The Governor’s School for Tourism (GST) equips students with knowledge of the tourism industry in West Virginia, taking students to key locations across the state that set West Virginia apart from other travel destinations.

The GST will launch in the summer of 2024, providing selected 9th and 10th grade students with opportunities to tour West Virginia for 10 days, learning about the tourism and hospitality sectors of our economy through hands-on experiences and introducing a wide variety of career paths in one of the state’s fastest-growing industries. Students will stay at multiple state park lodges and visit historical and other significant landmarks across Almost Heaven. This exciting experience is being planned as a collaboration between the West Virginia Department of Tourism, West Virginia University, and the West Virginia Department of Education.

The GST requires high schools and county boards of education to actively recruit and assist 9^th and 10^th grade students during the application window. The school counselor should not be the only individual involved in recruitment. Information should be shared with CTE centers and teachers. Please use the flyer attached below to share this information in classrooms and with teachers who may be able to promote the program.

High School Responsibilities

• Inform all qualifying students of their eligibility. Speak with students about the merit of the GST.
• Inform students of the application.
• Communicate with the county contact about deadlines to ensure students from the high school have submitted their applications with sufficient time for the school counselor to scan documents and make selections to the county.
• The school counselor must scan student applications as PDF files and establish a committee to determine who will be nominated by the principal. The principal must sign the recommendation form and scan it as a PDF. All PDF student applications and the principal recommendation are sent electronically to the county contact. Each county will have its own deadline for schools. The state deadline for counties to submit their recommendations to the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) is April 26, 2024.
• The school counselor must print transcripts and first-semester student grades as required in the application.

GST Principal Recommendation Form

County Contact Responsibilities

• Review all the information about the GST on the WVDE website.
• Establish a county deadline for schools to submit PDF files of student applications and principal recommendations for consideration at the county level. The state deadline for counties to submit the superintendent nomination form is April 26, 2024.
• Share the PDF flyers with all middle school principals and counselors to post and share with students and parents
• The county contact must convene a county selection committee to select ONE student for the GST. Alternates may be recommended within the superintendent form. Please plan accordingly.
• The county contact should complete the superintendent’s recommendation form, ask the superintendent to sign it, and scan it into a PDF file. Please submit the PDF file and the PDF student applications of the nominated students to the state file upload folder.

Please label the PDF as the county name and 2024 GST Superintendent Recommendation (i.e. Pocahontas_2024GST_SuperintendentRecommendation).

• State Submission Folder
• GST Superintendent Recommendation Form

If you have questions, please contact Dustin Lambert, WVDE State Coordinator of West Virginia Governor’s Schools – dllambert@k12.wv.us or (304) 558-5325.

Drop Off and Pickup

Please be advised, parents are required to drop off students in Wheeling, WV on June 20th and pick up students in Berkeley Springs, WV or Morgantown, WV on June 29th.

Handbook and Itinerary

The student handbook and daily itinerary are currently being drafted for 2024. We will share this information soon to inform students and parents of expectations and what the experience may look like for the duration of the school.

Information and events within the documents are subject to change as the hosting college/universities/organizations prepare for the summer. Please only use the information as a guide to what might be expected during GST.

2023 GST Student Handbook – Coming Soon
2023 GST Itinerary – Coming Soon

The West Virginia Department of Education maintains a Facebook page to showcase students during each school. Please visit the page to view all the exciting activities going on throughout the summer. 

Thank you for your interest in the GST. Please review the qualifications listed below before completing this part of the application.

Required Qualifications:

1. Must be a current high school student in West Virginia with plans to attend next year.
2. Must be a West Virginia resident.
3. Must be a freshman or sophomore at the time of application.
4. Must have a grade-point average of at least 3.0.
5. Must satisfy all immunization requirements according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR). Non-public school and homeschooled students must provide proof of immunizations.

The school counselor must be involved in the application process for the GST. Please provide sufficient time for school personnel to secure the required documents for the application.

Within the application, students will be required to secure TWO teacher recommendations. Please provide sufficient notice to teachers prior to submitting the application.

Application Part I

Application

A PDF version of Part I is provided here. We recommend collecting all required documents within the application before starting the online form. We do not accept PDF versions of Part I. Please submit this part online only.

Part I goes directly to the WVDE. Students must complete this part of the application below starting Part II.

Application Part II

Part II of the application requires students to type information within the PDF and print pages to be completed by the school counselor and principal.

• Non-fillable PDF
• Fillable PDF

Important: Once you have all the required signatures and supporting documents, please scan all documents into one PDF file and electronically submit it to the school counselor for review by the school selection committee. Once the PDF has been submitted to the school counselor, the application process is complete for the student.

The state deadline for applications from the county superintendent is Friday, April 26, 2024.

The GST employs both faculty and a nurse to accomplish the mission and goals of the program. These positions are considered part-time and require specific qualifications.

GST Faculty

Required Qualifications:

• Reside full time in WV and be able to demonstrate knowledge of the state
• Have a 4-year degree, or equivalent work experience
• Hold a teaching certificate, or experience working with youth in teaching or youth leadership roles
• Be fully available for the 10-day duration of GST tour
• Be available for approximately 16 hours of virtual onboarding, training, and curriculum development meetings that will occur between hire date and GST
• Be capable of working long days in physical and outdoor environments
• Pass a background check and complete youth protection trainings

Preferred Qualifications

• Hospitality, tourism, or WV history teachers

Due to the extraordinary volume of applications submitted, the directors of GST have notified us that they will be closing the application portal. If you have already begun an application, please finalize that submission by midnight, Wednesday, May 1st, to ensure that your application will be reviewed before the selection process commences.

The directors have also notified us that they will contact each candidate to the status of their application before or when they finalize their offers. We are all humbled by the depth of talent and enthusiasm that we have seen from our great state, and we want to thank everyone who has applied for putting in their time and effort to this opportunity!

GST Nurse

Required Qualifications:

• Hold a RN, BSN, NP, or MD degree
• Be fully available for the 10-day duration of GST tour
• Be available for up to 16 hours of virtual onboarding, training, and curriculum development meetings that will occur between hire date and GST
• Be capable of working long days in physical and outdoor environments
• Pass a background check and complete youth protection trainings

Preferred Qualifications:

• Reside full time in WV and/or be able to demonstrate knowledge of the state
• Experience teaching or in youth leadership roles

Application link coming soon