A record-setting Mountaineer crowd, the highest annual WVU scholarship support by the National Capital Area Chapter of the Alumni Association, and the magnetic personality and insightful remarks of University president Gordon Gee made for an incredible afternoon at this past week’s 37th Annual WVU Alumni Foundation luncheon.
Speaking to a jam-packed room at the National Press Club, including former Senator Jay Rockefeller, Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Representative David McKinley, and staff of Representatives Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins, Gee painted a positive picture of WVU’s future. He talked about core areas of academic development and WVU focus, such as education, healthcare and energy.
(Watch WVU President Gordon Gee talk about the importance of educating the total student and aligning the University’s academic priorities with needs in the Mountain State.)
NCAC President Darren Feeley also presented more than $30,000 of chapter-generated scholarship support for numerous WVU factions. The chapter’s yearlong fundraising efforts to support DC-area students at West Virginia allowed the chapter to contribute significantly more than its annual commitment to several initiatives. Among the contributions were $5,000 to the WVU Alumni Internship Program, $9,000 to the Loyalty Permanent Endowment Fund 2.0, which is matched dollar-for-dollar from another source, $10,200 to the WVU Foundation to support the John and Lucy Nicholas Memorial Scholarship, and $5,500 to the Mountaineer Athletic Club.
NCAC President Darren Feeley presents WVU Alumni President and CEO Steve Douglas more than $24,000 in scholarship and internship support for DC area WVU students.
The NCAC conducts several events throughout the year to create a tighter-knit community of Mountaineer alums in the nation’s capital, and to raise funds to support a wide range of scholarship and internship opportunities for DC-area WVU students.
In addition to numerous WVU academic departments that sponsored tables at the luncheon, the NCAC would like to thank several sponsors for their generous support of the event. They include Asher Agency, BDO, Capital Caring, CONSOL Energy, Ellen Goodwin Fundraising Counsel, First Energy, Hamilton insurance, The Hill newspaper, The Greenbrier and Widmeyer Communications, a Finn Partners Compan