Ask April Mitchell where her dogged work ethic comes from, and the Beckley native who is graduating from West Virginia UniversitySunday with a masters in public administration will laugh and point to her hometown paper.

Specifically, the Sunday edition. The one thats always fat and heavy with the ads and the comics.

Her father, James Mitchell Sr., delivered the paper for years to homes in downtown Beckley. That was on top of his full-time job as a machinist at Hazelton Pumps and other work he would pick up along the way.

Same deal with her mother, Terrie, then a substitute cook for Raleigh County Schools who would drop the papers in the tubes and then head home to wait for a call from the school board office to see if she would continue working that day.

Delivering the paper was a family affair. April was enlisted, as were her older sister and brother, Cheryl and James Jr., and her younger brother, Thomas.

Seven days a week, 365 days a year. Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July. Through teeth-chattering cold, windshield-pounding downpours and on winter roads that wouldnt see a snowplow until James Sr. was already well into his shift at Hazelton.

The deliveries got more diversified as each Mitchell kid passed the drivers test.

At first, it was cool and fun,April said,but Id be lying if I told you that it didnt get to be a grind after a while.Those Sunday papers get to be pretty heavy when youre a little kid.

And while the Mitchell kids did complain among themselves, they didnt voice that dissatisfaction to Mom and Dad; they had too much respect.

We helped out because there was no choice,April said,and I dont mean that in a negative way. We were in it together. Our parents were working so hard for us to make our lives better, so this was the least we could do. The extra money really helped the household. It was for the greater good.

For the greater goodhas been the watch-word of her academic career, and soon-to-be professional one. At Fairmont State University, where she graduated with a sociology degree in 2004, she became heavily involved in community work through the national service organization, AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America).

At WVU , she was offered a Division of Public Administration fellowship with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which allowed her to continue her work across the state. Shes worked development projects from the comfortable communities that are quickly becoming upscale, to the coal camps that saw their best days four decades ago.

The result is a proven resume in the portfolio of the 25-year-old to rival that of any seasoned community development professional in the field.

She made her name in north-central West Virginia as a major player in two key community development events. She was the assistant organizer of a first-ever home ownership symposium last June that addressed the housing affordability crisis in Morgantown.

And she was the key coordinator in November of the Morgantown Airport community forum last year that addressed the city and regions travel preferences, both today and in the future.

The more voices, the more potential, she said.

Everybody can talk about whats wrong,she said.But when you get people saying, �€~OK. Now what can we do to fix it?Thats when I get the chills. Thats when youve got a forum and not just a bunch of people complaining and grousing.

And getting people together, especially ones on opposite sides of an issue, definitely isnt easy, said L. Christopher Plein, who chairs WVU s Public Administration program.

Thats where the character of the community organizer comes through, he said.

April has impressive facilitation skills,he said.Shes truly committed to public service. She has enthusiasm, dedication and a sense of responsibility. Shes a WVU success story and a West Virginia success story.

She wants to keep writing that story within the borders of her home state, she said.

Thats because shes assembled a real network of people, though the housing and airport authorities here, to her development work for the City of Morgantown, the Community Visions Foundation and the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce.

Shes also worked through the West Virginia Center for Civic Life based in the states capital of Charleston.

There are lots of good things happening in West Virginia,she said,and I just want to thank God for my family and friends and their support. I want to keep working here.

But is the graduate student who is no stranger to hard work working too hard?

Actually one of my professors did say he was worried I was stretching myself too thin,she admitted.But thats when you grow: when you stretch yourself.