News Type: Student

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia –  West Virginia Wesleyan College recognized graduates who were members of the Black Student Union, PRISM, International Student Organization or who were a First Generation college student in a special ceremony Friday in the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts.

Imani Jackson ’23, of Akron, Ohio, shared how joining the Black Student Union contributed to her college experience.

“Being surrounded by people who you can relate to brings a different type of comfort to your college experience, especially for those of who are hours away from home,” she said. “Having an environment for black students to be open, speak, educate and come together on campus is one of many positive aspects of West Virginia Wesleyan.

Morgan Bennett ’23, of Canada, served as president of the ISO her senior year.

“I have been able to meet and become friends with amazing people from across the globe,” she said. “Throughout the many events here on campus, I have seen people want to celebrate their ethnicity and inspire others to do the same.”

Geneva Brown ’23, of Chesapeake City, Maryland, shared how her experiences in PRISM, helped her grow in confidence, led her to classes in the gender studies program and opened up new opportunities.

“It has been a great experience this last year as one of the more senior members of PRISM to help younger students with their journeys,” she said.

Madisyn Fox ’23, of Caldwell, West Virginia, admitted being terrified, unsure of how to make friends and how to be a college student in August 2019.

“I held tightly on to my title as a First Generation student, but I didn’t know how to wear it,” she said. “Fortunately, thanks to the resources I was afforded here at Wesleyan, my life changed quickly and I had to quickly adapt every day to keep up with it. Being surrounded by people like you, who are consistently resilient despite the odds placed against us, has inspired me and shown me that I am in the right place at the right time with the right people.”

Graduates from each of the groups received stoles or cords to represent the group or groups they participated in during their college experience.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia –  The West Virginia Wesleyan College Class of 2023 joined the Orange Line Saturday during the 132nd Commencement Ceremony that celebrated their perseverance and resilience.

President James Moore encouraged graduates to continue to pursue truth and knowledge, learn from mistakes, but find joy in the journey.

“You are about to embark on a journey – the next chapter of your life; a journey of unknown possibilities,” Moore said.  “Find the joy in as many things as you possibly can. Never miss an opportunity to celebrate a win for yourselves, for your friends and family. Learn from your failures as you have during your time here. Remember what you have learned. There is a great big world out there that needs you. It is a world that is waiting for you. Never lose the joy.”

Caroline Rapking ’79, outgoing chair of the board of trustees, led the trustees during the Covid-19 pandemic that sent the Class of 2023 (and all students) home in mid-March 2020. Rapking spoke of the class’s adaption to online Zoom and Google Meet for classes and clubs and the return to on-campus life in Spring 2021 with Covid-19 protocols in place.

“After months of separation, the Community had to adjust to being together in person after so many months of a lot more solitary existence,” Rapking said. “I know that as students you were happy to be back, and you began to stitch your Community and the Wesleyan Community back together. Resilience, collaboration, and creativity were at the forefront.”

The Class of 2023 continued to be resilient throughout their College experiences.

“You persisted, you adapted, and you will now take these life experiences as you move forward, and may even, someday, be grateful for them,” Rapking said.

Rapking received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters during the ceremony.

Caroline Fulks ‘23, president of the Senior Class, presented Dr. Tamara Bailey, professor of history and international studies, with the Outstanding Faculty award voted on by the class.

Fulks asked her fellow graduates to remember their tight-knit connections made at the College.

“Wesleyan has given us the tools to make this memory and it is our job now to keep them alive,” she said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this life-changing experience. Wesleyan will forever be my Home Among the Hills.”

Tara Steed ’87, president of the Alumni Council, said, “You have a lifelong bond to your Home Among the Hills. You may leave this place, but this place will never leave you.”

She encouraged the graduates to wear the title of alumni as a badge of honor and to find ways to give back to the College.

“We are the Orange Line,” she said. “Congratulations.”

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON—The West Virginia Wesleyan College Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) conducted its 60th annual induction on April 13, 2023, in the Meditation Chapel.  The circle inducted three seniors, five juniors, six sophomores, one graduate student, one faculty and two staff members.

The Wesleyan Circle of ODK was established in 1963 and has inducted over 1,100 students, faculty, and staff.  Student eligibility is based on the top 35 percent of each class in scholarship, as well as participation in one of the following:  athletics, music, arts, journalism, and community service.

