Mineral County Public Schools | Certificate of Proficiency | May 26, 1994
This Certifies that Lewis Edward Moten III, A Graduate of Mineral County Schools, has been awarded this CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY for Scoring at or above the 40th Percentile on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. This Graduate is considered proficient in areas of Reading, Language Arts and Mathematics.
Specific proficiencies may be reviewed on the Test Record Label affixed to the attached transcript. Also included in this Document are a Student Activities Sheet and a Special Competencies Sheet, if applicable.
Mineral County Schools, May 26, 1994
Total Cumulative GPA: 2.4423
Rank: 79 of 146
See accompanying information after the following reflection…
Looking Back at My School Records — and Seeing the Story Differently Now
December 30, 2025
Recently, I had the chance to dig back through my old high school records — grades, transcripts, standardized test scores, leadership notes, and that familiar “Certificate of Proficiency” declaring I’d met national academic standards. On paper, it’s a snapshot of who I was at 14, 15, 16, and 17. But reading it now, as an adult with a few decades of life, growth, and perspective behind me, I see a very different story than the one I thought I lived back then.
Back then, I remember school feeling hard.
Not “hard” like I didn’t care or wasn’t capable — hard in ways that were structural, emotional, and systemic.
I moved from Baltimore County, Maryland, to Mineral County, West Virginia, and the differences were striking. In Maryland, grading was different: you needed a 90+ for an A, not a 93. Expectations felt different. Supports felt different. And by the time I got to West Virginia, I discovered something even stranger. There was no special education program to place me in, even though I had spent much of my earlier schooling with additional learning support.
So instead of support, they put me in a study hall for a year because they “didn’t know where else to put me.”
And honestly? It bored me to death. Since it was just before lunch, I worked out an agreement with the school to help set up the cafeteria tables for lunch.
It’s wild to look back and realize how much potential we wasted. I wasn’t challenged, inspired, or supported. I was warehoused. Meanwhile, the internal narrative quietly formed: maybe I just wasn’t “school smart” enough.
I remember that 11th-grade English was difficult, with weird rules I couldn’t remember that eventually made no sense at all. I often put my head between my arms and slept through 11th-grade English, drooling on the desk, and failing. I had to retake it in an easier version. Math swung between decent and dreadful depending on the day. I took Geometry in my senior year in a class full of freshmen, happy that as a Senior, I had the luxury of leaving 10 minutes early to get to my car. Standardized test numbers stamped their cold percentile judgments next to my name. My cumulative GPA landed at 2.44, and I graduated smack in the middle of my class. Not failing, not excelling. Just… average.
At least, that’s what I believed for a long time.
But here’s what I didn’t understand back then — and what the records now show me in a new light:
I wasn’t failing.
The system was failing me.
When I look beyond the raw numbers, a totally different story emerges.
The same transcript that holds those shaky English grades also shows:
- Straight A’s in Drafting
- Strong performance in industrial tech, carpentry, technology courses, graphics, computers, and hands-on learning
- Leadership roles like Class Co-President and Club Treasurer
- 4-H Historian, county and state camp activities, community service, and FHA-HERO participation
Those records quietly show a kid who was deeply engaged, deeply capable, curious, technical, creative, and trusted.
I didn’t coast through senior year out of laziness. I coasted because I finally got to fill my schedule with electives that I loved — the things that actually made me feel alive and competent. Carpentry class required a bus ride to Keyser Votech, which limited what else I could take that year, but I still went, because it mattered to me. Drafting, tech, building, creating — that was where my brain clicked.
Then there were the standardized tests.
I used to think my scores were unimpressive — until I looked with adult eyes. Many scores fell in the average-to-above-average range, with some striking peaks:
science in the 80s–90th percentile range, language mechanics in the 90s+, comprehension solid, reasoning strong. ACT composite? A 19 — right around national average, fully college-eligible. Those aren’t the scores of someone who couldn’t learn. They’re the scores of someone who could absolutely succeed, even in a system not built for them.
That “Certificate of Proficiency” I used to shrug off? It meant something, too. It wasn’t a participation ribbon. It was a standard — and I met it.
Fast forward to today, and the contrast is almost poetic.
The kid who was once “average” by classroom metrics became:
- a programmer
- a community leader
- a researcher
- a civic watchdog
- a builder of projects
- an organizer
- a storyteller
- a historian
- someone deeply woven into community service
The very strengths that showed up back then — hands-on problem solving, systems thinking, visual logic, structure, curiosity, leadership — became foundational to who I am and what I do now.
Education itself has changed as well.
