APPLE GROVE, W.Va. — Point Pleasant native Jay Jackson and his wife Kayla had to leave Mason County about a decade ago for work.
The couple, both Point Pleasant High School graduates, ended up in Virginia Beach but now they’re coming home.
Jay landed a job at the new Nucor Steel West Virginia Plant that’s just getting under construction along state Route 2 in Apple Grove.
Mason County Commissioner Rick Handley taught Jackson in school and told him about Nucor when the company began looking at the site two years ago.
Jackson, now 30-years-old, was at Friday’s groundbreaking for the plant. He told MetroNews he’s glad to be home.
“I knew what this was going to mean to the community, what it would mean for our family,” Jackson said. “This is where we always wanted to have our family and raise our kids and this is going to allow us to be able to do that.”
Hannan High School senior Miranda Kate Smyth is about 12 years Jackson’s younger. She was also at the Friday’s ceremony and heard the hope that maybe she and her classmates can get jobs at Nucor one day.
“It’s going to open up a lot of big opportunities for our small county,” Smyth said. “It’s great. It’s going to help our community grow even more.”
Nucor made sure students from Hannan, Wahama and Point Pleasant high schools were at the ceremony and several times those speaking spoke directly to them. Nucor Chair, President and CEO Leon Topalian told MetroNews it was intentional.
“Absolutely, because they are the future,” he said. “We recognize that and that’s part of Nucor’s legacy. We are going to come into a community and it’s not to take but it’s to give back. It’s to provide leadership. It’s to provide mentoring and go into schools and provide funds and opportunities.”
Nucor Steel West Virginia Vice President and General Manager John Farris said providing opportunities is why Nucor is in business.
“It’s to ensure that our children and grandchildren will have an opportunity to work in this company. That is the next generation of steelmakers right there. If they choose to be a part of this company we will be there for them,” Farris said.
Point Pleasant High School Community in Schools Coordinator Scarlett Ennis said it’s all about opportunity.
“For the first time in a long time we have opportunity right here at home for our kids to stay,” Ennis said.
Or to come home like Jay Jackson.
“Whenever I was their age these kind of opportunities weren’t necessarily around as much. So it’s good to know that these future generations have an opportunity to stay and work in a place where I grew up loving and wanting to be here. So now it will work out. It’s great.”
Mason County Commissioner Rick Handley agreed.
“Jay and Kayla welcome back to Mason County,” he said.