Although the tragedy of the Calhoun County School’s bus accident continues to be foremost in the hearts and minds of it’s citizens and the constant prayers for the victims, the incident gave rise to the opportunity to recognize the strength and heroism of two of the students on bus # 5.
Governor Jim Justice along with “Baby Dog” traveled to Calhoun Middle High School on Monday, March 11th for a two fold mission. The first was to recognize Charter Cottrell and Lauren Lovejoy for their quick actions in helping the students who were injured in last week’s accident. Both Lauren and Charter, who were no doubt suffering their own issues from the accident, gave aid to those who were injured. For their selfless acts of caring for their classmates the two were awarded the “Distinguished West Virginian” Award that has only been given to a little greater than twenty people in the seven years that Governor Justice has been in office.
“There’s no guarantees in life that things will be fair every day, we just have to pick ourselves up and keep going,” were just a few of the many words of encouragement that Governor Jim Justice offered to the Students at Calhoun Middle High School as he spoke and presented the awards. Governor Justice’s country boy charm likely resonated with the youth of Calhoun as he shared his experience of growing up in West Virginia to become the Governor of our great State.
In addition to the student awards, Governor Justice presented a check to the Calhoun County Board of Education for $4,839,429.00 from the School Building Authority to renovate and restore security at Calhoun Middle High School.
Superintendent Michael Fitwater accepted the “big check” on behalf of the Schools.
