WVU ‘glows up’ Woodburn Hall at holiday lighting ceremony
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WVU President Michael Benson and Lonna Tucker, along with her family, prepare to light the lights.
Ben Susman provides a brief history of Woodburn Hall.
Lonna and her family and (right) and Haley Johnson, community events coordinator, WVU Medicine Golisano Children's.
dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN - Hundreds gathered in WVU’s Woodburn Circle on a chilly, wet Thursday evening for the second Woodburn Hall holiday "glow-up."
As the crowd gathered, a bluegrass band sheltered under a tent in front of Martin Hall filled the air with music.
After some opening remarks by WVU graduate teaching assistant Ben Susman and President Michael Benson, Lonna Gean Tucker, a WVU Medicine Golisano Children's patient, set the 4,753 LED lights aglow.
There was a countdown of 5-4-3-2-1 and a shout of "Let’s Go," and Lonna pushed the button.
She was assisted by Benson and accompanied by her brother, Liam, her mother, Gena, and her grandmother.
This was the second consecutive year of the ceremony, WVU said, following suspension of the event in 2011 when the lights were taken down for a $3.9 million building exterior overhaul.
Susman provided a brief history of the building. "Since the university’s first years, Woodburn has been the heart of college life," he said.
Woodburn is the second-oldest building on campus (after Martin Hall), he said, and this year is its 150th anniversary.
Benson said, "I’m really grateful for this chance to bring our community together."
He noted that the 2011 renovations paused the longstanding tradition, so last year he decided to resume it, with help from Huntington Bank and Northeast Natural Energy. Woodburn is one of 11 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, along with Martin and Chitwood on the circle. It became the first of those on the register in 1973.