We Have Hope

Welcome back to We Have Hope! We have a special guest on the show with us today. Alden Kiertzner, founding principal of Pathways Early College Academy is here with us to share about their program. PECA is an online High School Academy partnered with Pathways College.  Pathways College started with a mission to bring affordable college to every student. Through the process, they saw an opportunity...

In today’s episode, we are learning more about Emmanuel Christian School in Clarksburg, West Virginia. ECS focuses on providing a classical Christian education to their students. The school is in it’s 50th year! ECS is an extension of Emmanuel Baptist Church. They are first and foremost a ministry, so they are dedicated to helping families in any way they can. ECS is also a Hope Provider! Their be...

The process of preparing, getting accepted, and choosing a college can be overwhelming for both students and parents.. but today’s guest prides herself in helping families along the way. Jamie Dickenson is a Certified Educational Planner in Charleston, West Virginia. She typically begins her work with students when they are in 8th grade.  Jamie is extremely well versed in all aspects of college pr...

In today’s episode, we are sitting down with Heidi Treu, executive director and founder of West Virginia Academy. West Virginia Academy is West Virginia’s first charter school. After moving to West Virginia, Heidi & her husband started their children in public school. One year into their public education, it was apparent to the parents that their children were not thriving in this environment....

In today’s episode, we are chatting with Ashley Vernon, Development Director at St. Mary’s Grade School & Notre Dame High School. Ashley’s goal in her role is to continuously push the schools to move forward and grow. She has two daughters of her own that attend St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s offers Christ centered education for Pre-K 3 through 6th grade, and Notre Dame offers 7th through 12th grade. ...

Today on the show, we have special guest West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore. Treasurer Moore started out as a welder maintaining mining equipment. He worked his way through college, and went on to work on Capitol Hill on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as a National Security Advisor. Eventually, he left government and worked in the private sector defense industry. After some time, Treas...

Today on We Have Hope, we are chatting with our editor and friend, Victoria Evans. Victoria lives in Salem, West Virginia with her husband Travis and their two children.  In our conversation today, Victoria shares about challenges her daughter had before, during, and after the school shutdowns, and how school choice made a way for them to find freedom, flexibility, and stability in a time when the...

Seven years ago, Kristine Ayers Cline saw a need. She was in a field in which she worked with people with disabilities and she started to notice a pattern: Many of those she worked with would come into her office asking for help to file for social security benefits. She had the ability to help them file, but she chose first to try to inspire them instead. Her belief is that ‘everyone can do someth...

Welcome back to We Have Hope! In today’s episode, we sat down with Justin Zimmerman, Head of School at Linsly in Wheeling, WV to learn more about their school.  Linsly is an independent day boarding school that offers grades five through twelve. They offer day time school as well as boarding school for the upper grades. Founded in 1814, Linsly is the longest standing boarding school west of the Al...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope Podcast! Today on the show, we are chatting with Angie Channell, founder of Mountaineer Homeschool Hub. In 2011, Angie’s son came to her and asked her to be homeschooled. He was in second grade at the time and was being bullied in school. After some research and support of friends and her husband, Angie took the leap into homeschooling her son. Their homeschooling...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope Podcast! Today, we are chatting with Rishira Dille - Program Coordinator for WVU High School ACCESS Early College Program. WVU High School ACCESS Early College Program allows 10th-12th grade students to take college courses while still attending High School. The only requirement is a 3.0 grade point average. Students can apply on the program’s website which we will...

Welcome back, friends! Today on the show, we are joined by Katie Switzer, founder of Monongalia Forest School. Katie lives in Morgantown with her husband and four kids. In the summer of 2021, she began looking for a forest school for her kids to participate in.  When she didn’t find an option that was the right fit for her family, she decided to start her own! Katie reached out to a friend who had...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope Podcast! We have an exciting guest on the show today! Monica Say from Code With Nano is here to talk to us about coding and the one on one courses she has available. According to Monica - anyone can code! How exciting would it be for your child to learn to code and be able to look at their work and say ‘I did that!’?  This is an ever growing field and a wonderful s...

