Thirty of West Virginia University’s top graduating seniors, including a pair of siblings, will be honored with the WVU Foundation Outstanding Seniors Award Friday, April 21, at 7 p.m. during the WVU Weekend of Honors Convocation in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
The students were selected based on their achievements in scholarship, leadership and service. The award was established to commemorate the Foundation’s 40th anniversary in 1995. Eight of these seniors will then be conferred the Order of Augusta, the University’s most prestigious student honor, during a surprise announcement that same evening.
The Order of Augusta recognizes a highly select group of students based on superior scholarship, demonstrated leadership and record of community and public service. The award was so named for its historical significance in the state. Augusta was among the original names considered by the Legislature when the state seceded from Virginia in 1863.
WVU ’s Outstanding Seniors for 2006 come from West Virginia , Pennsylvania , New Jersey and Germany . They are: Jennifer Audia, Salem; Daniel Carrier, Morgantown; Christopher Deskins, Pineville; John Estep, Sistersville; Allison Fredette, Morgantown; Jason Gianola, Cross Lanes; Lewis Hardway, Upper Glade; Johannes Herber, Darmstadt, Germany; Julie Hull, Charleston; Joanna Johnson, Richwood; Jee Eun Kim, Morgantown; Christal Kirk, Clendenin; Allison Latos, Wheeling; Ashley Latos, Wheeling; Kara Martin, Kingwood; Margaret Miller, Fayetteville; George Parish, Masontown, Pa.; Lauren Quattro, Morgantown; Regina Saab, Morgantown; Tracey Safcsak, Morgantown; Jeffrey Skwarek, Ewing, N.J.; Laura Spengler, Morgantown; Tiffany Taylor, Clarksburg; Amanda Vance, Fayetteville; Rachel Walther, Vienna; Ashley Weimer, North Huntingdon, Pa.; Beth Willis, Morgantown; Jeremy Wilt, Charles Town; Cheryl Woody, Parkersburg; and Brandon Yahn, Wheeling.
Brief biographies follow:
Born and raised in north-central West Virginia , Jennifer Audia’s dream was to attend WVU .
Justattending,though, has never been good enough for this high-achieving student from Salem . Besides earning a 4.0 grade point average, she wanted to make a difference on campus and in the community.
For starters, she became president of a residence hall council.
Lyon Tower has 450 students, the majority of whom are first-year students,wrote Hillar Klandorf, resident faculty leader.She effectively represented the organization and managed all aspects of the position and was held in extremely high regard by the staff and students.
Audia took on other roles as well: member of Golden Key, Gamma Beta Phi Society, National Exemplary Scholars in Service, and the Chimes and Mortar Board honoraries; president
of the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honorary; and founding member and charter president of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.
Never forgetting to give back to her community, she helped organize Big Brothers Big Sisters parties and Children’s Hospital craft projects, and she volunteered at a nursing care facility.
Through it all, Audia managed to successfully balance academics and family. Since her freshman year, she has made frequent visits home and to doctor appointments, assisting her mother who struggles with chronic migraines.
Audia, a recipient of the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Scholarship, will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in communication studies. She would like to become a human resource manager or communications director for a governmental or nongovernmental interest group.
Her parents are Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Audia.
Scholar, tutor and governor are just a few of the many titles Daniel Carrier of Morgantown has taken on during his diverse career at WVU .
In the role of researcher, the chemistry major has spent two semesters studying the environmental consequences of mountaintop coal removal and valley filling. His research is the focus of his honors thesis and a presentation he recently made to West Virginia legislators during Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol.
In addition to being extremely smart, Dan is interested in understanding issues that go beyond chemistry,said Sharon Ryan, chair of philosophy.He is passionately interested in philosophy. He is a true Renaissance man.
As a member of the student Board of Governors, Carrier worked with University administrators and students to develop a physics learning center that provides free tutoring.
He is president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and a member of Mortar Board and National Exemplary Scholars in Service. He is also a Kaplan teacher and has previously volunteered at WVU Children’s Hospital.
For his efforts, the honors student has received the PROMISE , Presidential and Bucklew scholarships. He was also recognized as the 2005 Analytical Chemistry Student of the Year and named a Mr. Mountaineer finalist.
Carrier scored in the 98 th percentile on the Dental Admission Test and carries a 3.87 grade point average. He will graduate in May and plans to attend the WVU School of Dentistry in the fall.
