Honors College students come from 39 states and all 55 counties in West Virginia. They can be found in academic colleges across campus.
Olivia Barbee
Major/Minor: Forensic Chemistry major, Biology minor
Graduation Year: 2022
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Student Organization Involvement: Research Apprenticeship Program, Honors College testWELL tutor, Biology 115 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Rural Undergraduate Shadowing in Healthcare program, and Remote Area Medical Clinic club
Interests and Hobbies: Gardening, watching TV and spending time with friends.
Fun Fact: I am a certified beekeeper, and I have three hives back home.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: My favorite thing
is the tight-knit community and the friends I have made through the Honors College.
Raeanne Beckner
Major/Minor: Journalism major, Multidisciplinary Studies major (made up of Political Science, Leadership Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies minors)
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Bridgeport, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Intern for the West Virginia Innocence Project, Milan Puskar Leadership Scholar, Managing Editor at The Daily Athenaeum, Honors 102 Peer Mentor, Reed College of Media Ambassador, TA for Media Law and Ethics, PolitiFact contributor, New Student Orientation Leader, WVU Student Ambassador with the SCC (Student Call Center), a Mountaineer Maniac, and sisterhood advisor for Omega Phi Alpha national service sorority.
Interests and Hobbies: I love spending time with friends and family, volunteering, taking road trips and cooking!
Fun Fact: I am a huge ice hockey fan! Go Caps!
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: My favorite thing about the Honors College (and WVU as a whole) is the people. Everyone is so encouraging and helpful. You will do things you never thought you could!Jillian Blair
Major/Minor: Environmental & Energy Resource Management major
Graduation Year: 2024
Hometown: Wheeling, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Honors Student Association vice president, Peace Corps Prep Program, WVU Sierra Club Student Coalition secretary, Davis College Sustainability Scholars Leadership Board, and Presidential Student Ambassador.
Interests and Hobbies: I love to travel, explore, paint, watch movies, read and collect things from places I've been.
Fun Fact: The top item on my bucket list is to visit all the National Parks in the United States!
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: I love that WVU can make me feel as if there's a something from everything to experience or try on campus. I equally love how the Honors College makes my home within WVU feel small, familiar and close-knit.Grant DuVall
Major/Minor: Biology major, Addiction Studies minor
Graduation Year: 2022
Hometown: Bridgeport, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Camp Kesem Co-Coordinator, Presidential Student Ambassador, WVU Men's Rowing Team, Intensive English Program Conversation Partner, testWELL Tutor, Honors EXCEL program
Interests and Hobbies: Hiking, taking solo road trips to National Parks, photography and reading classic novels.
Fun Fact: I’m certified to drive a tractor in the state of New York.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: I love how small the Honors College makes WVU feel. I truly feel as if I have a
close network of peers and friends everywhere I go on campus.
Alaina Eavenson
Major/Minor: Animal and Nutritional Sciences major, Women & Gender Studies minor
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Pre-Veterinary Club secretary, Davis-Michael Scholar, OSTEM
Interests and Hobbies: I love crafting (mostly cross stitch and sewing) and am teaching myself to crochet. I am a long time 4-H member and have raised livestock for a decade.
Fun Fact: I’m fostering cats with my roommate!
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: I love getting close to my peers due to the smaller class sizes and love for learning.
Raimah Hossain
Major/Minor: Biomedical Engineering major, History and Math minors
Graduation Year: 2022
Hometown: I was born in Starkville, Mississippi, but went to high school in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Student Organization Involvement: Engineers Without Borders, TEDx WVU Sponsorship Committee member
Interests and Hobbies: Music, makeup and cooking.
Fun Fact: I once saw Venus Williams at an airport in Dubai, UAE.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: Even though I went to high school in Morgantown, being a member of the Honors College has made this town and my college experience completely unique and different from what I knew of Morgantown before.
Wren King
Major/Minor: Anthropology, Women's and Gender Studies, and Geography triple major with a minor in Native American Studies
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Managing editor of Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review, associate editor at UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research, president of the Organization for Native American Interests, triage co-chair of the Global Medical and Dental Brigades Club.
Interests and Hobbies: I am passionate working in regards to global health, migration, and human rights, along with promoting undergraduate research for all students, but especially humanities and social sciences students. I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program during the summer of 2020, and participated in the Interdisciplinary Research in Educational Sciences Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the summer of 2021 under Dr. Mollie McQuillan. In my free time, I love to travel, watch medical dramas, read, collect rocks and cats, and plan futures.
Fun Fact: I foster cats with fellow Ambassador Alaina!
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: WVU has so many resources that can allow many to blossom in so many different ways. I don't think I could garner a more transdisciplinary education anywhere else. I have had the pleasure to make many wonderful connections with professors across the university, and I believe I couldn't have made a better choice. The Honors College has enabled me to push myself farther and put myself out there.
Marleah Knights
Major/Minor: Biology & English majors
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Presidential Student ambassador, Honors Students of Color Affinity Group, Honors Hall Council, Residence Hall Association, WVU Student Government Association intern, College Democrats.
Interests and Hobbies:
- Traveling and cultural immersion
- Reading and creative writing
- Playing steel drums
- Learning languages
- Swimming
Fun Fact: During my elementary school years, I spent 4 years living in Trinidad and Tobago.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: My favorite things about the Honors College are the opportunities students have to be mentored and the fellowship created between students.
Hunter Moore
Major/Minor: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering dual major
Graduation Year: 2022
Hometown: West Milford, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: WVU Experimental Rocketry, WVU American Institute of Aero/Astronautics, WVU Student Government Association.
Interests and Hobbies: Movies, soccer, space, t raveling and science.
Fun Fact: I spent the summer working for NASA with the CubeSat Program!
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: My favorite thing about WVU and the Honors College is definitely the people — no matter what or where, I can always find a great group of friends.
Pareera Uqaily
Major/Minor: Accounting and Management Information Systems major, Data Analytics minor
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Karachi, Pakistan
Student Organization Involvement: Student Government Association, Delta Sigma Pi, Women in Business, Beta Alpha Psi, Management Information Systems Association, First Year Leadership Academy, Honors Students of Color Affinity Group, Pakistani Students' Association, Muslim Students Association, Honors EXCEL student.
Interests and Hobbies: Rowing, hiking, baking, and spending time with my family and friends.
Fun Fact: I have rowed at the 2008 Summer Olympics venue in Shunyi, China.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: The welcoming
atmosphere regardless of where they live and the also really cool events they
host which is a great way to network!
Raafay Uqaily
Major/Minor: Biomedical Engineering major
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Karachi, Pakistan
Student Organization Involvement: Biomedical Engineering Society president, Student Government Association College senator, The Rack treasurer, American Chemical Society secretary, TEDxWVU Event Planning chair, Mathematics department calculus learning assistant, Camp Kesem at WVU counselor, Pakistani Student Association secretary, Honors EXCEL program student.
Interests and Hobbies: Binge-watching shows on Netflix, kayaking,
baking, trading crypto and stocks.
Fun Fact: I have a twin sister, who is also in the Honors College!
Ateria Walker
Major/Minor: Nursing major, Addition Studies minor
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Wheeling, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated;
WVU Presidential Student Ambassador;
WV AHEC Rural Community Health Scholars Program; Honors EXCEL program; president
of MAPS (Minorities Association of Pre- Healthcare Students); Community Outreach
chairperson of Student Nursing Association (SNA);
Student Support Services TRIO peer mentor; member of
WVU NAACP; member of
WVU 100 Black Women;
Health Science Technology Academy Alumni Association;
Honors Students of Color Affinity Group;
National Society of Collegiate Scholars;
National Society of Leadership and Success; WVU Phi Sigma Theta National
Honor Society;
WVU Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society
Interests and Hobbies: I love to hang out with friends, go to the gym,
watch movies and TV shows on Netflix, sing and travel.
Fun Fact: I have never broken a bone in my body.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: My favorite thing about WVU and the Honors College are the research opportunities and the various events and activities hosted by the Honors College. I also love how the Honors College is like one big family who is there to support you and help you succeed in your endeavors.Donovan Weekley
Major/Minor: Biology major, Medical Humanities and Health Studies minor
Graduation Year: 2023
Hometown: Lexington Park, Maryland
Student Organization Involvement: President of the WVU Collegiate Chapter of the NAACP, Black Student Union at West Virginia University president, Honors LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, Honors Students of Color Affinity Group; mentee in WVUSOM's MedCoach Program; and undergraduate member of the LGBTQ+ Commission.
Interests and Hobbies: I enjoy going on long drives and going on hikes around the state of West Virginia, reading books about the sociological aspects of medicine, listening to music, learning languages, and cooking.
Fun Fact: I am fluent in Spanish.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: I love that the Honors College in particular encourages students to partake in interdisciplinary study to better understand the impacts that their chosen fields of study can have on the community in which they live and the globe that they share with billions of other people.Katherine Whittington
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Major/Minor: Political Science and Organizational Leadership majors
Graduation Year: 2022
Hometown: Charleston, West Virginia
Student Organization Involvement: Residence Hall Association (Honors Hall representative), Mountaineer Maniacs. Honors EXCEL student, working on a project that focuses on researching the gap between rural students and attendance at a higher education institutions. "I hope to use this research to put together a project that can be presented to the West Virginia Legislature so they can become aware of the increasing issue in our state and the rest of rural America."
Interests and Hobbies: I love to bake, go thrift shopping, hangout with friends and family, and read in my free time.
Fun Fact: I once met Creed from "The Office" in an airport.
Favorite Thing about WVU and the Honors College: The atmosphere at WVU and the family the Honors College brings!