Welcome back to part two of our conversation with licensed social worker, Gabi Hayes.  In today’s episode, we dig deep into ‘Trauma Informed Care’ and what it looks like. We are so excited you decided to join us today! Episode Highlights: What is Trauma Informed Care? How Do You Determine if Someone is Trauma Informed? Simple Things You Can Do at Home to Manage Your Responses to a Child’s Behavior...

Sometimes it just takes that one person stepping up to change the course of a child’s life. In today’s episode, Kim & Leah sit down with licensed social worker Gabi Hayes to discuss everything from implementing various tools & techniques to breaking unhealthy generational cycles. Children have complex emotions and they need someone who will advocate for them and step into that space with t...

Did you know that your middle schooler could potentially take college courses? We are so excited to share today’s episode with you. We had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Joni Gray, Transitions Education Specialist with Pierpont Community and Technical College to talk about some of the educational opportunities they offer.  As Transitions Education Specialist, Dr. Joni Gray is available to he...

When Ashley Matheny was growing up, she always thought she would be a Public School Teacher. She imagined herself teaching for 30 years and then retiring. While she did end up teaching public school, it didn’t go exactly as planned. She taught for several years, but around year 4, she began to feel ‘burnt out’. After a medical leave of absence, Ashley ended up resigning. During her time of healing...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope podcast!  Today, we are chatting with Helen Bradley of The IDEA Center in Wheeling, West Virginia. Since 2019, Helen has been tutoring students one on one in this after school tutoring program. The I-D-E-A in IDEA Center stands for ‘Individual Development Education Assistance’. Something that really stands out about this program is the wide age range of students th...

Welcome back, friends! We are excited to share today’s episode with you! We had the chance to sit down with Roy Ramey, President of the West Virginia Home Educators Association to talk about all things homeschool. Roy is a retired military officer. He spent 33 years in active duty in the Reserves and Guard. At a young age, Roy developed a passion for homeschool, despite the fact that he was in the...

Welcome Everyone! Please Join Us to Celebrate National School Choice Week in West Virginia! This event is completely free to you and the first 50 families get a free swag bag! Come learn about school choice, celebrate your options together, and have a blast! The event will take place at Canaan Valley Ski Resort in Davis, West Virginia on Saturday, January 21, beginning at 11:00 AM. Come on in and...

In this week’s episode, we are chatting with Keri Hunter of Stand Together Trust. Keri is a mother to a seventh grader and a senior. Though her children are only teens, Keri has been in the School Choice movement for over 20 years.  Stand Together Trust is a broader philanthropic community looking to help solve some of the biggest challenges in America. One of such challenges is to transform K-12...

In this week’s episode of We Have Hope, we had a chat with Drew Villani about administration valuing students & parents input and supporting teachers & staff. With several years of experience in education, Drew is in his first year of being head principal at West Liberty Elementary & Bethlehem Elementary in Wheeling, West Virginia. He shared with us some of the ways he includes student...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope podcast! We are so excited to share today’s episode with you. We sat down with Cyndi Rookstool, director of Centerbranch Academy to chat about the schooling option they are offering.  Cyndi is originally from Orlando, Florida where she taught for 6 years. Her family moved to West Virginia around ten years ago, and she noticed there weren’t as many school options fo...

Sometimes you just have to be willing to be the first at something. About 6 years ago, Lynnette Haizlett saw a need. The community where she lived didn’t have many schooling options. They had public school and then one Christian school about a half hour away. After discussing it with her husband, he suggested that they start a Christian school. Though it would be a huge undertaking, this felt like...

Welcome back to the We Have Hope podcast!  Today, we are excited to share with you a conversation we had with Dr. Kathleen Miller, director of Cornerstone Christian Academy. Dr. Kathleen holds a Doctoral Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has completed doctoral coursework from Freedom Bible College.  She received her Bachelor's Degree with a Secon...