His parents are Daniel and Dawn Carrier.
Christopher Deskins’ list of jobs includes being a gas station attendant, grocery bag boy and maintenance worker.
Soon he hopes he can add physician to his resume.
Despite the long nights spent pursuing academic excellence, the distractions of a college social life and the challenge of working and attending school, I will continue to focus my sights on becoming a physician,he wrote in his application.As a physician, I feel that I could have
the largest positive impact on peoples’lives while pursuing my interests in science and medicine.
If his academic record is any indication, the 4.0 student from Pineville is well on his way to becoming Dr. Deskins.
In addition to being a PROMISE and Eberly Scholar, he has made the WVU President’s List seven times.
His list of extracurricular activities has ranged from the Health Careers Opportunities Program and Association of Students of Pharmacy to the Gamma Beta Phi service fraternity and residence hall council.
Deskins has also volunteered in the Ruby Memorial Hospital emergency room.
In May, he will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology. His parents are Joseph and Alisha Deskins.
John Estep.
Remember that name. You could read about his State of the State address in a newspaper or see his face on the evening news in the future.
The political science major from Sistersville hopes a straight A record, student government leadership and law school will be just the things to kick start his career in politics.
As a student Board of Governors member, John devoted much time in developing an outstanding Students for Higher Education Program,outgoing Student Government Association President D.J. Casto said.His skill in developing creative ways to lobby the Legislature has served the student body well.
That creative lobbying could be just the ticket for Estep who aspires to be the governor of West Virginia .
At WVU , he has a proven record of service and leadership, having served on SGA , the Mountainlair Advisory Council and Student Conduct Committee. He has participated in the Pi Sigma Alpha political science and Mountain honoraries.
Estep also served as a summer counselor at the American Legion Mountaineer Boys’State, resident assistant at the Governor’s Honors Academy and as an intern for Snyder and Hassig Law Offices.
A 2002 Bucklew Scholar, Estep received the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Certificate of Achievement for four consecutive years.
He will graduate in May. His parents are Carmen and Phillip Estep.
Allison Fredette’s WVU career has taken her from the March for Women’s Lives in Washington , D.C. , with the Female Equality Movement to an internship in Charleston with the Frasure-Singleton program.
And now as the senior ponders her future, she can think of no place she would rather be than the classroom.
I want to be a professor so I can stay in the atmosphere of diversity, change, knowledge, learning and general activity that I soak up every day here,she wrote in her application.I might have to consider a job at WVU down the road.
A history major from Morgantown , Fredette holds a 3.97 grade point average. She has been active in the WVU Marching Band for four years, Young Democrats and a handful of honoraries.
She enjoys tutoring for the Intensive English Program and works part-time in the WVU Downtown Library acquisitions department.
Fredette received the Presidential, PROMISE and National Merit Finalist scholarships. She made the WVU President’s List six times and received the Eberly College of Arts and
Sciences Certificate of Achievement five times.
She will graduate in May and hopes to attend graduate school. Her parents are Kevin and Hilary Fredette.
Imagine spending your spring break studying economics in the Czech Republic .
To the average person, that might sound intimidating, but then again, Jason Gianola of Cross Lanes is anything but average.
For one thing, he has a perfect 4.0 grade point average. With grades like these, one would think that he spends all his time studying, but that is far from the case. Gianola is president of Beta Alpha Psi and a member of the Mountaineer Maniacs executive boardplus a host of honoraries.
One of his passions is mentoring kids. He tutors fourth-grade students and has previously volunteered as an assistant basketball coach at a local middle school.
Gianola has completed two significant internships: one with PricewaterhouseCoopers; the other with Simpson&Osborne CPAs.
He will receive his degree in business administration in May and aspires to be the chief financial officer of a global company.
With the recent corporate scandals that have shaken the economy, I believe it is time for a new type of business leader to emergea leader who is knowledgeable yet personable, business-savvy yet caring and willing to always do the right thing,Gianola wrote in his application.
Among his accolades are the WVU Foundation Scholarship and West Virginia Society of CPAs Outstanding Senior Award.
His parents are John and Lynne Gianola.
Lewis Hardway of Upper Glade has never been student body president, but he has made a big impact at WVU .
