Hopefully, many of you read the story on Page A1 of today's newspaper about the Legal Advancement for West Virginia Students program that will be held in Harrison County on March 22.

On that day, the West Virginia Supreme Court will convene in Harrison County for the first time. More than 300 students will be attending the history-making sessions to learn more about the judicial system.

The students will be present while actual cases are argued before the justices and they'll have a chance to talk to the lawyers who will be presenting the cases.

The program is designed to develop "well-informed, patriotic citizens," said Justice Robin Davis.

She proposed the program while serving as Chief Justice in 1996 and it's had overwhelming support.

This program is the perfect example of what can happen when people put educating students first. Non-traditional programs like this one, which takes the cooperation of the court system, the West Virginia Bar Association and the school system, can have a tremendous impact on our young people.

Some other news of note:

-- We had excellent response from readers who wanted to serve on our advisory board. We're still conducting telephone interviews and will be selecting approximately 12 members to serve by the middle of March.

-- We've had two recent additions to our staff.

Shawn Yonker has joined our sports department. He's a West Virginia University Journalism School graduate and is married to a local woman, the former Sarah Wendell.

And we're pleased to have Mary Kay McFarland serving an internship as a staff photographer. She's a Randolph County native currently finishing her master's degree at the University of Missouri.

John G. Miller is the managing editor of the Exponent and Telegram. His columns appear every Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 626-1473 or by e-mail at cpcnews@earthlink.net.