Trending
Biola
ELKINS -- Elkins City Council recently received an update on the projects and activities of the Kump House and Education Center.
Dr. Heather Biola told council the Kump House organizers have stayed busy despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have not really reported in two years, we didn't report last year. So I need to report what's been done at Kump Center during the pandemic," Biola told city officials during the Nov. 4 City Council meeting.
"We did not try to have children come to the Kump Center when we could see that the COVID rate was high," she said. "We also had to suspend some of our activities when the college tutors were quarantined, and that happened more than once. So it's been interesting, but we have tried to provide some in-person and online tutoring for students throughout the pandemic of 2021 and '20.
"It didn't work out as well as we hoped, so we thought we would go ahead and do some more work in the summer with the schools, and we worked with the SOLE program. So then we were able to provide college-age mentors and tutors for students in three elementary schools."
Biola noted the Kump House officials found multiple ways to make an impact in student's learning and lives.
"We also did our Summer Science, which is very much like what we did other years," she said. "We've done it for the YMCA for about five years now, and this time we did it for the SOLE students who came over for their engagement. SOLE stands for Student Opportunities for Learning and Engagement.
"We did many activities about water and pollution of water and how to conserve water and so forth. Especially we're proud of our own wetland, which helps to clean up the river. They call it 'the liver for the river.' It does help clean up the water that comes through the plants in a healthy wetland."
Biola urged the city officials to visit the Kump House and see what's being done there.
"We have a unique space and I really feel the city did a wonderful thing when they decided to take the house and the property," she said. "So thank you and thank you for helping us to keep moving along."
Completed in 1925, the Kump House was home to the family of Herman Guy Kump, the 19th governor of West Virginia. The Kump house is owned by the city of Elkins today and is home to the Kump Education Center, which focuses on historic preservation and sustainability.
The Kump house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.