One of my favorite weekends in Morgantown has come to a close! What a weekend it was - thousands of alumni came back to Morgantown and celebrated everything we love about WVU. There was no shortage of things to do - from seeing all of the changes happening around campus, to the Homecoming Parade and football game against Texas Tech, it was a weekend filled with excitement. Our alumni are what make this University so special and it was great to see so many of you in Morgantown wearing your gold and blue.
If you attended the game on Saturday, then you got to see the WVU Alumni Association honor eight fantastic alumni who won the 2021 Homecoming and Alumni Service Awards. Each of the awards is unique, and all recipients embody what it means to be a Mountaineer. I encourage you to read about each winner and their connection to WVU here. I was fortunate enough to spend time with our recipients over the weekend and of course, I had to ask them about their favorite memories during their time at WVU. Their responses were all different but shared one common thread: there's no place on earth like WVU.
Samantha Joneswood had too many great memories to choose from but mentioned that she always loved the speakers that came to campus, including Mark Bowe, host and producer of "Barnwood Builders". One thing that Gabrielle St. Léger was extremely proud of was her time as a graduate assistant for the PASSKEY program. She and the other mentors of the 2000 class were able to increase the first-year Black student involvement in the program by 20%!
For Mike Manley, it was the opportunity to observe our beautiful campus grow as he got to see the construction of the Coliseum and Milan Puskar Stadium during his time in Morgantown. Drew Massey reminisced about late nights studying at the Health Sciences Center Library and spending time with friends at the Boston Beanery, Pizzeria Italia, WISP and Cheat Lake. Elaine Sheldon's favorite memory at WVU is one that I myself really enjoyed, experiencing the crisp fall mornings on the way to class with a cup of coffee from Daily Grind in-hand! Each noted that this past weekend would be added to their list of memorable times on campus.
We all have our own fond memories during our time in Morgantown, and I would love to hear yours as well. If you weren't able to make it back to campus this past weekend, I hope you'll find the time to visit us soon. As many alumni can attest, there's nothing quite like that feeling you get when you come back to campus after a long time away.
Let's Go!
Kevin Berry (’94; ’95)
Associate Director
WVU Alumni Association