Superintendent's Message

Dear West Muskingum Community,
     I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments of our students this winter season. 
     Everyone knows about the great run our boys made to the Final Four basketball tournament, along with our girls basketball team advancing to the
Sweet 16. Not only did our athletic programs excel these last few weeks, our fine arts programs were also on full display with outstanding awards in OMEA competitions and of course, another hit musical, Big Fish.
     We are blessed at West Muskingum to have so many talented students, teachers, coaches, and administrators, not to mention our supportive community. 
     The state basketball tournament is one of the biggest spectacles in Ohio high school sports and for West Muskingum to be part of it for the first time in school history was quite an accomplishment. Our community showed up in full force to celebrate!  We had a great send-off at our community pep rally with a really nice crowd.  Multiple booster groups and school supporters sponsored various aspects of our cheerleaders and team’s Final Four appearance. 
     Prior to the team's tip-off at 10:45 a.m., I arrived at the gym at 9 a.m. for a meeting and was greeted with a line of fans in blue and gold waiting to get in the arena.  Just what I was hoping to see. Little did I know, when I came out of the meeting at 9:45 a.m., that our whole student section would be filled as well as all of our seats in the 100 and 200 level of the arena stretching up to the 300 level. Two hours away from West Muskingum, on a Friday morning, a sea of blue and gold filled the gym to show support for our students and community.

Community - “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”  -- Oxford Languages

     Nine years ago when I was named Superintendent of West Muskingum Local Schools more than one person asked why I would take this job because they claimed, “West doesn’t have a community.” I think I speak for the vast majority of our families when I say we do have a community, and our community is on The Hill!  We are a proud school community and that has never been more evident than in Dayton where our team played their hearts out, our cheerleaders cheered their hearts out, and our students from preschool to seniors in high school showed up to cheer their hearts out, along with our staff, teachers, bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, and paraprofessionals who traveled to Dayton to support our team.
     That’s what small towns do; they support each other in good times and in tough times. I was there all weekend, and I can tell you that the small community schools like West Muskingum and Maysville certainly showed up. I can’t say as much for the other schools that played in our division. We had more fans in attendance on a single day than the three schools competing in our division had combined over two days. 
     Our students had an exceptional season;  one that will be remembered and commemorated for years to come.  I’ll certainly remember the great plays throughout the year for both the boys and girls teams, but I’ll also remember that our kids learned how to handle adversity, how to battle in tough situations, and how to do it all with class.
     I certainly have a ton of memories from the 2025-2026 winter season, but I know I’ll never forget the unbelievable sense of pride that I had standing on that floor looking up at all the people I’ve met and gotten to know over the last 30 years and the incredible sense of pride that I have in the West Muskingum community.
     Thank you for the unforgettable season!
      Mr. Chad Shawger