Gattuso's organization, the North Central Appalachian Center for Higher Education, was formed in 1998 with the task of boosting college attendance in West Virginia. The center started working with six schools. The program is inexpensive. Funding comes from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the state and Marshall University. The programs are simple, too.
North Central pays for things like career-mapping computer software.
Wetzel County just loaded students onto buses and took them to visit college campuses. Most Appalachians, it's not that they're less intelligent, but their self-esteem is low. They don't have the experience, don't know what is really out there. Gattuso, the descendant of Italian immigrants, remembers growing up in Welch. I felt like everybody was smarter, even though I did good in high school.