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PARKERSBURG -- Two students from the region are among 20 seniors who have received the Neil S. Bucklew Scholarship at West Virginia University.
Lillian Floyd of Parkersburg High School and Isabella Bottini of Ripley High School will now be considered for the Foundation Scholarship, the highest academic scholarship at WVU.
Floyd will major in neuroscience. She became fascinated with the brain while reading "100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss."
She is unsure if she will attend medical school or pursue a doctoral research degree. However, she feels confident she'll find her niche at WVU. Floyd said her career aspirations were solidified while attending the WVU Department of Neuroscience and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute Brain Camp.
Bottini was inspired by her mother, a special education teacher. Bottini will be a secondary education major and plans to become a high school math teacher in West Virginia.
Her job as a cheer and gymnastics coach at a family-owned business sparked her desire to work with the younger generation, Bottini said.
The Bucklew Scholarship is named for the 20th president of WVU and is worth $40,000, providing its recipients with $10,000 per year over four years to be used toward educational costs. All Bucklew Scholars have qualified for the Honors College at WVU, and the scholarship may be used in addition to the state's Promise Scholarship.
The scholarships are part of the university's comprehensive awards program and are supported by the WVU Foundation, the private nonprofit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of WVU.
Other Bucklew scholars are Jana Boyd of George Washington High School, Samantha Guenther of University High School, Mariana Alkhouri of Wheeling Park High School, Nathaniel Lange of Frankfort High School, Kierstn Posey of Lincoln High School, Amy Lu of Morgantown High School, Brent Marcus of Spring Mills High School, Alexander Tadros of Morgantown High School, William Behrens of Notre Dame High School, Benjamin Blackwell of Saint Albans High School, Anna Brusoe of Morgantown in a home school, Garrett Hutson of Grafton High School, Juliana Veazey of Charleston Catholic High School, Rose Puzzini of Washington High School, Benjamin Golden of Berkeley Springs High School, Michael Groh of Washington High School, Joss Poteet of Jefferson High School and Colin Street of Morgantown High School.