice said he hopes the proposal will “sail right through” the Legislature.
“At the end of the day, we want people to not be hurt by these increases,” he said of the higher PEIA premiums. “The increases are really and truly difficult to avoid, but we can offset with pay raises to where we will be putting at least as much money in somebody’s pocket that the increase is going to cost.”
On Monday, PEIA hosted the first in a series of public meetings scheduled throughout the month to solicit public input on changes under consideration for Fiscal Year 2025.
The proposed changes include a 10.5% premium increase for state fund employees; a 13% premium increase for local government employees, plus an eligible spouse surcharge of approximately $147; and a 10% increase for non-Medicare retirees.
These increases, which would go into effect in July, would be on top of the 24% premium increases implemented this year following legislation passed during the 2023 regular session.
PEIA’s five-year plan shows additional premium increases each year through 2028 — meaning employees could experience an increase of nearly 70% over five years if the changes are approved.
The PEIA Finance Board is expected to take a final vote on the proposed changes next month.
On March 17, Justice signed into law several bills passed during the 2023 regular legislative session, including Senate Bill 268 and Senate Bill 423.
Justice described SB 268, which included the first premium increases to PEIA in more than a decade, as “close to a permanent fix for PEIA.”
SB 423 provided a one-time, $2,300 salary increase to public employees.
“It backstops the increase in premiums to PEIA,” Justice said. “Anybody that their pay is less than $133,000 per year will end up with a pay raise and their PEIA (increases) covered. So, to me, it’s a major step in the right direction.”
At the time, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, chair of the West Virginia Senate Finance Committee, described the PEIA bill and the employee pay raise bill as essential elements of the $750 million tax reform package.
“In order to make all this work, we needed the tax cut, we needed a (public employee) pay raise, and we needed PEIA fixed,” he said.
PEIA was facing a shortfall of nearly $400 million by 2027 unless lawmakers devised a way to give the ailing insurance program an infusion of funds, Tarr said.
“It requires a premium increase that has not been increased for 12 years,” he said. “For 12 years, think of any private insurance, if you have health insurance, you’re not a public employee, how many times has your health insurance went up?”
Senate Bill 423 was designed to negate the PEIA increases, Tarr said.
“In that pay raise piece, no public employee, regardless of their income level, has a premium increase that exceeds their pay raise. The ones where it’s less have the biggest tax cut,” he said.
The next public hearing on the proposed PEIA changes will take place Thursday in Morgantown at the Holiday Inn on Pineview Drive. The meeting will start at 5 p.m., with the public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m.
Additional meetings will be held in Charleston on Monday, in Bluefield on Tuesday and a virtual meeting will be held Thursday.
For more information, visit peia.wv.gov.
West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty called for legislation to ensure county boards of education meet educational responsibilities while state Superintendent of Schools Michelle Blatt listens.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Legislature needs to step in to provide mechanisms to better hold county boards of education accountable for not meeting required benchmarks or financial responsibilities, says West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty.
The board met Wednesday in Charleston for its monthly meeting.
Hardesty, speaking after comments made by representatives of teachers and administrators, said he is working with the state Department of Education to present a bill, the Local Accountability Act of 2024.
“[The Legislature] mandated that they want local control in county school systems,” Hardesty said. “I said, you’ve got one piece of it right. You’ve got local control. But you forgot the second: There is no local accountability.”
Hardesty’s criticisms came as the state Board of Education decided to intervene in the Hampshire County Schools special education program after a review found numerous issues.
The board voted Wednesday to declare a state of emergency for the county’s special education program.
The vote came after the presentation of a special circumstances review report and following three years of “needs assistance ratings” for the county’s special education programs beginning in 2021.
“This would allow us to provide additional support, considering that this has been three years of working with Hampshire County Special Education Services to make improvements,” said state Superintendent Michelle Blatt. “This would allow us … to assign a designee there to support that school, along with requiring the hiring of consultants and support staff to be employed by Hampshire County Schools as part of a state of emergency.”
A special circumstance review of the special education program was conducted in September following little to no progress by Hampshire County Schools toward a targeted improvement plan required by the department’s Office of Special Education.
The review found Hampshire County Schools received a $49,865 grant through the West Virginia Guideposts to Graduation program for the 2022-2023 school year to improve graduation outcomes for students with disabilities, but spent those funds on activities unrelated to the grant. While the school system received another $46,000 for the 2023-2024 school year, those funds have not been spent.
Hampshire County also received a “needs substantial intervention” designation through the federal Disabilities Education Improvement Act Part B, which requires the state to withhold federal funds from the county until the designation is lifted. The Department of Education will use the withheld federal funds to hire a contract employee for the county to assist with special education services.
An individual education plan specialist position at the county has been vacant since last year. Instead of seeking a new specialist, the county instead split the one position into two part-time positions. While the review team looked at 45 random IEPs, 29 of the plans included at least one unverified service, plus incomplete and out-of-date files.