Sure, he has a 3.98 grade point average and a long list of activities and honors, but ask him about his one achievement that has made the most difference at WVU and it would probably have to be helping accounting students find summer internships.
As president of Beta Alpha Psi, the professional coed accounting fraternity on campus, he focused his efforts on putting students in contact with regional recruiters. Hardway helped bring more firm representatives to campus for informal presentations, and aMeet the Firms Nightevent set an attendance record with more than 175 students and 50 recruiters participating.
Hardway is currently an intern with Simpson&Osborne CPAs in the department of accounting and taxes.
We are all impressed by his ability to complete assignments on time and correctly,
but what most impresses us is his ability to see the bigger picture,wrote Morgan M. Winfree with Simpson&Osborne.Lewis has a unique ability to relate his assignment to the overall grand scheme, something we have found is rare in most students.
Hardway is a Presidential and PROMISE Scholar. He has been named to the WVU
President’s List six times.
Additionally, he has been inducted into a variety of honorary organizationsincluding Golden Key, Mortar Board and Mountainand participated in several community service events.
He will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. His parents are Ron Hardway and Marsha Delaney.
With an academic record that is as impressive as his shooting ability from the perimeter, it was no surprise when JohannesJoeHerber of Darmstadt , Germany , was chosen for the First Team 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and Big East Academic All-Star Team.
But what Mountaineer fans may not know is that this 4.0 student and starting guard is also a member of the Mountain Honorary, a tutor in German and political science, and one of eight students to represent WVU at the National Model United Nations Conference to be held in New York City in mid-April.
In addition, he a regular volunteer withCommunity Readsvisiting schools and WVU Children’s Hospital to talk to children about doing well in schooland he received President’s List honors and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship four years in a row.
The decision to accept Coach Beilein’s scholarship offer has been a great one, and I am very grateful for my experiences at WVU ,Herber wrote in his application.I will leave with an excellent degree, a great career as a basketball player with highlights hopefully to come, and as a matured individual who has become more outgoing and appreciative of cultural diversity.
In May, he will receive a bachelor’s degree in political science. He would like to play professional basketball in Europe and plans to enroll in a distance-learning program to further his education.
After his playing days are over, his goal is to become a member of the German diplomatic corps.
His parents are Joachim and Christiane Herber.
So, Julie Hull’s resume is filled with impressive activities and awards, not to mention a 4.0 grade point average
But how many students can say they are getting not one, but two degreesone in computer science and one in math?
On top of that, the senior from Charleston is president of Presbyterian Student Fellowship; secretary of the Kappa Phi Christian sorority and service club; a member of the American Pharmacist Association Academy of Student Pharmacists and Habitat for Humanity; and a math tutor.
During her college career, Hull has worked as a summer lab technician at the West Virginia American Water Co. and completed internships with Cummins Engine Co. and Lockheed Martin.
In addition, she has received numerous honorsPresident’s List for four years; the PROMISE Scholarship; and West Virginia Engineering, Science and Technology Scholarship.
Amazingly, she came to WVU with 40 Advanced Placement credits and 14 more hours from courses she took at local colleges while she was still in high school.
Michael Mays, professor of mathematics, compared classes with Hull to the brokerage house commercial,When EF Hutton talks, people listen.
In class discussions about when algebraic properties could be satisfied, people would be trading opinions until Julie raised her hand,he said.Then the class got quiet and waited to hear what she had to say.
After graduating in May, Hull plans to attend pharmacy school. Her parents are John and Linda Hull.
During her years at WVU , Joanna Johnson of Richwood has had key roles in everything from student government to Greek lifeall while maintaining an impressive 3.91 grade point average.
Through her involvement in Chi Omega sorority, she has been instrumental in the chapter being selected Outstanding Sorority and the organization’s involvement in projects such as granting wishes to terminally ill children through Make-A-Wish and volunteering at Kaleidoscope.
Her service on the Student Government Association executive board also led to many positive outcomes these past few years, including improvements in parking, the libraries, campus safety and the Mountainlair,wrote Becky Lofstead, director of WVU News and Information Services.
Johnson is also active in the Gamma Phi Beta business honorary, Diversity in Media, Advertising Club and Italian American Organization.
In addition to serving as a teaching assistant in the College of Business and Economics and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, she has studied abroad in Italy and held several prestigious summer internships.
