This year’s event has been scheduled for April 23–27 and Manchin will present the proclamation to CEDAR, or the Coal Education Development and Resources of Southern West Virginia, on April 10, 2007 at 1.15pm during a ceremony in the West Wing governor’s reception room at the State Capitol.
CEDAR president Georgene Robertson confirmed for International Longwall News that the ceremony is public and all are invited to attend.
“CEDAR educates young people in the southern part of the state about coal and its benefits through grant initiatives and coal educational fairs,” Robertson said.
“The Tug Valley Mining Institute will host their monthly dinner meeting on Thursday night at the Harless Center with guest speaker Bill Raney [of the] WV Coal Association.
“Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College’s Coal Academy, MSHA and the Aracoma Holmes Safety Council and the West Virginia Department of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training have displays and volunteers that work with the CEDAR program during this very exciting week.”
The annual coal fair is held much like a traditional science fair, with students from grades 1-12 presenting their projects in seven categories comprising art, English, science, mathematics, music, social studies and multimedia technology. The projects are judged by industry professionals in the divisions of grade levels 1–4, 5–8 and 9–12; the winners in each division and overall are eligible to win prize money.
