Wheeling Park High School graduate Renee Griffin landed her dream job when she became the Ohio County Schools child nutrition director in 2010.
Griffin graduated from Park in 1987 in the top 10 percent of her class. She attended Steenrod Elementary School, Woodsdale Elementary School and Triadelphia Jr. High. Griffin is a licensed dietician who graduated from West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and a master’s degree in community health education.
Griffin previously worked in hospitals and nursing homes, but she always wanted to work with young people. She believed she would one day return to Ohio County Schools and Wheeling Park High School.
“My dream job was to come to Ohio County Schools,” Griffin said. “I always wanted to work in school nutrition and in the school system that I went through. I applied when the job came open, I was so excited when I got it. I always talked about how much I wanted to be here, and it’s been very rewarding. Realizing the impact you have on students is huge.”
Griffin takes her job quite seriously. She cares about the students, and she wants them to have nutritious meals. She also wants them to have meals they enjoy. For that reason, she travels to all of the system’s schools and discusses menu options with them. Griffin also lets them test food options and adds them to the menu if they are popular with the students.
Griffin said she received an excellent education in Ohio County Schools and at Wheeling Park High School. She said she had excellent teachers, and she fondly remembers biology teacher Barbara Sterling and anatomy teacher Cathy Banco.
“I feel that I was exceptionally well prepared for college,” Griffin said. “The science background I received in high helped me tremendously in college. My favorite teachers were difficult, but they were great at getting you to learn.”
Another of Griffin’s favorite teachers was her mother - Elizabeth McKee. McKee taught in Ohio County Schools for 35 years at Triadelphia High School and then at Wheeling Park High School. She was also the chair of Wheeling Park High School’s Business Education Department, and she coached her daughter on the Patriot cheerleading team.
Griffin’s husband, Mike Griffin, is a 1985 graduate of Wheeling Park High School. Their first daughter, Kacie Griffin graduated from Park in 2017, and she graduated from WVU in 2021 with a degree in exercise physiology. Their youngest daughter, Karlee Griffin, graduated from Park in 2020, and she is a junior at WVU where she is pursuing a degree in health and wellbeing.
Griffin said she is proud to be a Wheeling Park graduate, and she loves working on behalf of the students of Ohio County Schools.
“I am blown away at all the amazing things students can get involved in at Park,” Griffin said. “There are so many rigorous classes to take in addition to the career and tech and music and theater programs available. There truly is something for everyone at Park. There’s a diverse population that is truly representative of the Wheeling community. I firmly believe Ohio County Schools and Wheeling Park High School provide children with everything they need to succeed.”
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