Newly inducted members include:  graduate student Debra Tysor ‘23, Elkins, West Virginia.  Seniors Payton Hefner ‘23, Bridgeport, West Virginia; Rebekah Sikora ‘23, Morgantown, West Virginia;  Hope Wyatt ‘23, Tornado, West Virginia.  Juniors Alienor Dalle ‘24, Belgium; Stephen Groves ‘24, Bridgeport, West Virginia, Jillian Morgan ‘24, Dailey, West Virginia, Madison Rowe ‘24, Nashua, New Hampshire, and Hannah Walters ‘24, Cabins, West Virginia.  Sophomores Katherine Caldwell ‘25, Buckhannon, West Virginia, Brooklyn Farley ‘25, Kermit, West Virginia, Elizabeth Mazzariello ‘25, Somerset, Pennsylvania, Bree Moll ‘25, Craigsville, West Virginia, Danica Propst ‘25, Martinsburg, West Virginia, and Eden Reynolds ‘25, Cross Lanes, West Virginia .

Also inducted were Dr. R. Daniel Martin, professor and director athletic training, Anita Dib, director of the learning center, and Elisabeth Rogers ‘97, director of library services.

Participating in the ceremony were Dr. Thomas Smith, faculty advisor,  Dean of Students Alisa Lively, and Alison Whitehair, vice president for student affairs.  Officers participating included Mari-Jane McLeod ‘23, president, and Kevin Shrewsbury ‘23,  vice president.  Student officers for the 2023-2024 academic year include Bree Moll, president, Alienor Dalle, vice president, and Stephen Groves, treasurer. 

Omicron Delta Kappa was founded on December 3, 1914, on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.  The Society was founded by a group of 15 students and faculty who believed that leadership at the collegiate level should be recognized and encouraged across all phases of campus life.  The motives which guided the founders sprang from the desire to bring together one body for the general good of the institution, leaders from all parts of the college or university community.  The success of the ODK idea, an essential part of which is its inter-generational nature and a determination to maintain a consistent and high standards of leadership recognition, led to the establishment of chapters, which are called circles, at other colleges.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – A West Virginia Wesleyan College rising junior and McCuskey Fellow will spend his summer working towards building a model of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity as part of an undergraduate research grant award.

Caleb Hardy ’25, of Kearneysville, West Virginia, was awarded a NASA-West Virginia Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Research Grant for the 2023-24 year.

“The research project I will be working on over the summer was inspired by the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, and the goal is to build a model of Ingenuity with some of the same capabilities,” Hardy said. “Specifically, I want the model helicopter to be autonomous and fly to a set waypoint. Additionally, I want to connect solar cells to the helicopter so it can be solar powered.”

“West Virginia Wesleyan College has prepared me for this project due to my participation in the NASA RockSat program we have on campus where we build payloads that are launched on sounding rockets. Furthermore, the challenging courses I have taken thus far will equip me with the tools I need for this difficult project.”

Dr. Joseph Wiest, professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering and a board member of the NASA-WVSGC, said, “This is a very competitive grant program that is open to all of the colleges and universities in West Virginia and requires an original grant to be conceived and written that will be of special interest and address a particular need of the NASA program.”

Hardy was inspired by Christopher Kuhl ‘93 who has worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA-Langley and led the landing of the space probe of Mars in the past year.

“Christopher’s work has led to the first flying of a helicopter on Mars, the successful Earth-guided movement of a rover on Mars, and the search for evidence of life on Mars,” Wiest said.

Hardy was drawn to West Virginia Wesleyan College for its NASA affiliation among other reasons.

“I chose to attend Wesleyan because of its smaller size classes along with its excellent physics program, and the College’s affiliation with NASA had a tremendous impact on my decision as well,” he said. “The reasons I stay at WVWC are the wonderful professors, which I have been able to make personal connections with, and I have had many opportunities to apply for scholarships and internships through the school.”

Wiest added, “Caleb has been an excellent student in all of our physics, engineering, and mathematics courses at Wesleyan; and he also serves as a tutor for the Learning Center.”

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan as one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – West Virginia Wesleyan College is preparing for commencement activities May 5-6 to celebrate the Class of 2023.

On Friday, May 5, a number of ceremonies and events will take place at the College.

The Nursing Convocation will be held at 2 p.m. in Wesley Chapel with a reception following in Middleton Hall.  The School of Education will host a reception in the Social Hall at 3 p.m.
Multicultural and First-Generation Ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. in the Culpepper Auditorium of the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts. A reception for all graduates will be held from 5-6 p.m. in the French A. See Dining Hall.

