Scholarships empower WVU students to gain experience, explore opportunities

With donor support, WVU students like Samantha Antol, Daniel McDonald and Greta Hutlerstrum are turning their academic journeys into opportunities to follow passions and shape their future. (WVU Graphic)

West Virginia University students are enriching their college experience by exploring exciting opportunities — and occasionally finding joy in the unexpected — thanks to private scholarship support.

Story by WVU Foundation, Cassie Rice, Senior Communications Specialist

Photos by West Virginia University

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

For Wheeling native Samantha Antol, the Neil S. Bucklew Scholarship offered her the freedom to indulge her passion for nature while pursuing her degree in immunology and medical microbiology. She leads outdoor activities for Adventure WV and serves as president of the WVU Beekeeping Club.

“Scholarships at WVU have allowed me to fully focus on my academics and doing activities to improve my learning and overall experience here without having to stress about tuition or other costs associated with attending college,” Antol said. “I’ve been able to devote a lot more time to research, hands-on activities and volunteering at WVU. If I didn’t have the scholarship, I wouldn’t have had those opportunities.”

As West Virginia’s land-grant University dedicated to serving the Mountain State, WVU provides ample scholarship support to ensure higher education remains accessible and affordable for students across the state and beyond. During the 2024 fiscal year, the WVU Office of Financial Aid awarded over $139 million to more than 16,000 students in partnership with the WVU Foundation.

Those dollars make a significant difference in the lives of students by reducing their future debt load. Nearly half — 45% — of all May 2023 graduates across the WVU System had no federal student loan debt upon completing their bachelor’s degrees.

Without financial limitations, Antol and other scholarship recipients are making the most of their college experience by getting involved, exploring new interests and gaining hands-on experience.

Inspired by his high school robotics experience and parents with expertise in the life sciences, Daniel McDonald is pursuing a career in robotics that fuses those influences by drawing from nature to improve robotics controls. As a recipient of the prestigious WVU Foundation Scholarship, McDonald got involved with the award-winning WVU robotics team and he’s been impressed by the broad cross-collaboration within the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

McDonald, a mechanical engineering senior who grew up in Morgantown, also partnered with biomedical engineers at WVU to found a chapter of e-NABLE. The global nonprofit organization provides free and low-cost prosthetics for children and adults in need by relying on volunteers to assist with 3D printing.

“The Foundation Scholarship has shaped the way that I engage with college and the University in general,” McDonald said. “I picked up a minor because I could, right? I took a philosophy class, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really grabbing me.’ And I was able to be like, ‘Wow, I can shape my experience how I want to and how I want to extend my learning.’ Being able to just focus in on that and not have to worry about all the externals has really been different.”

Thanks to the scholarship’s travel stipend, McDonald is spending the fall semester studying abroad in Sweden. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he plans to continue his studies overseas.

Flutist Greta Hulterstrum, a junior from Litchfield, Minnesota, noted that scholarships also bring students from around the world to the Mountain State. Her classmates at the WVU College of Creative Arts and Media hail from South Korea, Indonesia and California, among other places. She discovered the WVU Flute Studio via social media, and she is grateful that the Florence H. Freeman Honors Music Scholarship enabled her to pursue a degree in music performance at WVU.

“The scholarship support I received here has really opened up doors to many possibilities within music,” Hulterstrum said. “Without having to worry about the cost of tuition, I’ve been able to travel to different competitions and master classes and flute conventions, and I never would’ve gotten to do those things without the financial freedom to do so. That has really made me grow as a person and, of course, in developing my musical skills.”

Hulterstrum has even had the opportunity to meet and perform for famous musicians, including celebrated flutist Jasmine Choi and Grammy-nominated quintet Imani Winds.

After moving on to a master’s degree in music, Hulterstrum said she hopes to work in arts management for a major orchestra, perform when she can and teach students of all ages at her own private flute studio.

Antol also has an eye on graduate school — specifically, the pathologists’ assistant program at WVU. Her undergraduate research has focused on sex differences in cancer immunity, and she wants to continue seeking solutions for health challenges facing West Virginians post-graduation, preferably in a rural health care setting.

“Giving to WVU is really an investment in West Virginia as a state, because you’re allowing these young professionals in West Virginia to stay in West Virginia and really just work to improve the state as a whole,” Antol said. “You’re investing in West Virginia students who aren’t sure if they can afford to go to school, and you’re allowing them to have opportunities that they never really thought that they would have otherwise.”

The Foundation, Bucklew and Freeman scholarships were established through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University. From July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, alumni and friends made 40,849 gifts totaling a record $282.6 million.

Learn more about scholarships and/or make a gift online.

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