Fairmont State University - Mound Yearbook (Fairmont, WV)

Page 13 text:

Time stands still in the mountains. Yet the state of West Virginia doesn ' t. A progressive attitude in the Mountain State is giving the land of bare feet new hope. Rich in natural resources, West Virginia is growing by leaps and bounds. This new hope is seen from the beautiful capital city of Charleston to the coal mining towns in Boone County, from the tri-city metropolitan area of central West Virginia to the untouched Monongahela National Forest. Rivers, such as the South Branch of the Potomac and the New River, run wild and free while others, like the Ohio, Kanawha and the Monongahela, carry materials to industrial hubs across the United States. Country roads carry the people along mountain ridges to rendezvous with nature while modern interstates make movement between the state ' s largest cities fast and easy. Mountain women still hold quilting bees to manufacture age old products while large factories turn out goods used around the world. West Virginia — a land of ancient beauty and yet the hope of the future.

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Growth is evident in the state as well as on campus TOP: Pence Hall. MIDDLE LEFT: Aerial view of campus. MIDDLE RIGHT: Referee at fs«L? FSC football game. BOTTOM: White dogwood. OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP: Paul Brownlee wrestles for rebound with Wesleyan player in District 28 playoffs. BOTTOM: Sun sets on FSC campus. W vH 8

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The beauty of the Mountain Qtate: ' God has been good to us . . . ' When I was 1 4, 1 had spent the majority of my summers on my grandmother ' s farm, tucked in a fertile West Virginia valley bordered by enormously tall hills. Those days were filled with laughter and enchantment as I wandered those hills, exploring and discovering the bountiful gifts of nature. I remember running to my grandmother with tales of the fantastic beauties I had seen. The look in her eyes fascinated me as she swung on her old yellow porch swing and listened to my tales. She would just smile and say God has been good to us. We are fortunate to live our lives in such beauty. It never occurred to me, at 1 4, that she was a bit wrong; I just kept exploring. When I turned 1 6, my attitude began to change. The summer evenings were a little too quiet, the sounds of nature a little mundane and West Virginia a little too boring. The hills that had always been an endless adventure were now a trap. As I passed a football in the yard, my grandmother would sit in the swing and crochet and I would think back to an earlier time when she would say God has been good to us. We are fortunate to live our lives in such beauty. There ' s a lot more out there, I thought, that must be more impressive. ABOVE: A West Virginia scene in Tucker County shows the breath-taking beauty found only in the Mountain State. TOP RIGHT: Pence Hall, men ' s dormitory. BOTTOM RIGHT: Azaleas. OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP: Morrow Hall — women ' s dormitory — from the rear. BOTTOM: Pence Hall in autumn.