Photo by Joselyn King The Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce honored Ohio County teachers and students with its annual “Partners in Education” awards during a luncheon at West Virginia Northern Community College. Pictured from left are John Culler, chairman of the chamber’s education committee; Luke Magruder, a student at Wheeling Central Catholic High School, winner of theKalkreuth Roofing and Sheet Metal scholarship; and Josh Wack of Kalkreuth Roofing.

WHEELING – Three Ohio County teachers were honored for their skills and dedication to education on Thursday, but all three denied their efforts were any greater than those of other teachers with whom they work.

The Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Partners In Education luncheon Thursday at West Virginia Northern Community College’s Culinary Arts Center.

Those honored were Stephanie Cirilli of Elm Grove Elementary, Cindy Stahanczyk of Triadelphia Middle School, and Michelle Thorngate of Wheeling Central Catholic High School.

Cirilli, who holds a doctorate in education, is a reading specialist at Elm Grove Elementary. She also works as an adjunct professor in the education department at Wheeling University.

She has been teaching for 18 years.

“I love teaching. I love my school and I love teaching at Elm Grove,” Cirilli said. “It’s a great place to work.

“I feel very blessed to be at Elm Grove Elementary. I feel like it’s such a family atmosphere. I enjoy working there, and enjoy my students very much.

She believes many other teachers are deserving of the Teacher of the Year award.

“I just try my best everyday for the kids, just like all the other teachers do,” Cirilli said. “I give them (students) everything I can to help them succeed.”

Stahanczyk teaches art – a job she has relished for 37 years.

“I absolutely love it. Art is such a wonderful thing,” she said. “It is more than about exploring lines, shapes and colors. In my classroom, I like to represent art as respect, acceptance and tolerance.

“I truly feel that when a student is feeling accepted enough to try new things, feels respected enough to falter, and feels tolerant enough to accept their classroom, that is when they are their best self to be the most effective and best learner.”

Stahanczyk also believes all teachers are “teachers of the year” who lead their students to feeling “validated, uplifted or just noticed” in the classroom.

“We work in a community that sees where meeting a child where they want to be is the first step in empowering them to be what they want to be,” she explained.

Thorngate, a biology teacher, was asked why she stood out for the honor.

“I’m not sure, and I don’t know what makes me stand out from any other teacher I work with in the building,” she said. “I just love what I do and the subject that I teach.”

She has been in education for 18 years.

She achieved her bachelor’s degree at West Liberty State College in 1998, then took time off to be a stay-at-home mother.

“I then jumped into teaching at the high school,” Thorngate added.

Each of the teachers received a plaque noting their honor, as well as a $400 gift card to purchase classroom items.

Also presented during the luncheon were $1,000 scholarships to two local students.

The scholarship applications were open to any high school senior who has attended school in Ohio County for at least one year and who plans to attend an eligible college or university – including Bethany College, Marshall University, Ohio University Eastern, West Liberty University, West Virginia Northern Community College, West Virginia University and Wheeling University.

Luke Magruder, a student at Central, was the recipient of Kalkreuth Roofing and Sheet Metal scholarship. Wheeling Park High School student Anna Contraguerro, meanwhile, received the Williams Lea Scholarship.

John Culler, chairman of the chamber’s education committee, explained winners were chosen through a blind application process by a nine-member board.

Members of the board were Culler, owner of Beyond Marketing; Rebecca Sancomb, principal at Central; David Crumm, operations director at Ohio County Schools; Maureen Kerr, principal at Our Lady of Peace School; Danielle McCracken, president of Oglebay Institute; Kerry Mulhern, vice president of continuing education and workforce development at WVNCC; Tammy Feiock, senior account director at Williams Lea; Tim Borchers, West Liberty University president; and Penny Cunningham, director of college counseling at The Linsly School.