As a four-year member of the WVU Honors College , she also served as a mentor to incoming freshmen in the program.
Johnson will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Her parents are Gary and Susan Johnson.
Take one look at Jee Eun Kim’s undergraduate research topic, and it is easy to see why she is one of WVU ’s Outstanding Seniors.
It is enough to make any non-science major’s head spin: phosphorylation of E(spl)M5 by protein kinase CK2 .
Kim of Morgantown has not only been able to take on this project, but juggle it with her regular studies, campus activities such as the Korean Student Association and Alpha Theta Pi biochemistry and Mortar Board honoraries, and volunteer work at Ruby Memorial Hospital and the Morgantown Korean church.
While much of her coursework has concentrated on biochemistry, she has also enjoyed
taking humanities classes and even learned a third language, German.
Her honors include the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Dean’s List and Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Certificate of Achievement. She was also named an Eberly Scholar.
Jee Eun is exceptionally motivated to succeed in biochemistry, and I expect that she will make significant discoveries in her future career as a medical researcher,said Lisa Weihman, assistant professor of English.
Kim carries a 3.9 grade point average. She will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry.
Her parents are Hong-shick Kim and Su-Jung Hong.
For Christal Kirk , a nursing major from Clendenin, graduating last summer was
especially meaningful because she was the first person in her family to obtain a baccalaureate degree.
As an undergraduate, Kirk maintained a 3.8 grade point average and was involved in the Honors College , Chi Omega sorority, Panhellenic Council, Sigma Theta Tau international society of nursing and several other honoraries.
She received the Alumni Award for Leadership from the School of Nursing last May and was a fellow for the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnership Program.
In the fall, she began coursework in the master of science in nursing program with the goal of becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner. She is employed as a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Ruby Memorial Hospital .
She has excelled at the undergraduate level and was ranked among the top of the academic scholars in her class,said Mary Jane Smith, associate dean.I expect she will earn the master’s degree and make a significant contribution to the healthcare of children.
Her parents are Franklin and Connie Kirk.
Although she will not graduate until May, Allison Latos has already established a name for herself in West Virginia broadcasting as a weekend anchor for WDTV Channel 5.
The broadcast news student from Wheeling is one of two sisters from the same family among this year’s Outstanding Seniors.
At WVU , she is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars judicial council and news director of U92 WWVU -FM, the campus radio station.
Kim Harrison, U92 station director, credits Latos with taking a fledgling group of students and transforming them into enterprising news reporters.
She is one that is willing to help out others and I consider her a team player,Harrison said.
Latos is also active in the Honors College , Golden Key, National Exemplary Scholars in Service, Mortar Board and Kappa Tau Alpha journalism honoraries, Society of Professional Journalists and Diversity in Media Association.
Her honors include the WVU Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Associated Press second place best news talk show award. In addition, she made the Dean’s and President’s lists and was named a WVU Homecoming candidate.
Latos has a 3.84 grade point average. Her parents are Gary and Cathy Latos.
Talk about family ties. Like her sister, Ashley Latos of Wheeling is an academic standoutactive in the Honors College , National Society of Collegiate Scholars, National Exemplary Scholars in Service, Golden Key and Mortar Board honorary.
An animal and veterinary sciences major, Latos is also involved in the Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-health, Phi Kappa Phi and Gamma Sigma Delta honor societies and Davis-Michael Scholars Program.
In her spare time, she volunteers at the Bartlett House and serves as co-captain of the
WVU NSCS Relay for Life team.
Ashley has remained committed to helping others, even while a student in Morgantown ,said Robert Dailey, Davis-Michael Professor.She volunteers for health-related fund-raising events (cancer and heart association drives) and also in times of tragedy such as the Sago Mine disaster.
Latos is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship and the WVU Mountaineer, Davis-Michael Pre-Veterinary and PROMISE scholarships.
She will graduate summa cum laude in May. She has a 3.94 overall grade point average and has been accepted into the WVU School of Medicine for fall.
Her parents are Gary and Cathy Latos.
Although Kara Martin of Kingwood has participated in many extracurricular activities and maintained a 4.0 grade point average, the achievement that brings her the most pride does not appear on her resume.
Caring for family members has been a significant part of her life. Nearly every weekend for the past four years, she has spent time at home caring for her mother who is battling multiple sclerosis.
