Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Scott Reigel grew up as the son of a forester. His father, the late Richard Reigel, worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 42 years. With the influence of his dad combined with forestry classes at Pocahontas County High School, it was clear that Scott wanted to enter the same field.
“Dad worked for the forest service, but also, [Mike] Burns was a great mentor [at PCHS],” Reigel said. “We had an awesome program, and John Wayne allowed me to work for him in the summer, so when I got into high school, I kind of had that. Then in high school, that really secured up a lot for me.
“When I went to college, I already had a leg up because I spent so much time with all those role models,” he added.
After graduating from PCHS in 1994, Reigel attended West Virginia University where he received two bachelor’s degrees. One in forest resources management and the second in wood industries.
The degrees prepared him to enter the forestry industry, but what he didn’t anticipate was becoming an educator, which he became in 2015.
Before that, he spent three years in forest products, working for companies that included Beckwith Lumber Company. Then he got into land management consulting work.
“Private landowners or corporate landowners would call needing the service of a contractor to manage their property,” Reigel explained. “I was in the consulting business for thirteen years – mainly out of Greenbrier County – but covered all of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee.”
While Reigel was doing consulting work, his company hired summer interns who were part of a two-year program at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College –now known as Mountain Gateway Community College.
An intern – who went on to join the faculty at the college – told Reigel about an opening in the forestry department and suggested he go into the education side of things.
“Probably the last thing on my mind was teaching, and he convinced me,” Reigel said. “He thought I’d be good at it from my experience and such with internships. It’s been the best – probably the hardest experience if I’m being honest – but it’s been the best.
“It’s rewarding,” he continued. “It’s developing a legacy.”
Reigel joined the staff at MGCC in 2015 and is now the forestry program head.
The college is located in Clifton Forge, Virginia, but Reigel, who lives in Lewisburg, said he does a lot of recruiting in West Virginia, including in Pocahontas County. It helps that PCHS forestry teacher Scott Garber is a former classmate and forestry team partner.
“He’s really been a blessing,” Reigel said of Garber. “He just loads up kids and takes them to colleges. I know he takes them to Glenville and exposes the kids to that next opportunity. It’s a big opportunity for kids to have security at that age to go to a campus and realize it’s not as scary as they maybe make it out to be in their head.”
At MGCC, the forestry department has around 30 students at a time in the two-year program, which gives students an opportunity to have more of a one-on-one interaction with their instructors.
“We’re an academic, but we do a lot of our practical field work, so it really gives that small interaction where we can load up in a van and travel to wherever and do projects,” Reigel said. “We try to maintain a graduating class somewhere around the twelve range.”
Once students graduate from MGCC, the sky’s the limit. Reigel said he has former students working as far as Alaska and Oregon.
Although he never set out to become a teacher, Reigel said he drew inspiration from teachers he had here in Pocahontas County.
“We had some good ones,” he said. “We had some good teachers back in the day and I don’t know that you appreciate what it takes. I know today’s world – in particular K through twelve, it takes a whole different set of patience and skills. They have my full-on respect for what they go through.
“I don’t think I ever put that in my thought process that the path would guide me there, but the path had guided me there and so far, this is my eleventh year – and I’ve still got a job, and I’m doing pretty well.”
While at PCHS, Reigel was on the forestry team with Garber, Bryan Gragg and John Michael Kane. [I need to double check the team members]. The team won second place at nationals in 1993.
“We placed second in the nation to Arkansas by four points,” he said. “And you know how I remember that? It kind of eats at you.”
Reigel is the son of Henrietta Reigel and the late Richard Reigel, and lives in Lewisburg with his wife, Jessica, and daughters, Kate, Lily and Bethany.
He may not have made it all the way back home to raise his family, but Reigel said Pocahontas County was where he got the foundation for where he is now.
“Pocahontas County offers a great opportunity,” he said. “A great opportunity in the high school to learn and experience. There’s a vast world outside of Pocahontas County, but without a doubt, there’s plenty of opportunities to make a difference in the county, as well.”
