West Virginia University Mountaineers
The West Virginia University Mountaineers take their nickname from the mountainous terrain in the Morgantown, WV area, where the university campus is located. Established in 1867, the school of nearly 30,000 students has a proud sports tradition with both men’s and women’s teams wearing uniforms that say Mountaineers.
The term “highlander” became the mascot for West Virginia University (commonly abbreviated to WVU) in 1890. Each year, students compete to play the mascot in sporting events held both at home and at the university. road. While the vetting process that includes a minimum GPA requirement, essays, interviews, and a test in front of a live gaming crowd may sound extreme to those unfamiliar with the process, the reward for reaching the esteemed position it’s a scholarship and the best seat in the house (the sidelines) for every sporting event. For dozens of students, the rewards are worth more than the hassle of going through the testing process.
The history of the West Virginia Mountaineers dates back to the passage by Congress of the Morril Land Grant Act of 1862 which paved the way for the multitude of state universities that play a very important role in the United States today, who possibly have the most envied higher education system in the world. world. The Morrill Act awarded ownership of certain federal lands to states with the understanding that states receiving the land would either build universities on the sites or sell the land to raise funds to build state universities elsewhere. The Morrill Act, which was directly responsible for the creation of WVU and many other public universities across the country, played a tremendous role in shaping the American landscape.
Today, the West Virginia University Mountaineers compete in the top-tier Big East Conference, which features 16 full-time schools and one partner school. The curiosity of the partner school has to do with the inclusion in January 2006 of the Loyola University of Maryland (located in Baltimore) women’s lacrosse team. The University of Pittsburgh Panthers are the West Virginia University Mountaineers’ biggest conference rivals, as the football and basketball programs have a history of intense competition with their neighbors 75 miles to the north.
For many West Virginia University Mountaineer alumni, their favorite school tradition to look back on fondly is the time-honored tradition of singing a specific harmonizing tune that was first created by the late John Denver in 1971. Listen to the words of the classic country music “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is enough to send most West Virginia fans back to the days when they would hang out at the stadium after home football games and collectively sing the West Virginia anthem along with 60,000 other fans and the victorious soccer team.
Regardless of which memories or traditions stand out the most for each West Virginia University Mountaineer, nearly everyone who has been lucky enough to spend any time at the school can agree that their time spent on campus had an impact. in their life.
