Hedgesville High School

Don't tell David Lopez that winter is just around the corner. He's already preparing for next summer. Lopez resigned last week as Hedgesville High School's football coach after nine seasons without a winning record. While he'll miss coaching - or more accurately, he'll miss the kids he coaches - he admits to looking forward to a couple days off. "I sat down with my wife and talked about it and this will be my first summer off in 23 years," said Lopez. "People don't understand.

The world opens up for high school graduates. Options abound - work, the military, college, marriage. But two local young women - Diane Draper of Williamsport and Jensen Roman of Falling Waters, W.Va. - took a less common path after school. They each wrote and published a novel. In getting their stories into print, Draper and Roman had to confront obstacles - friends' doubts, family expectations and the authors' own fears and insecurities, not to mention the challenge of sticking with the solitary work of writing for months and months.

Hedgesville High School received a national High Schools That Work Pacesetter School award Wednesday in New Orleans. Hedgesville High School is one of only 20 high schools in the nation and one of two in West Virginia to receive the Pacesetter Award in 2007. To earn this recognition the school met a variety of criteria, including meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) criteria of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. See Thursday's Herald-Mail newspapers for the full story.

charlestown@herald-mail.com HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. - A Hedgesville High School senior who was well-known among her classmates was killed Tuesday morning in a head-on collision on W.Va. 9 west of Hedgesville near the intersection with Baxter Road, according to police and school officials. It is believed that April Marie Stefanko, 17, was killed on impact when the Buick she was driving hit a Dodge pickup truck about 7:30 a.m., said West Virginia State Police Trooper E. M. McFarland.

marlob@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - As Hedgesville High School Principal Don Dellinger prepared to watch the 284 members of the class of 2005 receive their diplomas Saturday, he said he was inspired by their efforts throughout their high school years. "This class has had to put forth a lot of good, good work," Dellinger said. The ceremony at Shepherd University's Butcher Center began with the traditional pomp and circumstance. Mixed in were some cheers, some tears and a lot of amateur shutterbugs trying to immortalize their own special graduate.

Hedgesville High School, which has won the boys state AAA track championship twice without actually having a track on campus, might finally be able to get some home-field advantage. The Berkeley County Board of Education voted Monday night to advertise the site-preparation work for an eight-lane track at the school. “These kids deserve it,” Berkeley County Schools Superintendent Manny P. Arvon said after the meeting. If the project's financing works in the school district's favor, the site work will be part of a two-phase plan, Arvon said.

HEDGESVILLE, W.VA. - Despite some of the ill feelings over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, dozens of high school students and family members showed up at Hedgesville High School Sunday to learn about careers in the military. The day was set aside to allow students to learn about U.S. service academies, which offer undergraduate training of commissioned officers for the country's armed forces. The academies are a popular way to receive a paid education and with the educational programs offering about $250,000 worth of college training, students are "eager to take it," said Ray Shipley, a retired Navy reservist who was helping students learn more the U.S. Naval Academy.

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. ? For a short time Saturday afternoon, Hedgesville High School teacher Frank DiNicola was "The King of Bling. " Volunteered to play the part in magician Michael T. Myers' show, DiNicola donned a green and blue cloth hat trimmed in gold to help entertain 12 elementary school-age children who were treated to the annual Christmas party organized by students in the school's marketing club, known as DECA. Prompted to say "I have it all" when tapped on the shoulder during the skit, the marketing teacher elicited laughter from the youngsters who gathered in the high school's cafeteria for the student club's 27th party.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com HEDGESVILLE - West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise pledged Tuesday night that neither the PROMISE Scholarship nor the Higher Education Grant Program will be cut or receive less funding, despite the state's projected $250 million budget shortfall and impending budget cuts. Wise made the announcement during a financial aid workshop for parents and students at Hedgesville High School. Around 100 people attended. After the workshop, Wise told reporters that over the next four years, $27 million in lottery funds have been allocated for the merit-based PROMISE Scholarship program.