WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
COMMUNITY CATALYST ROBIN McCLINTOCK, HENDRICKS
impactful figures and creative writers from around the state. In West Virginia there are a lot of beautiful stories that go untold, and I think people don’t always believe in their own voice here.” THE SPEECH HEARD ’ROUND THE WORLD “I didn’t want to tell people things they already knew. I wanted to maybe agitate, push for some critical sort of thought, which is almost always lacking at school events.” INSPIRATION SOURCE “I think about my grandparents, who live here. My grandmother came to the United States when she was 18 and pregnant. She was learning English and navigating rural America on her own, entirely on her own, and ended up here. I think about this state and its immigrant population and how often we get a bad rep for being close- minded, and how much it’s so much the opposite.” AB THE HEALTH CARE ADVOCATE ANGIE SETTLE, CHARLESTON CEO of West Virginia Health Right A DESTINY FULFILLED “I have a picture of myself when I was 4 in a nursing outfit for Halloween.That’s all I ever remember wanting to do. I had big goals—I got my master of science in nursing from Marshall and my doctorate in nursing from the University of Alabama. SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN “I was lucky to find my niche at West Virginia Health Right. I did an internship and fell in love. Our mission is to provide quality health care to anyone in need, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. As a family nurse practitioner, I saw patients all day, every day. I became clinical coordinator, then I filled the CEO position in 2014. I talk to legislators at the Capitol, trying to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice. A lot of people go through life searching, but I’ve been blessed to find something that totally fulfills me.” WHAT MATTERS MOST “Work and family: that’s my life. I’ve been married for 32 years to my high school sweetheart, and we have eight children—six biological kids and two foster children who we recently adopted. Our oldest is 23 and our youngest is 2.”WH
THE INDEPENDENT EDUCATOR ELIZABETH HOFREUTER, WHEELING Head of Wheeling Country Day School and founder of The Center for Multisensory Learning LOVE CONQUERS “I switched my major when I was at Princeton University and went into a teacher prep program. I put a possible career in industry to the side and gave up all of my electives in my junior and senior year so that I could be in that program.There is no other profession without education. Every day I wake up and choose independent education, and I put a child first in every decision I make. Why does it have to be that 20,000 children have to be impacted for it to be a good program? Isn’t one life enough?” THE DRIVEN MOTHER “Ten years ago, we startedThe Center for Multisensory Learning at Wheeling Country Day School, and we did that because my child couldn’t recognize her letters. I went through all of those stages of grief that a parent goes through when there’s a diagnosis, and then I realized, ‘No, it’s not going to be a hard road ahead of her.We’re going to find out what needs to be done.’ We were lucky enough to run into a student teacher who knew the Orton-Gillingham methodology to help another student in the past. I hired her, andThe Center for Multisensory Learning was born.” NO BOUNDARIES “We’re taking the work that we do with our Center for Multisensory Learning, and we’re going to apply it in a remote platform so that we can serve students across the state of West Virginia and even beyond the state boundaries.”MM
An abstract artist who has taken on non-abstract community projects ON THE CANVAS AND BEYOND “For me, art is not separate from life; it’s an integral part of life. I’m a producer—whether it’s making paintings or making something happen. I make paintings by gathering information, interpreting, editing, and then committing to canvas. I bring that same creative problem-solving to my role in my community, identifying an issue and finding a solution. I want to do my part in making the world a more equitable place. I believe in personal responsibility, giving back more than I take.” BRINGING IT TOGETHER “Since 2019, I have been part of a four-person group working on two projects with potential to have a positive impact in our community. We bought an abandoned building in Davis with the idea of being able to help change people’s lives by offering a space for them to take themselves seriously as professionals, make a living, be self- sustaining and independent. We’re also building a community kitchen overlooking the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge as a way to help promote local food producers and grow our local economy. ” THE COMMUNITY “Helping a community look forward while respecting the past in a positive way is something that’s important to me. Helping people feel empowered is important to me, too.”AB THE BUTTON- PUSHING ORATOR MEERA HARTMAN, CHARLESTON The Capitol High School valedictorian whose graduation speech calling out the education system went viral EDUCATION FOR THE WIN “The foundational education I got at Montessori was really beneficial. I began reading for fun probably younger than most. I attended the Governor’s School for the Arts between sophomore and junior year for creative writing and got exposed to a lot of
“Helping people feel empowered is important to me, too.” ROBINMcCLINTOCK
82 wvliving.com • fall 2021
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker