Five women and five menincluding a future doctor, WVU varsity cheerleader, Daily Athenaeum columnist, Goldwater Scholar and a few world travelersare showing a strong commitment to service and learning, with hopes of being the 2007 Mr. and Ms. Mountaineer at West Virginia University.
The Mr. and Ms. Mountaineeralong with the Most Loyal West Virginians, Most Loyal Alumni Mountaineers, Most Loyal Faculty Mountaineer and Most Loyal Staff Mountaineerwill be honored at halftime during Thursdays (Nov. 8) WVU -Louisville football game at Milan Puskar Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Mr. and Ms. Mountaineer candidates, all WVU seniors or professional students, must be nominated by a student organization and complete an application and essay about what makes their Mountaineer spirit unique.
This years finalists each exhibit a strong sense of what is it is to be a Mountaineer and have excelled in their respective areas of academics, as well as their service to the University, said Robby Queen, Mountaineer Week co-chair.
This, being the 60th anniversary of Mountaineer Week, will commemorate a special time in our history as we crown our Mr. and Ms. Mountaineer,he added.Although we will crown only one guy and one girl on Thursday, they are all winners and will each hold a place in Mountaineer history. Our candidates represent the best of WVU and the true diversity behind the Mountaineers.
The finalists for 2007 Ms. Mountaineer are Sarah Erwin, Delbarton; Mollie McCartney, Walkersville; Kerri Phillips, Weirton; Emily Renzelli, Bridgeport; and Kimberly Schneider, Cincinnati.
Mr. Mountaineer candidates are L.G. Jackson, Hamlin; Timothy Luke Jackson, Middlebourne; Kane Maiers, Keyser; Shane Miller, St. Albans; and Chad Wilcox, Wheeling.
MS. MOUNTAINEER CANDIDATES :
Sarah Erwin of Delbarton wants to make a difference in peoples lives by becoming an occupational therapist. Shes working on a masters in this field, having graduated with a bachelors degree in multidisciplinary studies.
Erwin has served with several organizations in Morgantown including the Center for Excellence in Disabilities, Mon Kids and HealthSouth Mountain View Regional Rehabilitation Hospital.
Erwin has also done fieldwork at Logan Regional Medical Center and traveled to Cherokee, N.C., to help train interviewers for a research project concerning physical disability among older American Indians.
A PROMISE Scholar, shes been involved with Mountaineer Campus Ministry, the Student Occupational Therapy Association, Colleges Against Cancer and Relay for Life. She has also participated in the Mountain and Helvetia honoraries, Alpha Phi Omega and Mountaineer Maniacs.
Erwin is sponsored by Mountaineer Campus Ministries.
Having taught English to children in Guatemala and shared Christian ministry in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Mollie McCartney of Walkersville has crossed many borders to help others. A student of biology and history, McCartney looks forward to taking on many adventures in her life, particularly those that expose her to new cultures. She is a member of WVU Bhangra, which enables her to learn more about the culture of India while expressing her love of dance.
Her campus activities include WVU Campus Crusade for Christ, the Mountaineer Marching Band; Association for Women in Science; Helvetia, Chimes and Mortar Board honoraries; Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity; Phi Alpha Theta; and the WVU Honors College.
A PROMISE Scholar, she has worked as a tutor at Westover Elementary School and volunteered at Milan Puskar Health Right. Shes also been involved with the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center
McCartney is sponsored by the Association for Women in Science.
Goldwater Scholar Kerri Phillips of Weirton plans to stay at WVU to pursue a doctorate in aerospace engineering.
She has participated in undergraduate research for three years and completed internships at NASA and Boeing. One of her favorite memories is flying the WVU banner during a microgravity research flight with NASA .
Phillips takes science one step further by being involved with outreach to secondary school students across West Virginia. Through the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, she has visited middle and high school students and encouraged them to seek higher education.
In addition, Phillips helped organize a charity benefit at the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to support Angel Ridge Animal Rescue and helped collect aluminum can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Morgantown.
She is sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Emily Renzelli of Bridgeport has traveled to Africa, first as an international student representative with the United Nations Association of South Africa, then for thesis research.
The political science and philosophy student also been a volunteer for Save the Children in Maseru, Lesotho, and has helped raise AIDS awareness in Africa through her work with the University of Stellenbosch AIDS Center in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa.
Renzelli is involved with the WVU Debate Team and is founder and president of the WVU chapter of the Roosevelt Institution.
She has been a WVU Liberal Studies Program student representative and has served on the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Student Advisory Board.
Other activities include Students Taking Action for Needed Change and Equality, the Bite Back Malaria Campaign and the Umoja Project.
In addition, she has been nominated for the Rhodes, Mitchell and Marshall scholarships and was a Truman Scholarship finalist. She has been published in The Washington Post and has worked as an intern for Congressman Alan Mollohan.
She is sponsored by the WVU chapter of the Roosevelt Institution.
