As part of our “Returning Home” radio collection, Eric Douglas spoke with Crystal Mersh about her return to Calhoun County.

Mersh is the CEO of High-quality Government Partners, a consulting agency that provides skilled support in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, highly developed therapy and medical gadget fields.

In October, Mersh and other people from the neighborhood introduced the 1982 Basis to restore the aged Calhoun County Higher College in Grantsville as a local community center and enterprise incubator. To make that occur, Mersh has moved back to West Virginia from Atlanta.

Douglas spoke with Mersh from a area pharmacy in Calhoun County since it was wherever she experienced to go to locate a trusted internet relationship.

Douglas: You’ve got determined to transfer again to West Virginia. Why? 

Mersh: I guess I would say West Virginia has normally been dwelling. So no subject where by I’ve lived, and I’ve lived all more than the U.S., and I’ve also lived in Europe, when I use the term property, it is referring to West Virginia.

I in no way actually thought of that there would be a respectable solution for me to go back again house right until we knowledgeable the pandemic. And by means of that working experience, it turned pretty crystal clear that you can perform wherever and are living in which you want and have all of the necessities that you will need.

Douglas: It appears like you left quite significantly right following you graduated substantial college. 

Mersh: I did. I received married 7 times just after I graduated superior college to a Maritime and we moved to where by he was stationed.

Douglas: What’s diverse? What’s the exact? What is your impact, now that you are back again?

Mersh: A good deal has altered in Calhoun County, and some of it is not in the spirit of progress. I believe economically the county has struggled. It also struggled with the drug epidemic. Sometime in 1998 or 1999, the large faculty was moved from Grantsville, about eight miles away, to make it a lot more central to the county. But at least part of the fallout of that has been that we have missing some of the financial viability of the county seat. For the reason that every little thing revolved all over the large faculty.

Douglas: You might be earning sizeable private investments, but also neighborhood investments, and definitely seeking…