Symposium echos Appalachia

The Society of Yeager Scholars wants to bring its annual symposium a little closer to home this year.

The society is hosting its 19th Yeager symposium Sept. 26 to Sept. 29 with the theme "Echoes of Appalachia."

This year's symposium will feature events such as storytelling, a gunsmith speaker, a Mothman speaker, folk dancing and a live bluegrass band, all of which are open to the public.

Johnny Walker, a junior biology major from Ghent, W.Va., and co-chair of the symposium, said the symposium this year will be different.

"I'm really excited about the whole week," he said. "We have a really strong lineup this time."

Walker said the symposiums have been mainly lectures in the past. This year, however, they wanted to get students more involved with something they could relate to.

"We had some ideas come up that were Appalachian based and we wanted to bring it a little closer to home, and maybe find some interesting local flavor and character that we could add to the symposium which it hadn't had before," he said.

Walker said students will get something different from this year's Appalachian based theme.

"This year's symposium is a little different in terms of what students will get from it," he said. "Before, we were pretty much offering an opportunity to see a unique speaker that we thought would be interesting to students. Now, on top of that, they can also learn a little about where they came from."

Walker said residents of West Virginia are slowly forgetting the small things that make up their culture.

"More and more, as this state moves toward industry, it's forgetting the small things such as storytelling and some of the bizarre folklore that surround this area," he said.

Sharlee Henry, Yeager Scholars program assistant, said the Appalachian theme will bring the community and students together.

"I think a lot of times we take for granted the natural resources and crafts that we have in our area and we don't always realize everything that's there," she said. "This will allow other students to get in touch with each other and learn about that."

Walker said he thinks the symposium will leave an impression on the students who attend.

"Not only will they be entertained, it will also be a nice reminder and look back at the past of this state that can then maybe influence how they think and feel about where we are today," he said.