“This indicates many students with disabilities may not be receiving special education services in the frequency or durations determined necessary by the IEP team,” the report stated. “During the file review process, several examples of students being either overserved and/or underserved with special education or related services based on the documentation and schedule provided were noted.”
The state of emergency is only for Hampshire County’s special education program, and its Board of Education will remain in control of the county’s five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.
A state of emergency is one step below state intervention, when the Department of Education takes over control of a county school system due to extreme negligence. The department initiated interventions in Upshur County earlier this year and Logan County last year. If progress for a plan for Hampshire County shows no improvement in six months, the state Board of Education could decide to do a full intervention.
“When we get involved, it usually comes to where it’s a nuclear option,” Hardesty said. “Until board members decide on a local level to hold their people accountable and put student achievement first, we’re not going to do any better.”
While he provided no details about what could be in the Local Accountability Act, Hardesty said the goal of the proposed bill would be to hold local elected boards of education accountable when they ignore their fiduciary responsibilities or duties to improve educational attainment for students.
“When the superintendent makes a recommendation, if the board arbitrarily overrides that based on Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat or what have you and not on sound doctrine, they’re held accountable,” Hardesty said.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WV News) — Human remains were recovered recently near a residence in Harrison County’s Meadowbrook Community and have been sent for analysis and autopsy, according to State Police Sgt. Kyle Totten.
A lengthy probe by the Bridgeport Detachment of West Virginia State Police has resulted in the location and recovery of human remains in the Meadowbrook area of Harrison County.
The remains were found as a result of a lengthy criminal investigation by members of the Bridgeport Detachment of the State Police, according to Totten, Bridgeport Detachment commander.
Sgt. Totten
Members of the Bridgeport Detachment and the State Police Troop 1 Crime Scene Team went to the area to execute a search warrant Friday and deployed a police dog trained in cadaver recovery, according to Totten.
That led to the discovery of the remains, according to Totten.
The West Virginia Office of Chief Medical Examiner is handling the autopsy.
The investigation is active and ongoing, Totten said.
Further information will be released at a later date pending notification of kin, Totten said.
More than 100 WVU Hospitals employees were honored Wednesday evening at the organization's annual awards ceremony.
Honorees at Wednesday's WVU Hospitals annual awards dinner were recognized in eight categories.
Those in attendance at Wednesday's WVU Hospitals annual awards dinner were treated to a wide array of desserts.
Bravo! Special Events Coordinator Marissa Bailey and Manager of Special Events Katie Davis discuss the annual WVU Hospitals awards dinner.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — WVU Hospitals held its annual awards ceremony Wednesday evening, a night dedicated to honoring more than 100 employees for their continued commitment to the region’s health care needs.
The event, held at the WVU Erickson Alumni Center, was planned by WVU’s four-person Bravo! team led by Bravo! Manager of Special Events Katie Davis and Special Events Coordinator Marissa Bailey.
Davis and Bailey said that each year, the awards ceremony aims to recognize the hospital system’s outstanding employees for their achievements and dedication to patients.
“This evening is really celebrating the best of the best,” Bailey said. “This is one of, if not the most, formal event that the Bravo! Award Recognition program produces throughout the year. We invite those who are honored, as well as their leaders, to come and dress up for the evening and have a plated dinner and social hour.”
The event was subtitled “An Enchanted Evening,” which Davis said underlined the importance of the event itself and the many honorees.
“It’s just a night that’s super special to everybody in this room,” she said. “It’s a night that they can step away from work and acknowledge accomplishments throughout the year. It’s just magical, and that’s the best way to describe it.”
Throughout the year, employees are able to nominate their coworkers for awards in eight different categories, including team performance, quality, patient satisfaction and others.
West Virginia University Hospitals President Dr. Michael Grace said recognizing and honoring employees at events such as the annual awards dinner cannot be more important.
“A lot of organizations fall short in that regard,” Grace said. “It’s more than compensation. People need to feel like they’re respected and appreciated and that the good work they do is acknowledged by people like me. It’s important that the CEO of a hospital say ‘thank you’ and knows of the good work that’s going on at all levels of the organization. ...
“This is honestly one of my favorite things, because I firmly believe that the best leaders are those who actually serve their people. For me to be able to bestow awards on people is really rewarding to me, and it’s truly one of my favorite events of the year.”
Davis and Bailey said they are thankful to be able to plan these events — along with their team members Sandi West and Brinley Harrast — throughout the year showcase all of WVU Hospitals’ employees.
“It’s very rewarding to me,” Davis said. “It’s the biggest and happiest part of my job to see the smiles on everyone’s faces at the end of the evening and know that we made a difference.”
Bailey shared her sentiment.
“Reward and recognition is a huge part of the employee experience, and it’s really great that we’re able to bring our minds together as a small team of four to really make an impact for thousands at WVU Hospitals and WVU Medicine as a whole,” she said. “Tonight is a combination of many months of work and blood, sweat and tears coming together to make an enchanting evening for all involved.”