Today, we talk (at least a little more) about learning differences. About recognizing that intelligence doesn’t always show up neatly in multiple-choice format. About the harm of funneling everyone through the exact same academic pipeline and calling it “fair.”
I look back now and realize that I didn’t “barely make it.”
I survived an environment that often wasn’t made for students like me — and I still managed to lead, build, serve, grow, and eventually thrive.
The records tell a fuller truth now.
They don’t just measure grades.
They witness resilience.
They remind me that a student’s story isn’t found in a GPA or a percentile score. It’s found in how they show up, what they love, how they push through, and what they eventually grow into.
If younger-me could see who I became, I think he’d finally exhale a little.
And maybe even feel proud.
Because those records no longer read like failure.
They read like a foundation.
And I’m grateful for where that foundation has taken me — and where it continues to lead.
| Year | Grade | Verbal | Verbal Percentile | Math | Math Percentile | Selection Index | Selection Index Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Sophmore | 26 | 6% | 55 | 79% | 107 | 28% |
| 1992 | Junior | 26 | 7% | 64 | 93% | 116 | 37% |
| Group | Area | National Grade Percentile | Percentile Band | Standard Nine | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | Vocabulary | 41% | 29-55 | 5 | Average |
| Reading | Comprehension | 68% | 58-76 | 6 | Slightly Above Average |
| Reading | Total | 54% | 45-63 | 5 | Average |
| Language | Mechanics | 96% | 92-99 | 9 | Very High |
| Language | Expression | 51% | 42-61 | 5 | Average |
| Language | Total | 84% | 77-90 | 7 | Above Average |
| Math | Computation | 66% | 56-75 | 6 | Slightly Above Average |
| Math | Concepts/Applications | 35% | 22-52 | 4 | Slightly Below Average |
| Math | Total | 53% | 43-63 | 5 | Average |
| Total Basic Skills | 66% | 43-63 | 5 | Average | |
| WV SCTP CTBS/4 | Study Skills | 48% | 34-63 | 5 | Average |
| WV SCTP CTBS/4 | Science | 94% | 89-96 | 8 | High |
| WV SCTP CTBS/4 | Social Studies | 57% | 46-68 | 5 | Average |
| Type | English | Mathematics | Reading | SCL REAS | Composite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT Test Scores | 20 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 19 |
| ACT Subscores | 11 SST/MCAL, 09 MET | 12 OIM/ALG, 09 ALG/GEOM, 10 GEOM/TRIG | 09 Soc. Scl, 09 MTS/LIT | % or below latt comp. | 44 |
| Program | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Future Homemakers of America (FHA) | X | |||
| Home Economics Related Occupations (HERO) | X | |||
| Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) | X |
| Organization | Office | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FHA-HERO *Now known as: Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) | Class Co-President | X | |||
| FHA-HERO | Club Treasurer | X |
Community Service Activity Record: 4-H Historian, 4-H County Camp, 4-H State Camp
| Subject | Teacher | 1st | 2nd | 1SF | 3rd | 4th | 2SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drafting I | M. Lantz | A | A | A | A | A | A |
| Principles of Technology I | J. Riley | A | A | A | B | D | C |
| English Language 11 | A. Connor | B | B | B | B | C+ | C+ |
| English Language 12 | R. Nelson | B- | C | B+ | C | C | C |
| Keyboarding Applications I | S. Bradley | A | A | A | A | B | B |
| Geometry | P. Martin | B | D | B | B | F | C |
| Adult Roles | K. Bradshaw | A | C | B+ | B | B | B |
| Year | Subject | 1st | 2nd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | American Studies | C | D |
| 1991 | General English 9 | C+ | C+ |
| 1991 | General Physics Science | B | C |
| 1991 | Physical Education/Health 9 | D | C |
| 1991 | Algebra I | B | C |
| 1991 | Industrial Technology I | B | B |
| 1992 | Biology I | B | B |
| 1992 | Art I | B+ | B |
| 1992 | General English 10 | B- | C |
| 1992 | Algebra II | C | F |
| 1992 | Social Studies II | C | C |
| 1992 | Physical Education/Health 10 | B | C |
| 1992 | Technical Education II | A | A |
| 1993 | Social Studies III | B- | B- |
| 1993 | Computers & Statistics | B | B |
| 1993 | Applied English 11 | F | F |
| 1993 | General Building & Construction I | C | C |
| 1994 | Adult Roles | B+ | B |
| 1994 | Keyboarding Applications I | A | B |
| 1994 | Drafting I | A | A |
| 1994 | Geometry | B | C |
| 1994 | English Language 11 | B | C+ |
| 1994 | English Language 12 | C+ | C |
| 1994 | Principles of Technology I | A | C |
