Staff Reporters: Jacob Evans, Gene Bailey, Trenton Barnhart
Photographer: Glen Smakula and Kole Hopwood
Cottage Reporters: Zack Hineman (Barbour), Christopher Bell (Braxton), Braden Barr (Calhoun), Nate Dehmlow (Gilmer), Ethan Carrico (Kanawha), Andrew Armstrong (Lewis), Adam Shackleford (Marion), Robert Stickular (Monroe), Evan Blackwood (Panhandle), Charles Rowe (Randolph), Tom Kotol (Upshur), and Dakota Roach (Webster)
Patrick Compston
Benjamin Holden
Arryn Tennant
Ron Humberson
Shandy Kuzava
Lucas Pannett
Cameron Daiss
Ethan Miller
Colin Kelly
Tyler Vernick
Nicholas Carrier
Matthew Schwarz
William McKinney
Trevor Tucker
James Lares
Ethan Goldcamp
Thomas Napier
Simon Taylor
Jacob Russell
Cody Adair
Joshua Roberts
Jalyn Cade Bond (Marion)
Andrew Neal Daugherty (Randolph)
Michael Jared Duez (Braxton)
Justin Ray Elliot (Harrison)
Zachary Kyle Morris (Panhandle)
Ryan James Nottingham (Randolph)
Sam Skinner (Monroe)
Keith Marshall Stevens III (Kanawha)
Matthew Strand (Barbour)
Austin Brody Swiger (Panhandle)
Noah John Taylor (Calhoun)
Bryan Van Noman (Webster)
Levi Edward Whitt (Lewis)
Dr. E. Gordon Gee served as president of The Ohio State University from 1990 to 1997 and again from 2007 to 2013. Prior to his service at Ohio State, he led Vanderbilt University (2001-2007), Brown University (1998-2000), the University of Colorado (1985-1990), and West Virginia University (1981-1985). He returned to WVU to serve as president for a term in January 2014, and was confirmed as the permanent president in March 2014. Gee has served in higher education for more than three decades and in 2009 was named by Time magazine as one of the top-10 university presidents in the United States.
Born in Vernal, Utah, Gee graduated from the University of Utah with an honors degree in history and earned his J.D. and Ed.D degrees from Columbia University. He clerked under Chief Justice David T. Lewis of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals before being named a judicial fellow and staff assistant to the U.S. Supreme Court. In this role, he worked for Chief Justice Warren Burger on administrative and legal problems of the Court and federal judiciary. Gee returned to Utah as an associate professor and associate dean in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, and was granted full professorship in 1978. One year later, he was named dean of the West Virginia University Law School, and, in 1981, was appointed to that university’s presidency.
Gee has been a member of several education-governance organizations and committees, including the Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents, the Inter-University Council of Ohio, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and the American Association of Universities. He was chair of the American Council on Education’s Commission on Higher Education Attainment and served as co-chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ Energy Advisory Committee. In 2009, Gee was invited to join the International Advisory Board of King Adbulaziz University in Saudi Arabia.
Active in a number of national professional and service organizations during his tenures, he has served on the boards for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc., Limited Brands, and the National 4-H Council. In 2011, Gee was appointed to serve as secretary on the Board of Directors of Ohio’s economic development program, JobsOhio. In 2011-2012, he was asked by Governor Kasich to chair both the Ohio Higher Education Capital Funding Collaborative and the Ohio Higher Education Funding Commission. And in December 2012, he was asked to serve on the Columbus Education Commission.
Gee has received a number of honorary degrees, awards, fellowships, and recognitions. He is a fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest science organization. In 1994, Gee received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah, as well as from Teachers College of Columbia University. In 2013, he received the ACE Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award and received the Outstanding Academic Leader of the Year Award on behalf of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is the co-author of 11 books, including Law, Policy and Higher Education, published in 2012. He is also the author of numerous papers and articles on law and education.
Gee’s daughter, Rebekah, is the Medicaid Medical Director for the State of Louisiana, and an assistant professor of Public Health and Medicine at Louisiana State University. She is also a Norman F. Gant/American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology/IOM Anniversary Fellow.
West Virginia is the only state to lie entirely within the Appalachian Mountains.
The oldest mountain range on earth – Standing tall and proud for over 360 million years, Comprising the Eastern Continental divide, and home to some of the most beautiful and diverse terrain found on earth.
Misty mornings are common when the fog rises off the rivers and streams nestled in the mountain valleys, then crows the hills – hills which seem to reach into the heavens.
Deep in the hills and valleys of West Virginia run streams – Carrying water from the springs below the surface of the earth – pure running water filtered through the mountains and emerging cold, crisp, and fresh to the taste.
The New River – one of the worlds oldest – has carved its path through the mountain state for what is believed to be nearly 360 million years.
Deep below the earth, lies some of the most expansive reserves of coal found on earth. Coal was first discovered in what is now Boone County, the gateway to the southern coalfields.
West Virginia is coal, coal has been a part of our heritage, And our lives, providing economic prosperity with its peak, and desperate hard times with its certain fall – further distressing a state that has been so deeply entrenched in poverty for generations that it has become a way of life for far too many.
The Flora and Fauna are some of the most diverse to be found in the county, like Cranberry Glades, where the only botanic tundra specimens can be found south of the Canadian Rockies. The highest point in the state is Spruce Knob – which rises 4,863 feet. The soil and climate of West Virginia is ideal for the growth of very dense hardwood forests – nearly all of which were clear cut and used to build this nation at the rise of the industrial revolution.
Among these hills great leaders have emerged, social and political change has been ignited by people passionate about their rights – and the rights of others.
The hands of this state’s proud ancestors have played a critical role in the freedom of our nation – and in turn the whole world over.
We are a proud people, because we love our land – and have a deeply emotional sense of place, especially the place we call home. Among the hills and valleys of West Virginia our childhood echoes through the valleys, no matter our age, and our lives continue to take shape.
As a people we stand for what is right – whether it is the most popular choice or not. We believe in the power of hard work, honesty, and we strive to live in sound judgment.
As a whole – West Virginia has sacrificed more than any other state in times of war – Over 400,000 West Virginians have served their country since 1941 and countless more in prior wars and conflicts. Many gave their lives and were returned to their families for burial in their home soil – while many lie in foreign soil – and sadly many were never found or given proper burial.
This week we will honor all those who served – and will have only a glimpse into the painful sacrifices that have been made for our freedom – and shall carry their memories home with us – etched forever into our collective memory.
This state is our home. From the winding roads that take us to family cemeteries planted on mountainsides, to the great interstate highways that run the ridgelines offering breathtaking views of gently rolling hills and the deep plunging valleys of this beautiful state.
West Virginia, born in the midst of the civil war, by people who believed in the ultimate right to freedom from slavery. West Virginians stood to acknowledge that no human being is to ever be owned by another. Injustice to one – is injustice to all.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, in his opinion to congress pertaining to the admission of West Virginia into the union said – “We can scarcely dispense with the aid of West Virginia in the struggle of this civil war; much less can we afford to have her against us, in congress and in the field.
Her brave and good men regard her admissions into the union as a matter of life and death. They have been so true to the Union under very severe trials. We have so acted to justify their hopes; and we cannot fully retain their confidence, and cooperation, if we seem to break faith with them. In fact, they could do so much for us, if they would. The division of a state is dreaded as a precedent. But a measure made expedient by a war, is no precedent for times of peace.â€
And in the heart of that opinion written to the congress West Virginia found its birth on June 20th 1863.
Since the founding of this state, we have been a people of firm beliefs, and we hold fast to those beliefs in times of strife, upheaval, and trial.
It is by this that we proudly proclaim that “Mountaineers are ALWAYS FREE†Gathered here this week, we recognize our past, and look to our future with a renewed optimism that has surfaced with the leadership witnessed among our peers this week.
We are not only citizens of West Virginia, and the United State, but also the World. We have found gifts and recognized leadership traits we have never seen in ourselves this week. We have heard the great accomplishments of this state and its people, but we have debated heavily the problems that we face.
As the next greatest generation, it is up to us to be a generation that provides strong leadership and to live our motto – to always be free. We must take up the challenge presented to us throughout this week and demand change when we recognize that it is needed and to stand with our fellow citizens for the rights of all.
As we return home, with all the lessons we have learned – we recognize that this great state NEEDS US. Our hearts will always roam, if we should leave the hills that we call home.
Just as the water from the rivers of this state course to the seas, so too must our desire to take up the call of responsibility, and respond to the call of leadership.
We are proud, and we look to tomorrow with a new sense of purpose, In that when faced with a challenge, injustice or trial – we will stand together – take up that cause and lead – so that when we pass from this life – we will have left behind a state that is solid as its bedrock.
00Jacob McCartyhttp://wvboysstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WVOutline.fw_.pngJacob McCarty2013-06-20 08:42:062013-06-20 08:42:06Happy Birthday West Virginia – 150 Years Strong
Mister Hershel Woody Williams was born on October 2, 1923 in Fairmont, West Virginia. In 1943, Williams enlisted in the Marine Corps in Charleston. He was trained in the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, and became part of the 32nd Replacement Battalion which was sent to the southwest Pacific. In January 1944, he joined the 3rd Marine Division and later in the year took action against the Japanese at Guam.
In 1945, Williams was shipped to Iwo Jima where he would be recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty. He charged the enemy lines with only a flamethrower and four riflemen backing him up. He led the charge multiple times during the war and was distinguished as a great soldier. He later received a Purple Heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Currently he is the only living Congressional Medal of Honor in the state of West Virginia.
Mister Williams now talks to young men and women about his time of service and about patriotism. He has served his country as a great man would and still does to this day. We must thank Mister Williams and remember his message as we too serve our country.
http://wvboysstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WVOutline.fw_.png00Luke Kopphttp://wvboysstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WVOutline.fw_.pngLuke Kopp2013-06-14 09:22:422013-06-14 09:22:42Woody Williams: A True American Hero
The American legion, formed in 1919, is an organization for honorably discharged veterans. In the American Legion, they focus on giving back to their communities. They have many programs that focus on helping children and families of veterans. These programs include, but do not exclude, Boys State, Junior Shooting Sports, and many more. Along with programs, the American legion rewards honorable citizen with awards like the Eagle Scout of the Year Award. The American Legion also offers scholarships to honorable students.
00Luke Kopphttp://wvboysstate.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WVOutline.fw_.pngLuke Kopp2013-06-14 09:20:372013-06-14 09:20:37What is the American Legion?
Every year, the American Legion holds the Oratorical Contest. The Oratorical Contest is a contest in which students give memorized speeches about the Constitution. These students are then given the opportunity to advance to regionals, states and finally nationals, all based on their speech and interpretation of a random amendment selected by judges. In final the students who place in the top three of the nation win $18,000(1st), $16,000(2nd), or $14,000(3rd). Even if the individual student does not go to finals, they are still given the opportunity to win money. This is a great chance to earn money for college or spending.
As everyone knows, there was a storm Wednesday night with rather strong winds and rainfall. These winds resulted in a large tree near Panhandle becoming damaged and falling into the street, so the staff issued that the tree be cut down. This action took place after breakfast.
The workers proceeded to remove the limbs before cutting a section of the tree until only five feet of the tree remained. They then used the bucket of a tractor to ram into the top until it toppled over leaving a stump and taking care of the problem the damaged tree had presented.