A secondary education and biology student, Kimberly Schneider of Cincinnatihas shared her time and talents through Greek life at WVU .
She is a member of the Theta Chi Chapter of Sigma Kappa Sorority at WVU , where she has served as president, public relations chair and chapter representative to the annual convention, among other leadership roles.
She has also been president of the Panhellenic Council at WVU and the WVU chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta.
Also at WVU , Schneider has been vice president of Chimes and a member of the Mortar Board honorary, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Golden Key, National Exemplary Scholars in Service and the WVU Honors College.
She has volunteered as a swim instructor and teaching assistant, and she has also helped with the Adopt-a-Trail Program, holiday toy drives, Habitat for Humanity, Sundale Nursing Home and the Alzheimers Association Memory Walk.
Schneider was named this years Greek Woman of the Year at WVU .
Her sponsoring organization is Sigma Kappa Sorority.
MR. MOUNTAINEER CANDIDATES :
L.G. Jackson of Hamlin is studying accounting at WVU .
His many activities have included being a junior facilitator for Hugh OBrian Youth Leadership in Charleston.
In addition, he has been a WVU Center for Civic Engagement intern, managing accounts and creating a database to link community organizations with student volunteers at WVU .
He has also interned with Toothman Rice PLLC , an accounting firm in Fairmont, where he helped prepare financial statements and audits and was involved in various other activities.
Jackson has been active with the WVU Student Government Association and served as public relations vice chair, treasurer and representative to the WVU Board of Governors.
He is co-founder and vice president of the WVU chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, a business honorary, and Phi Kappa Phi.
Jackson is sponsored by Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Timothy Luke Jackson of Middlebourne has a firsthand perspective of Mountaineer spirit, having been a WVU varsity cheerleader for the past three years.
He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors degree in multidisciplinary studies and is now working toward a masters in occupational therapy.
He is an Academic All-American, a member of the West Virginia Occupational Therapy Association and president of the WVU occupational therapy programs Class of 2008.
Jacksons volunteer activities include Habitat for Humanity, the Rosenbaum Family House, Kaleidoscope Community Learning Center, Scotts Run Settlement House, WVU Childrens Hospital, HealthSouth Mountainview Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, The Shack Neighborhood House, Mountaineer Boys&Girls Club and Toys for Tots.
His honors include the G. Belmont Berry and West Virginia PROMISE scholarships.
He is sponsored by the WVU Cheerleaders.
While working toward his doctor of medicine degree, Kane Maiers of Keyser has taken on many leadership roles, including chair of the student steering committee for the WVU School of Medicine Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
In addition, he has been a member of the Pfizer Humanism in Medicine Award national selection committee and the WVU School of Medicine Committee on Academic Standards and Professional Integrity, and he served as a national delegate for the Association of American Medical CollegesOrganization of Student Representatives.
Maiers is a member of several medical organizations and national honor societies, as well as WVU s Mountain honorary.
Among his community activities, Maiers organized and directed Project SEE , which raised more than $4,000 to help battle trachoma, a serious eye infection leading to blindness. He has also been an event planner for Cover the Uninsured Week and a volunteer in Ruby Memorial Hospitals emergency department.
Maiers has received the American College of Emergency Physicians Professionalism and Service Award and numerous scholarships.
He is sponsored by the WVU School of Medicine.
Shane Miller of St. Albans has been involved in numerous activities both on campus and at a national level.
Working toward a dual degree in political science and history, he is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council student board of directors. He also served as a guest speaker at this years conference of the Mid-East Honors Association and as secretary at the conference of the Virginias Collegiate Honors Council.
At WVU , Miller has been active with the Student Government Association, University Committee on Student Rights and Responsibilities and Mountaineer Week. He also worked two summers with New Student Orientation.
His community activities include Mountaineers Recycle, Mountaineer Boys State, Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts of America and Key Club International.
Miller is a WVU Mountaineer Scholar and has also received PROMISE and Irving Stewart scholarships. He is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, a political science honorary.
He is sponsored by Phi Sigma Pi.
A weekly opinion columnist for The Daily Athenaeum, Chad Wilcox of Wheeling is also president and organizer of the Kappa Mu Chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the biology honor society.
Wilcox is studying biology and history at WVU . He is a volunteer tutor for the Chemistry Learning Center and a member of the American Chemical Society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Phi Alpha Theta, Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society, Mountaineer Maniacs, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Phi Kappa Phi and the Institute for Human Dignity.
Wilcox is also founder and chairman of the WVU Life Sciences Ball committee, captain of the Life Sciences dodgeball team and a certified climbing wall top-rope belayer at the Student Recreation Center.
In addition, he has volunteered with Ronald McDonald House Charities, Ruby Memorial Hospitals Emergency Department and North Elementary School of Morgantown.
Wilcox is an Eberly Scholar and a recipient of the PROMISE and WVU Presidential scholarships.
He is sponsored by Beta Beta Beta.