Submitted photo Chief Deputy Secretary of State Deak Kersey, left, presents Tygarts Valley High School seniors Avery Row-Sponaugle and Summer Lewis Smith with Honorary Secretary of State certificates for their work in registering 100% of the TVHS senior class to vote.

MILL CREEK — State officials have announced that Tygarts Valley High School has earned the prestigious Jennings Randolph Award for civic engagement.

West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner said the award is given to a West Virginia high school that hosts a student-led voter registration drive that registers at least 85% of the school’s seniors who are eligible to vote.

TVHS registered 100% of its eligible seniors to vote. Chief Deputy Secretary of State Deak Kersey visited the school last week to present the Jennings Randolph Award to TVHS Principal Steve Wamsley and social studies teacher Michelle Depp, who assisted the students with the voter registration drive at the school.

“I want to congratulate Tygarts Valley High School on earning this significant recognition,” Warner said. “Registering to vote changes the status of an individual from being a resident of West Virginia to being a citizen of West Virginia. The graduates of Tygarts Valley High School understand how important it is to be registered to vote.”

Kersey also presented TVHS seniors Avery Row-Sponaugle and Summer Lewis Smith with Honorary Secretary of State certificates for their work in registering 100% of the TVHS senior class to vote.

Initiated by the WV Secretary of State’s Office in 1994, the Jennings Randolph Award for Civic Engagement commemorates West Virginia’s late U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph’s legacy as the “Father of the 26th Amendment.”

One of the defining moments in voting rights history in America, the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971. 

The Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, an effort that Senator Randolph had first championed 29 years earlier, when Randolph was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.