Story Pitches

With a focus on the U.S. military, Rethink Your Drink, a West Virginia University Extension Service program that aims to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks, is offering alternatives to veterans who have relied heavily on caffeinated and sugary beverages. Through a series of advertisements, direct community education and even a 2K walk, Rethink Your Drink helped veterans make better drink choices.

This year’s campus read “Educated: A Memoir” has inspired an entire podcast at West Virginia University. Geoffrey Hilsabeck, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of English and a community outreach fellow in the WVU Humanities Center, wanted to create this podcast so that his guests could reflect on the author’s story from their own perspective, and explore the similarities between this true story in rural Idaho and their personal experiences growing up in West Virginia.

Last year, faculty from WVU Extension Service, WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, and WVU School of Public Health and West Virginia Prevention Research Center entered into a five-year contractual partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make a group of West Virginia University employees’ dream of a healthier West Virginia come true. The Be Wild, Be Wonderful, Be Healthy project is a community-based project that aims to create local solutions for our state’s health-related challenges by supporting projects in Clay and McDowell counties that increase access to physical activity and healthy foods.

A love of marching bands and the desire to become an engineer led Martinsburg native Jessica Hammersla to West Virginia University. As drum major, the junior is responsible for making sure the Pride of West Virginia Mountaineer Marching Band is playing in unison, something she’ll be doing during Saturday’s Homecoming game at Milan Puskar Stadium.

A West Virginia University professor who has led innovation in forensic science, has been chosen to lead training at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Springfield, Virginia, Sept. 24. Ednilson Bernardes, professor of Global Supply Chain Management, will conduct Lean Six Sigma training for the DEA and their forensic labs.

For the first time in more than a decade, women in West Virginia University’s Law Class of 2022 make up more than half of the class, which also boasts higher academic credentials than previous years. WVU also welcomes self-identified minorities who make up eight percent of these students, one-third of whom are first-generation college students. Greg Bowman, dean of the WVU College of Law, said diversity in law delivers fairness in the justice system.

The West Virginia University LGBTQ+ Center offers a variety of Safe Zone trainings, resources, classes and events to advocate for members of the LGBTQ+ community. The Center is committed to helping provide a safe and inclusive campus for all students, while understanding that transgender students may arrive on campus already stressed and concerned about the potential for isolation.

This year's National Recovery Month theme at West Virginia University is Join the Voices of Recovery: Together We Are Stronger highlighting the notion that mental health issues and substance use affects all of us and the ongoing need to build campus and community networks that support recovery. The Collegiate Recovery Program will host events and activities in September designed to increase awareness and understanding of substance use and mental health disorders among college students and celebrate their journey and achievements.

The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University partnered with InnerAction Media to produce two videos that showcase Morgantown, Fairmont, Star City and the surrounding areas along the Monongahela River. Anna Withrow, a redevelopment specialist, wants West Virginia residents to begin maximizing the availability of this community resource.

For months, West Virginia University Extension Service employees and state FFA advisers around the state have been working with youths in their communities to prepare them to show their project animals in the junior livestock competitions at the State Fair on Aug. 8 to Aug. 15, teaching valuable life skills in the process.