WHEELING W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia elementary school principal has been honored as one of the nation’s top educators.
Principal Andrea Trio of Madison Elementary in Wheeling received a $25,000 Milken Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation on Thursday. Up to 40 elementary educators nationwide will receive the awards this school year.
Trio is known for walking through the school halls singing with children, using music and other social-emotional behavioral tools to calm her young students. Trio earned a bachelor’s in music education in 2005 from West Virginia University and a master’s in educational leadership in 2014 from Hood College.
At a school whose outdoor play area consisted of an asphalt lot surrounded by a chain link fence, Trio raised $250,000 to build a new playground. When the coronavirus pandemic closed school buildings in 2020, she established a remote learning center to provide meals, internet access, tutoring and support services to at-risk students.
“Ms. Trio understands the importance of caring for the whole child, and her school and community carry out that vision each day,” West Virginia Schools Superintendent David Roach said in a statement. “She and her team have ensured that the effective instructional practices include academic, behavioral and mental health support.”
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