My mother has always provided me with loving encouragement and support, and now I have been given an opportunity to continue learning from her and begin repaying her kindness,Martin wrote in her application.
I have learned to persevere and concentrate on small successes even when the ultimate circumstances seem bleak,she said.In my pursuit of a clinical doctorate in audiology, I hope to apply the same fundaments to my work with clients.
Martin is president of the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association. She is also involved in the Mortar Board senior honorary and Young Democrats, and she tutors students in reading comprehension.
Her many community service activities have included helping organize a Hurricane Katrina drive, visiting patients at a nursing home and volunteering for the Special Olympics.
Martin has amassed numerous awards, from the Health Sciences and Technology Academy Scholarship to the PROMISE Scholarship.
She will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology.
Her parents are Francis and Nancy Martin.
MargaretMaggieMiller knows how to navigate, and there is no doubt about that.
The senior athletic training major from Fayetteville carries a 4.0 average in one of WVU ’s most challenging disciplines.
She performs competently on the sidelines of Mountaineer sporting contests as a student trainer.
And she has even been known to shepherd a raft-full of whooping tourists down West Virginia’s rugged New River , where she serves as a professional whitewater rafting guide in the summer.
By the time she graduates in May, she will have already amassed a wall-full of awards and scholarships, from the WVU Presidential Award to the AlbertWhiteyGwynne Athletic
Training Scholarship, to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.
Her work ethic and zest for learning has even netted the respect of professors outside her majorespecially Elizabeth Thomas, who taught her in Biology 101 and 102.
Nothing seemed to be achore’to her,Thomas wrote in her nomination letter.She approached class not as something to be enduredbut as something from which she could gain a great deal.
Her parents are Mary Ellen Green and Leonard Miller.
George Parish engineered his success at WVU the old-fashioned way: he earned it.
A’s are now the norm for the civil and environmental engineering major from Masontown , Pa. , but he learned early on that he was going to have put in some overtimeand more overtime after thatto get there.
During my freshman year, I utilized the free tutoring at Towers (residence hall) and the math learning center at Armstrong Hall,he wrote in his application.It was there that I spent hours of extra effort each day to become very competent in the math and science courses required for engineering students.
The brain-building project could not have been more successful for the student who now carries a 3.88 overall grade point average.
Besides summer internships with various engineering firms in his home state and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, he also holds memberships in a host of professional organizations on campus, from Chi Epsilon National Engineering Honors Society to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
He has designed a rounded collegiate experience by volunteering for campus and community projects as a member of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity. He has also been a captain of his Intramural flag football team.
His parents are George and Donna Parish.
Lauren Quattro never once lost faith at WVU , in the face of a challenging course loadand sudden financial hardships in her family that threatened to derail her academic pursuit altogether.
Her parents back home in Florida were forced to declare bankruptcy in her freshman year, and Quattro had to slink back to the Sunshine State for a time. But not for long.
From that moment I was determined to re-enroll and earn my degree,she wrote in her application.My parents have never financially contributed to my education since 2000. I have
worked full-time, sometimes up to 50 hours per week every semester and summer to pay my
way through college.
Morgantown today is listed as the permanent address on her application, and she has also found a home in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, where she carries a 4.0 grade point average as a religious studies major with a minor in philosophy.
Along the way she has worked as a bartender and floral designer. She has been a member of the Mountaineer Maniacs and Orchesis modern dance troupe.
A resume-full of honors and awards include Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Eberly College Outstanding Scholar.
And now she is applying for graduate school in England , at Oxford and Cambridge .
While some dreams simply don’t unfold as we desire, others develop unexpectedly along the way,she wrote.
Her parents are Howard and Dotty Slone.
Just because Morgantown native Regina Saab opted to attend college in her hometown does not mean she has settled for the same old song and dance.
Not hardly.
In fact, the student with the 3.81 overall grade point average has combined two interesting academic pursuits and is already mapping out a career where she can use them both.
She is a physical therapy major with a vocal performance minor in music, and yes, she says, Ace bandages and arpeggios can co-exist and even work together in tune.
There is a trend in the performing arts world to hire physical therapists for orchestras, dance companies and other musical crafts,she wrote in her application.Performers’livelihoods rest on being able to use their talents every day. This can eventually lead to physical problems such as carpal tunnel in a violinist, or a subluxed foot bone in a dancer.
