A week of Homecoming activities at West Virginia University culminated today (Oct. 1) with the crowning of Kallie Nealis and Roshan Daniel as the 2016 queen and king.
The announcement was made during the half-time ceremony at Saturday’s Homecoming football game vs. Kansas State.
Selected by their peers during two days of voting, Nealis and Daniel were surrounded by members of the Homecoming Court, the Mountaineer Marching Band and tens of thousands of cheering fans, including alumni, who striped Milan Puskar Stadium in gold and blue.
Nealis, a senior strategic communications with an emphasis in public relations minoring in communications studies from Bridgeport, is enrolled in her first year of graduate studies in journalism. She is a four-year member of the WVU Dance Team and was selected co-captain and vice president her junior and senior years. She serves a WVU Love Your Melon student ambassador, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, the Public Relations Student Society of America, and Order of Omega. In 2015, she was named “All-American Dancer” by the National Dance Alliance and “Most Spirited” by her teammates and coaches.
Daniel, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major minoring in economics from Chantilly, Virginia, currently serves as the WVU University Relations social media ambassador and the treasurer for the Student Government Association and previously as the Chief Information Officer. He has also served as the Relay for Life marketing chairman and a member of the finance committee. He is the recipient of the J Bergen & Anderson MAE Scholarship, Rhododendron Scholarship, WVU Engineering Excellence Scholarship, Statler Research Trust Fund Scholarship, and Everette C. Dubbe Scholarship. He also placed first in the 2016 Booz Allen Hamilton Summer Games Challenge Cup.
Other queen candidates were: Bronwyn Clagett, a member of the Honors College, is a senior music education major minoring in world music from Fairmont; Taylor Davis, a senior industrial engineering major from Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Hilary Kinney, a member of the Honors College, is a senior journalism major minoring in political science and Latin American studies from Moundsville; and Tayler Morrow, a senior psychology and biology dual major minoring in communication studies from Morgantown.
Other king candidates were: Louis Colonna, a senior business management major with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from Montgomery, New Jersey; Brandon Galindo, a senior criminology major minoring in Spanish, and Law and Legal Studies from Chantilly, Virginia; Timothy Martin, a senior animal and nutritional science and wildlife and fisheries resource management major minoring in theatre from Towanda, Pennsylvania; and Shurman Riggins, a senior business administration and marketing major from Lawrence, New Jersey.
Verl O. Purdy and Robert L Reynolds, dedicated and loyal alumni of WVU, served as the Homecoming parade grand marshal Friday evening (Sept. 30).
Dr. Cynthia Clarkson, Dr. John Cuthbert, Jon Hammock, Susan Meredith, Sarah Soliman and James “J.T.” Thomas were honored as part of the 2016 WVU Alumni Association’s Chapter and Service Awards at halftime. For more on these honorees, visit here.
For more information on all Homecoming activities, visit
http://homecoming.wvu.edu.
-WVU-
ta/10/1/16
CONTACT: Susan Fusco
susan.fusco@mail.wvu.edu, 304.293.2506
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