It was our pleasure to travel to Smithville Elementary School last week to award the O. Eugene and Mary Scott Smith Memorial Fund grant to Smithville Elementary School. This year’s $2,000 grant award will support Kindergarten teacher Holli Vaughan to pursue her Master’s of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. The online education format will allow her to pursue her M.Ed. while maintaining her current busy schedule as an elementary classroom teacher, middle and high school cross-country coach, and active parent and community member.
Vaughan became inspired to pursue a graduate degree after taking a continuing education class focused on reading instruction. In addition to supporting her success as a teacher in her classroom and enhancing her effectiveness as a mentor and team member in her close knit school serving students in pre-K through fourth grade, Vaughan explained that this program will also support her long-term goal to eventually be able to serve as a coach and consultant for other schools across the state who are interested in replicating the kind of success the teaching team at Smithville has achieved. This small, rural Ritchie County school is consistently ranked the top elementary school in the state of West Virginia.
Paula Lichiello, founder to the O. Eugene and Mary Scott Smith Memorial Fund and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, traveled from her home in Virginia to present the award. Paula herself has carried on her family’s tradition of supporting and promoting education, working for over two decades in a variety of settings including in preschool, in middle school, and in graduate education at the University of Lynchburg. Paula expressed that the opportunity to support passionate teachers, like Holli, is the perfect way to celebrate and continue her grandparents’ legacy.
In fact, this presentation was the second meeting between Paula and Holli. Holli received one of the first grants ever made from the O. Eugene and Mary Scott Smith Memorial Fund back in 2014 to enhance STEM education in her Kindergarten classroom. The Lego blocks supplied through that grant are still in her classroom today and still enjoyed by each year’s class of young students.
Both Mary and Gene Smith were natives of Ritchie County, and both were educated in Ritchie County schools. Mary (1909-2010) had a teaching degree from Salem University and taught at Cornwallis and Cairo before she and Gene (1908-1987) moved to Wood County where Mary also taught for several years.
In her youth, Mary Scott Smith was forced to drop out of school due to the economic pressures of the Great Depression, and that experience helped fuel her dedication to supporting and encouraging educators, a commitment that is carried on today through this annual grant that supports professional development or post-graduate studies for Ritchie County educators, and/or academic school improvement needs of Ritchie County schools.
Applications for the O. Eugene and Mary Scott Smith Memorial Fund grant are accepted annually from educators or administrators of Ritchie County Schools. For more information or to suggest or nominate a teacher or school for this award, please contact PACF Senior Program Officer Maribeth Saleem-Tanner at maribeth.saleem-tanner@pacfwv or 304-428-4438.
Pictured left to right: Smithville Elementary School Principal Casey Kerns, Holli Vaughn, Maribeth Saleem-Tanner, and Paula Lichiello.
