Of the West Virginia University students who submitted 500 photographs for a chance to win summer tuition, four of them were selected for their winning shots.
The students were rewarded as part of the Wish You Were Here contest, which also enabled them to send photos as ePostcards to their friends and family.
The grand-prize winner is Caitlyn Collins, a pre-business major, who submitted a photo of black-eyed Susans. She created a stunning image by shooting beneath the flowers so it looked as if they were reaching up to the sky, she said. She will receive $500 toward tuition for a summer class.
Three students were awarded $250 each for summer classes in the categories of people, places and things.
The prize for best “people” photo went to biology major Adam Christian who took a photo of his fianc�, Lindsay Shrewsbury, and his dog, Willy Nelson, canoeing on the Cheat River. He rented the canoe from the Student Recreation Center, a service available to students who want to take advantage of the area’s great outdoors.
Hayley Harman captured the top prize in the “places” category by taking a picture of her freshman orientation class at Spruce Knob. Adventure WV offers incoming freshmen a unique opportunity to bond with other freshmen while experiencing the beauty of West Virginia. Harman is double majoring in biology and psychology with a minor in Spanish.
Sarah Dunaway’s photo of a rainbow, which ends in an old shed was named the best photo in the “things” category. She thought of her father teasing her about the pot of gold at the end of rainbow when she took the photo at her grandfather’s farm in Preston County. She is majoring in animal and nutritional sciences.
“Our students are so attuned to sharing photos via Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that is was natural to ask them to share with us in order to promote Summer@WVU,” said Sue Day-Perroots, dean of Extended Learning and Summer Sessions. “We thoroughly enjoyed seeing summer through their eyes.”
The promotion in which students could show any aspect of summer was developed to encourage students to think about taking summer classes especially if they got an ePostcard from a friend who wanted to win the contest. Extended Learning staff voted on each photograph to create a finalist pool of 109. A team at University Relations selected the winners.
The summer term begins May 20. Students can take advantage of a flexible schedule with classes offered in lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 12 weeks. In addition to the robust schedule of on-campus courses, WVU offers hundreds of online classes and travel study courses in the U.S. and abroad. Details can be found on the summer website.
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LR/04/26/13
CONTACT: Lynn Reinke, Director of Communications, WVU Extended Learning/Summer Sessions
(304)293-2684, lynn.reinke@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.