Finally, Rev. Angela Gay Kinkead ’79 will speak at the Baccalaureate Ceremony to be held in Wesley Chapel at 6:30 p.m. Kinkead, an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, served for 14 years at Dean of the Chapel at WVWC and is retiring this June as pastor of Elizabeth Memorial United Methodist Church in Charleston, West Virginia.

On Saturday, May 6 at 10 a.m., the College’s 132^nd Commencement will take place in the John D. Rockefeller Physical Education Building. Nearly 200 graduates will receive a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or a higher level master’s or doctoral degree.

Caroline Rapking ’79, outgoing chair of the West Virginia College Board of Trustees, will address graduates and receive an honorary degree at the ceremony. Rapking joined the Board of Trustees in 2010 and became the first woman chair in 2020.

Both the main commencement ceremony and the baccalaureate will be streamed live at this link: https://www.wvwc.edu/livestream-events

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – The Reverend Angela Gay Kinkead ’79 will give the Baccalaureate address at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 5 in Wesley Chapel.

Kinkead is an ordained Elder in The United Methodist Church and a member of the West Virginia Annual Conference. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education from West Virginia Wesleyan College (1979), a master’s degree in Christian Education from Scarritt Graduate School (1986) in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Divinity degree (1997) from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville.

Since July 2020, Kinkead has served as Pastor of Elizabeth Memorial United Methodist Church in Charleston, West Virginia. Prior to serving in Charleston, she served Pea Ridge United Methodist Church in Huntington, West Virginia for five years. Kinkead has served local churches as a Christian educator in Madison and Huntington, West Virginia and Greenbrier, Tennesee, and as part-time Minister of Congregational Care of a congregation in downtown Nashville.

For more than 15 years, she led the youth-directed agency of the United Methodist Church, the National Youth Ministry Organization, lodged within the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville. In October 2001, she returned to her alma mater, West Virginia Wesleyan College, to serve as Dean of the Chapel for the next 14 years.

During her time at WVWC, Kinkead was awarded West Virginia Wesleyan’s Community Engagement “Unsung Hero” Award, she led 11 Alternative Breaks for students, including Elektrostal, Russia; Nashville, Tennessee; New York City, Washington, D.C.; and eight work teams to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana involving approximately 200 students, staff and faculty.

Retiring from full-time ministry at the end of June, she will relocate to Wichita, Kansas to be her brother’s next-door neighbor, and adapt to “every day being Saturday, except Sundays!”

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia  – Spring-like weather and the nearing of the end of the semester brings the return of a Wesleyan tradition, Spring Weekend, to campus April 15-16.

Spring Sing will wrap up Greek Week activities for the College’s fraternities and sororities on Saturday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in Wesley Chapel. Greek Life members have been participating in a variety of events in April to earn points for their sorority or fraternity. Saturday’s performances will be preceded by the crowning of the Spring Sing King and Queen.

Tickets are still on sale for the WVWC Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet to be held April 15 in the French See Dining Hall at 5 p.m. Tickets are $35 each and can be purchased by calling the Office of Alumni Affairs at 304-473-8489. The Hall of Fame Class to be inducted includes Tyler Blatchley ’08 (track and field), DeWayne Johns ’85 (basketball), Sarah St. Clair Mills ’05 (soccer), Dennis Drenning ’66 (football and basketball), David Bear Watson ’68 (football and track) and the 2002 football team under then head coach Bill Struble.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – West Virginia Wesleyan College’s School of Nursing is announcing an affordable tuition rate for its Master of Science and Doctor of Nursing Practice  programs designed to better meet the needs of students wishing to further their nursing education.

The new rate of $690 per credit hour will be effective Fall 2023 for the Master of Science in Nursing and Doctorate of Nursing Practice degrees.

“West Virginia Wesleyan College has a long history of providing high-quality nursing education at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral level,” Director of Graduate Programs Dr. Amy R. Coffman, APRN-BC, DNP, said. “Along with quality education, the financial burden of graduate education has been a concern of faculty and administration at the institution.”

“West Virginia Wesleyan College and the School of Nursing will continue to offer high-quality graduate nursing education and now have a commitment to doing so with a regionally competitive cost that will lessen the financial burden to our students.”

In January, WVWC and Mon Health System announced a partnership to offer nursing students a scholarship opportunity and employment guarantee upon graduation. The scholarship provides financial support and graduates are guaranteed employment within Mon Health System.

