WVU Extension Praises Schwertfeger for ‘Excellence’ in Northern Panhandle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To be archived (Adminstration) after October 20, 2008

Norm Schwertfeger’s exemplary work in Northern Panhandle communities was recognized by West Virginia University Extension Service (WVU-ES) at an awards ceremony held recently at WVU Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp, Weston.

Schwertfeger is a WVU Extension agent and associate professor in community, economic and workforce development. He received the WVU-ES Individual Faculty Performance Excellence Award for his community development accomplishments in Brooke, Hancock, Marshall and Ohio counties. 

The Extension educator has secured grant awards totaling $546,000 for projects in tourism, historic restoration, youth development and economic development in the Northern Panhandle.

For the past four years, Schwertfeger has secured grant funding for a litter control program in Brooke County. This year, he also helped Hancock, Marshall and Ohio counties obtain similar grants.

His accomplishments also include leading a collaborative endeavor to secure $200,000 for exterior restoration of an 1834 tollgate house. He has led efforts to obtain funds to create three youth basketball courts, to replace the Brooke Hills Park water line and to install lights on the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge crossing the Ohio River between Weirton and Steubenville.

Schwertfeger is among county-based WVU-ES educators who work with West Virginians to improve their lives and communities. Extension agents and specialists help develop and implement diverse projects—ranging from those that guide youths as they discover career paths to those that teach firefighters how to save lives and property.

WVU-ES’s four major program areas are 4-H Youth Development; Families and Health; Agriculture and Natural Resources; and Community, Economic and Workforce Development.

WVU-ES has offices in each of the state’s 55 counties. Schwertfeger is headquartered in the WVU Brooke County Extension Service office at 840 Charles St., Wellsburg.

The WVU Hancock Extension office is 104 N. Court St., New Cumberland.  In Marshall County, the office is on Eastern Fourth St., Route 3 Box 213-A, Moundsville. In Ohio County, the WVU Extension is at 51 16th St., Wheeling. 

—WVU-ES—

fsm 11/07

Last modified November 15, 2007
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