Educators throughout West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle packed their sleeping bags, camp chairs and hiking shoes and headed toward the heart of Hardy County to participate in a weekend retreat focusing on agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay. On September 18th-20th, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture held the first West Virginia Potomac Headwaters Educational Retreat at the Hardy County 4-H Center, in Hardy County West Virginia. Traditional elementary, middle, and high school teachers, as well as technical, special needs, gifted, and vocational agriculture teachers participated in this year’s event. Also in attendance was an Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team Americorps VISTA, who is currently compiling and aligning watershed curricula for an online database for teachers and outreach educators in Appalachia. Learning sessions included Project WET (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection), Ag in the Classroom (West Virginia Department of Agriculture), South Branch of the Potomac River curriculum (West Virginia Department of Agriculture), Interpretive Hikes (West Virginia Division of Forestry) and a Stream Survey (Cacapon Institute and West Virginia Department of Agriculture). Linda Cacopardo, a gifted teacher from Romney Elementary School said, “It [the workshop] was a very enlightening and energizing experience. Give yourself a huge pat on the back!" If you would like to know more about the retreat or other educational opportunities, please contact Amanda Sullivan, WVDA at 304/538-2397 or asullivan@ag.state.wv.us Sponsors: http://www.wvagriculture.org/ http://www.wvdep.org/ http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/ http://www.wvforestry.com/ http://www.wvca.us/bay/ http://www.chesapeakebay.net/