The School of Nursing has a greater than 90% NCLEX Licensure rate for first-attempt passages and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. 

For more information, visit www.wvwc.edu/nursing. 

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu. 

BUCKHANNON, W. Va.– West Virginia Wesleyan College has received a $1,000 grant from the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund to support its high tunnel. The funds will be used to install a sink and irrigation system.

“This will allow us to wash the produce before donating to local community organizations and have an automatic watering system,” senior Geneva Brown ‘23, of Chesapeake City, Maryland, said. “As a result of this grant, we will be able to finish installing the irrigation system and sink to be used to wash the produce we grow.”

Brown, who has been keeping the High Tunnel functioning by dedicating her summers and extra time during the semester to growing, watering, and harvesting produce dedicated her Gender Studies Capstone project to women and agriculture.

Her goal was to create programming and engagement featuring the High Tunnel that would guarantee its sustainability after her graduation in May. Programming during the fall semester included a guest lecture by Nicole Spencer, a Randolph County farmer who is the president of the Elkins Farmers Market, a work day in the High Tunnel, and a proposal to formally collaborate with Free Meals Appalachia. Applying for the Weyerhaeuser grant was part of this concentrated effort.

In both rural and urban settings, the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund supports hundreds of important organizations and programs in the communities where they operate with funding, time, expertise, and resources. Weyerhaeuser made its first charitable donation in 1903 and has provided more than $255 million in grants through its formal giving program, which was established in 1948.

More information on the Weyerhaeuser grant application process is available online at www.WY.com

About West Virginia Wesleyan College’s High Tunnel

The High Tunnel grows produce to be donated to Free Meals Appalachia and The Parish House. The facility has been there for six years, since 2017. It has empowered Wesleyan students to not only give back to the community with crops that they have grown but has given the students a sense of responsibility for a facility on campus that contributes to food sustainability in the larger Buckhannon community. With its home in The Center for Community Engagement & Leadership Development, the High Tunnel plans to do more projects like this to be able to contribute to the community in which the Center and the College are embedded.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards. We are also one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in America. Our company is a real estate investment trust. In 2021, we generated $10.2 billion in net sales and employed approximately 9,400 people who serve customers worldwide. Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WY. Learn more at www.weyerhaeuser.com.

BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – Tickets are on sale now for West Virginia Wesleyan College Department of Theatre and Dance’s new murder mystery dinner theatre, “The Case of the Unwanted Ghost.”

Written and directed by Associate Professor Gregory Mach, this silly and spooky murder mystery dinner theatre show concerns four psychics who have gathered on the 10^th anniversary of the murder of the greatest psychic of them all, Yanna Bloodlord, to summon her spirit and reveal her murdered her. Can their otherworldly energies combine to bring her back, and is hers the only murder concerning the group on this special night? Music, laughs great food and a ghostly presence or two guarantee a night of howling good fun!

“The Theatre and Dance Department at WVWC puts on a murder mystery at regional venues every other year, and these are always a lot of fun, for the actors and the audiences,” Mach said. “Actors learn how to play broad, villainous characters practice their comic timing and hone their improvisation skills. Audiences get a great meal, listen to fun music and get to use their wits to unravel the lies from the truth to solve a goofy murder. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

For Mach, the fun is in writing the play.

“I really enjoy a good mystery, and writing these plays is so much fun – leading the audience astray with red herrings, making up despicable characters for them to enjoy, and finding that right balance between too complex and too easy in creating the storyline.”

“I always try to add an element or two to my new scripts that I’ve never seen in a murder mystery before,” he said. “This show has a character that doesn’t speak English, so that makes questioning this suspect a lot harder and adds a lot of laughs as the characters – and audience – get frustrated by all the mix-ups in communication and understanding.”

Performances run Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1 at 6 p.m. at the Buckhannon Opera House. Call 304-472-8369 for info and reservations. The ticket price is $30 and includes a dinner menu of stuffed chicken breast, salad, homestyle green beans, mashed potatoes with peppercorn gravy, artisan rolls, strawberry shortcake and water, soda and coffee. A cash bar is extra.

An additional performance runs Friday, April 7 at 6 p.m. at the Gandy Dancer Theatre in Elkins. Call 304-636-4935 for information and reservations. Tickets are $35 and include a dinner menu of chicken cordon blue, hamburger steak with gravy, green beans, coleslaw, rolls and dessert.

A Saturday, April 8 dinner theatre production at The Lodge in Alpena is already sold out.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.