Who better to help, she muses, than someone who is at home in both worlds?
Being truly at home in Morgantown has enriched her WVU experience, said the senior whose high school prom was held at the Mountainlair.
Besides holding slots in the WVU Honors Program and on the National Dean’s List, she volunteers with Christian Help, the Shack and other outreach groups in her community. And of course, she keeps busy with countless music ensembles that are part of the minor that’s so special to her.
There was no question that WVU was the university for me,she says.
Her parents are Tim and Joy Saab.
Accounting major Tracey Safcsak happily discovered a few things about herself at WVU that have contributed to her bottom-line success as a senior.
The 4.0 student from Wheeling found out she was just as jazzed with comparative religion as she was with cost ledgers and all the other components that make up her major in the College of Business and Economics.
The more people learn,she wrote in her application,the more they realize they don’t know.
Or in other words, keep your eyesand your mindopen.
She appreciates the experience even more, she said, because neither of her parents had the opportunity to attend college, and she got here with the help of lots of hard workand a PROMISE Scholarship.
Other honors include the President’s List, J.B. Chambers Scholarship and Kaiser Aluminum Scholarship. While at WVU she secured a high-profile internship with the WVU Foundation and already has job lined up with the PricewaterhouseCoopers investment firm when she graduates in May.
It all adds up, said David Dawley, one of her B&E professors.
I find it fascinating that a 4.0 student like Tracey could ever find the time to do anything but study,he said.I was once a 4.0 student myself, but was not a very well-rounded collegian.
Tracey has been able to maintain her 4.0 GPA while making some very valuable contributions to WVU and its community.
Her parents are Joseph and Carmel Safcsak.
Jeffrey Skwarek knows all about motivation. Motivation is what kept him in
Morgantown as a freshman, despite the cloud of family tragedy that hung over his head that year.
His father died from a massive heart attack three weeks before the start of his first semester.
The loss could have kept him from coming to WVU altogether, or caused him to consider college closer to his native New Jersey and his hometown of Ewing . Instead, he showed up and dug in.
It was not easy. He made straight A’s that first year but was almost unable to return for his sophomore year. His father’s sudden death left the family financially strapped, and three more years of college was getting more and more out of reach, even for a student attending on scholarship.
He appealed to WVU ’s Financial Aid Office and has received waivers over the past three years that cover nearly half his tuition costs. He maintained that A average his second year, and every year after that.
WVU was making such a great investment in me I needed to make sure the return was greater,he wrote in his application.
And now, he’s investing his time away from classes for his campus and community, as a WVU teaching assistant in engineering classes and as a math tutor at Morgantown’s Easton Elementary School .
He is a WVU Presidential Scholar and was twice named anOutstandingstudent in the industrial engineering program. An internship at Boston-based Health Dialog, a disease- management organization, has led to an interest in a career in healthcare.
But through it all, he says, he will keep coming back to that initial investment in trust made to a freshman with a then-uncertain future.
One day hopefully I can repay it as an alumnus of this great university,he said.
His mother is Elizabeth Skwarek.
Morgantown’s Laura Spengler knows how to keep lots of things going at onceand not just because she is a ranking officer in the WVU Juggling Club.
She is also a 3.86 student with a double major in English and psychology who earned a PROMISE Scholarship and hasn’t dropped the ball once in school.
That is evident in her academic achievements here. She is a Dean’s List and President’s List student, and she has also been recognized and rewarded in the English Department with the prestigious Merl D.&Anna Wright and Eleanor T. Donley scholarships.
And it is also apparent in her work in other classrooms. She tutors selected students at Morgantown’s Mountainview Elementary School through an internship in the Psychology Departmenta perfect experience for the senior who wants to teach high school English in her home state some day.
They need someone,she wrote in her application,and this semester, I get to be that someone.
And because education never ends, the juggler even jotted on her application a 39-point common-sense litany she calls,Everything I need to know I learned in four years at WVU .
(No. 5: If you don’t care about rocks before Geology 101, you will care less about them after Geology 101.)
Her parents are H. Mitchell and Karen Spengler.
Tiffany Taylor makes pretty good grades for someone who spends so much time behind the wheel.
