WEIRTON — Hancock County Schools is among 14 school districts accepted into a fellowship program focusing on news literacy.

The News Literacy Project announced this week Hancock County Schools will be the first school district in West Virginia to be selected into District Fellowship Program, joining its fourth cohort.

The three-year fellowship provides $30,000 grants and customized support to implement news literacy education throughout the district, in an effort to encourage students to think critically and engage responsibly while consuming news content.

“We are very excited for the collaboration between Hancock County Schools and The News Literacy Project,” said Kristin Bissett, Hancock County Schools’ federal program/student services/assessment director. “This fellowship will help us to equip students with essential skills in critical thinking, effective communication, and digital literacy, preparing them to thrive in an increasingly complex and connected world.”

As part of its participation, Hancock County Schools has created a committee comprised of Bissett; Morgan Bricker, journalism teacher and student media advisor at Weir High School who is serving as the Fellowship lead for the school district; Chris Enochs, adult education and secondary education director; and Erica Sauer, special programs/Pre-K/elementary director. Additional members will be added.

The team will be tasked with designing and implementing an action plan to instill news literacy skills in all Hancock County Schools students, beginning at the kindergarten level and working throughout their high school years.

“We are so fortunate and grateful for this amazing opportunity. Participating in the fellowship is going to help us find a way to address one of the most pressing challenges facing education – and really democracy – today: how to navigate an everchanging news and media landscape. We are all drowning in information, and this grant will give us the skills and resources we need to wade through it,” said Bricker.

The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan education nonprofit that works with teachers, school districts, states and community partners like libraries and after-school clubs to ensure students in all 50 states receive news literacy instruction before they graduate from high school.

Now in its fourth year, the fellowship spans 30 districts across 16 states, with the potential to reach more than 1.5 million students.