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MORGANTOWN -- Two Northern Panhandle students were among those named as 2020 West Virginia University Foundation Scholars, presented with the university's highest academic scholarship.
Olivia Dowler from Weir High School and Jillian Blair from Wheeling Park High School are among the five students receiving the award this year.
Also recognized were Bethany Knight of Notre Dame High School, Rushik Patel from George Washington High School and Sarah Sweeney from Spring Mills High School.
"Every year, I am impressed by and thrilled to meet our Foundation Scholars," President Gordon Gee said. "Jillian, Olivia, Bethany, Rushik and Sarah will join a long list of accomplished West Virginias who have taken the education and experiential opportunities this scholarship makes possible to make the state -- and even the world -- a better place. That opportunity is even more critical as we look to the future. I cannot wait to see that they will accomplish."
Dowler plans to eventually serve as a human rights lawyer and teach history at a university level. She will double major in history and world languages, literatures, and linguistics with an emphasis in Spanish and minor in political science.
Dowler said she is anxious to research the differences between Spanish-speaking cultures through history and the critical role language plays in prejudice. She looks forward to the opportunity to serve as a volunteer with the WVU Global Public Health Brigades in Central America and plans to use her stipend to study abroad in Spain.
Blair, who dreams of bringing a strong renewable energy industry to West Virginia, believes more effective communication between scientists and policy makers is key to a sustainable future. She plans to use her environmental and energy resources management major and minor in sustainable design as the path to a career in environmental law. Blair will use her stipend to attend conferences and summits on sustainable development and environmental policy to expand her knowledge and help set her apart from other applicants for the highly-competitive internship with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
Qualifications for the Foundation Scholarship include being a resident of West Virginia, possessing a minimum grade point average of 3.8 and achieving a minimum composite score of 31 on the ACT or the equivalent SAT score.
Twenty of the applicants who interviewed for the Foundation Scholarship were named Neil S. Bucklew Scholars. The value of the Foundation Scholarship, when paired with the state's PROMISE Scholarship, is more than $95,000 over four years.