The elementary education major with the 3.9 grade point average spent the past three years logging a 90-mile round trip to a tiny grade school in Harrison County as she pursued her calling.
She is a senior in the College of Human Resources and Education’s landmark Benedum Collaborative program, which provides a classroom experience like no other for students seeing what life is like on the other side of the desk.
When she graduates in May, Taylor will have logged more than 1,000 hours in front of the students of Wilsonburg Elementary.
Ruth Kershner, a WVU community health specialist who taught Taylor in one of her elementary health classes, summed up (teacher-to-teacher) the Clarksburg senior this way:
I am well-pleased with Tiffany’s work ethic, ability to plan and, most importantly, her rapport with others,Kershner said.She knows how to deliver the content and encourage student involvement.
Involvementis the watch-word for Taylor , whose application includes 47 total entries for memberships in clubs and organizations, jobs worked and projects undertaken.
She was also an All-USA Today Academic Team nominee who landed on the President’s List the past seven semesters. In addition, she holds WVU ’s Ken Gray Student Leadership Award and earned the Shoenbaum and Underwood-Smith scholarships.
As in Kershner’s assessment, Taylor thanked her professors in her nomination letter, one educator to a whole group of others, who lit her path.
There are many people in this world who have done great things for science, medicine,
law and other research disciplines,she wrote.As a teacher, I believe those great discoveries would not have been possible without the ever-lasting impact of a teacher to positively influence students with a desire to take risks and learn from challenges.
Her parents are Dr. Michael and Marianne Taylor.
When Amanda Vance of Fayetteville receives a bachelor’s degree in multidisciplinary studies in May, she will be on her way to a graduate degree as well. The senior is scheduled to complete her master’s in occupational therapy at WVU in May 2007.
Along with her studies, Vance has done research on Marfan Syndrome, which she plans to continue at the professional level.
An honors student, she was inducted into the Chimes Junior honorary, is a member of the Golden Key honor society and Student Occupational Therapy Association. She is also an active member in the Kappa Phi Christian service sorority, where she served as vice president, fund-raising chair and service chair, and the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
Vance has donated her time to numerous community service projects, including Christian Help/Women’s Career Clothing Closet, Children’s Church at Harvest Church of God, Children’s Church at Covenant EMC , Wesley Foundation, Project Linus and Habitat for Humanity.
She has won several awards: Dean’s List (four consecutive semesters), Foodland Scholarship, Pepsico Foundation Scholarship, Governor’s Honor Academy Scholarship, Greater Kanawha Valley Rocky McDaniel Memorial Scholarship and Americorps Scholarship.
She cites her fieldwork rotation as the most significant of her academic experiences at WVU .
I left that experience feeling like, thinking like and excited to be an occupational therapist,she wrote in her application.There is no doubt that, even though three fieldwork rotations remain, this initial fieldwork was the first step between my current position as student and my future as a professional.
Vance has a 3.83 grade point average. Her parents are Charles and Pamela Vance.
Wishing to attend the University of Kentucky , a PROMISE Scholarship led Rachel Walther of Vienna to WVU instead. And her undergraduate experience at WVU is valued above any other event she has encountered, as she explained in her application.
Because of my attendance at WVU , I have experienced people, classes and a culture that I could not have found anywhere else,she said.
An advertising major with a business administration minor, Walther has served as public relations officer of the National Exemplary Scholars in Service and is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Entrepreneur and Advertising clubs.
She has worked in retail positions to help pay her way through college, including internships with WVU Arts&Entertainment, where she made media buys for several events and worked as a ticketing assistant in the box office.
Walther has done volunteer work as well, working with Christian Help, St. Jude Hospital , Alzheimer’s Association, Leukemia and Lymphoma Association and Stepping Stones.
She also gained real-world experience, compiling a readership study for the Daily
Athenaeum in her mass communications research class.
She has a 3.97 grade point average. Her parents are Sam and Gail Walther.
Ashley Weimer from North Huntingdon, Pa. , is a true student-athlete.
She has a 3.95 grade point average and graduated with a degree in nursing. Outside of the classroom, she was a member of the women’s soccer team for four years, serving as team captain in 2004.
She has also been involved in the Honors College , Student Nurses’Association, Mortar Board senior honorary and Golden Key honor society.
