August 22, 2025
Lighting the Way: ILLUME Arrives in Brooke, Calhoun & Braxton Counties
Our vision for the CMI2 ILLUME program —short for Innovating, Learning, Leading, Uniting, Making, Experimenting—is more than a classroom add-on. It’s a chance to reimagine what students in rural West Virginia can achieve, helping them see themselves as makers, problem solvers, and leaders. Originally created through our partnership in Clay County, we are excited to share that CMI2 is now partnering with the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative (WVPEC) to bring our ILLUME program into Brooke, Calhoun, and Braxton County schools.
Why This Matters
If you’ve read anything on our blog before, you know how much we believe in the power of imagination, grit, and local communities.
We often discuss community as a critical component of national security, and for good reason. Strong, stable communities are more resilient, better capable of adapting to challenges, and more effective at retaining talent.
ILLUME is one of our tools that enables us to do just that. We’ve seen what happens when students gain access to hands-on STEM learning, mentorship, and encouragement: they take risks, invent, and grow. As we expand into Brooke, Calhoun, and Braxton, we’re not just expanding a program; we’re investing in people, in places, and in potential.
In our news release announcing the expansion, Zenovy Wowczuk, our founder, put it simply:
“The opportunity to amplify ILLUME’s impact on students and the community throughout West Virginia is tremendous. Our program helps these counties prepare students for high-demand STEM and skilled trades careers, which are directly tied to our national security focus.”
What Students Will Experience
ILLUME’s real strength is that it focuses on action rather than lessons alone. Here’s a glimpse of what students in these counties can expect:
- Innovate — dive into real challenges, design solutions, fail fast and iterate.
- Learn — explore STEM + arts concepts hands-on, not just on paper.
- Lead — become drivers of change in classrooms and communities.
- Unite — collaborate across disciplines and with mentors.
- Make — bring ideas to life through fabrication, prototyping, and more.
- Experiment — test bold ideas in a supportive space.
In other words, we want students to lean into curiosity, try things that feel risky, and build confidence in the process.
The Kickoff & the Road Ahead
In mid-August, we hosted a kickoff meeting at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Superintendents, technology directors, and educational leaders from the three counties joined Donna Hoylman Peduto (WVPEC’s Executive Director) and our team to map out this next phase.
The kickoff meeting was both a planning session and a celebration of the opportunities this initiative will create. This expansion isn’t a one-off—it’s part of our three-year roadmap. By 2028, we aim to see ILLUME in 11 counties across the state.
As Wally Hatfield noted, “By expanding ILLUME in West Virginia, we are not only supporting growth in rural and underserved areas but also leveraging our national security expertise to help drive economic development.”
In the coming months, students will engage with new, tailored curricula and hands-on workshops. They’ll get to test ideas, build prototypes, work together, and grow into roles they might never have imagined before.
Stay tuned as we share stories and lessons from the field while this expansion takes shape.
