President Michael T. Benson is inviting University faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members, families and friends to celebrate Commencement Weekend with a lighting ceremony for the updated Water Tower on the Evansdale area of campus.
The free community event — open to all — begins at 8 p.m. Friday, May 15, at Blaney House, 948 Riverview Drive.
Refreshments and musical entertainment will be available starting at 7:30 p.m.
With support from Hope Gas, the Water Tower has been repainted and sealed in recent months, and LED lighting, designed by City Neon, has been added to the “Flying WV” logo, allowing the Water Tower to be lit for Commencement and other future Morgantown Campus celebrations.
Joining President Benson for the lighting will be Hope Gas Chief Executive Officer Morgan O’Brien and Cooper Sampson, a 12-year-old Suncrest Middle School student and WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s patient, and his family members.
The event will also include representatives from WVU Facilities Operations, Hope Gas and City Neon.
The Water Tower lighting marks the official final destination on President Benson’s “Welcome Home Tour” of the Mountain State.
Once he makes this closing stop in Monongalia County, President Benson will have officially visited all 55 West Virginia counties in the 10 months since becoming the University’s 27th president.
During the “Welcome Home Tour,” he has been to more than 180 historical, cultural and educational locations, traveled upwards of 6,700 miles, and met thousands of state residents, students and University supporters.
The end of the tour comes during President Benson’s first May Commencement at WVU.