As a Mountaineer athlete, community service was an important part of her time at WVU . Weimer twice participated in the Betty Puskar Soccer Classic, raising money for the Betty Puskar Breast Cancer Center . She was one of six WVU athletes on a RAZEWV .com poster as a tobacco-free Mountaineer, and was a youth soccer coach and counselor in Morgantown and at home in North Huntingdon . She also found time to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House, work at the University Health Fair and the Mountaineer Boys and Girls clubs.
She was a Rhodes Scholar candidate, Academic All-American, Big East Academic All-Star, University Honors Scholar and Big East/Aeropostale Scholar-Athlete. Weimer also won the Presidential Award and School of Nursing Dean’s Award.
A gifted student athlete, in her application she said,My WVU education has been one of the greatest gifts of my life.
Her parents are Douglas and Jennifer Weimer.
Morgantown native Beth Willis is majoring in English with a minor in music. Her
experiences at WVU have taken her to several places outside of her hometown.
With the Honors College , she has traveled to Chicago and New Orleans for the National Collegiate Honors Council. She was one of 10 WVU students to go on an overseas mission to Eastern Asia, volunteered with inner city children in Detroit and was one of two WVU students to attend a summer project in Ocean City , N.J. , serving as public relations coordinator, all with Campus Crusade for Christ.
A Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Senior, Willis has received the Garfield and Eberly College Departmental Scholarships. She has a 3.95 grade point average.
Her academic experiences have stretched her both academically and personally.
All of my classes have had a hand in molding and shaping me into the person I am today,she wrote in her application.They have challenged and frustrated me, encouraged and inspired me. I wouldn’t be the same without my undergraduate experience at WVU .
Her mother is Vickie Riggleman.
Perry Phillips, professor in the College of Human Resources and Education, calls Jeremy Wilt of Charles Town one of the best students he has encountered in his more than 30 years at WVU .
Wilt will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s in secondary education. He received the Mathematics Teacher-In-Training grant from the West Virginia
Council of Teachers in Mathematics, receiving the only grant from a statewide pool of applicants.
In addition to teaching youth basketball at Asbury United Methodist Church , he has been an active member in 4-H, completing over 15 blue-ribbon projects and winning numerous state awards. Wilt has also served as camp counselor and would like to continue working with 4-H to, in his words,be a positive influence on teen-agers and make a difference in people’s lives.
Through the teacher education program, Wilt helped students learn math at his professional development school. He has also served as a substitute teacher and summer school teacher in Clarke County .
Wilt is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Golden Key honor society.
He carries a 3.84 grade point average. His parents are Thomas and Faylee Wilt.
Cheryl Woody of Parkersburg is on her way to a career in occupational therapy. She is president of the Student Occupational Therapy Association and was elected as a delegate to the 2005 national conference. She is also a member of the American and West Virginia OT associations.
She began her time at WVU in the Honors College , a program that she termed a great start to her college career.
In her application she wrote,I really enjoyed the classes available to me through the honors program. They helped me expand my writing and reasoning skills, which have been irreplaceable over the years.
Woody received the ARC and WVU Presidential scholarships, and has won the WVU Presidential Award. In the community, she has participated in several service projects for the honors program and occupational therapy department. She has also volunteered at Girl Scout summer camps, Relay for Life and Exercise Physiology Pump and Run.
She has a 3.89 grade point average. Her parents are David and Cynthia Woody.
Diversity can sum up the college career of Brandon Yahn of Wheeling . He will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and minors in entrepreneurship and communication studies.
He is president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and serves as a tutor and academic coach. He is a finalist in the Entrepreneurship Center Business Plan Competition and serves on the SGA Committee for Enhancement of Career Opportunities. In the community, Yahn has volunteered for the Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, American Cancer Society and Catholic Charities. He is also a Mountaineer Maniac.
Yahn was named Most Outstanding Junior by the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering and is a member of Alpha Pi Mu, the industrial engineering honor society, and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. He is also in the Mountain Honorary, Mortar Board, National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Golden Key honor society.
Yahn was one of 150 students worldwide chosen to participate in the Business Today International Conference.
His goal upon graduation is to work to do things that will benefit the state. As he stated in his application:My career goal is to gain strategic planning experience that will build on my business and engineering background, so that I can come back to the state and create my own business that will stimulate statewide economic growth.
Yahn has a 3.81 grade point average. His parents are Edmund and Cynthia Yahn.