Mountaineers of Distinction

2024 Finalists

Hayley Bockius is a biochemistry major from Canonsburg, Penn. She serves as the president of the WVU Biochemistry Club and as competitive sports supervisor at Campus Recreation. Bockius is also a Project 168 member and an ophthalmic testing assistant at the WVU Eye Institute. She has also spent more than 700 hours studying diseases in the retina and how heat shock proteins are vital to vision.

Suraya Boggs, from Spencer West Virginia, is majoring in sociology and anthropology. She serves as vice president of WVU NAACP and is a WVU Eberly Scholar. Boggs participates in the SURE Undergraduate Research Program and volunteers for the Pasa Sustainable Agriculture Farm and Food Workers Relief Program. She was also attended the Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer College Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Julia Chapman  is a nursing major from Falling Waters, West Virginia. She is a resident assistant in Bennett Tower and a volunteer in Narcan distribution initiatives with the Quick Response Team in Monongalia County. Chapman also served as the medical manager at Camp Horseshoe in Parsons, West Virginia, where she provided specialized care and education to a camper with cystic fibrosis.

Laasya Chennuru, from Kearneysville, West Virginia, is a dual major in biology and psychology. She is a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Monongalia County, where she works with children who have experienced abuse and neglect, and a member of the Mountaineer Fentanyl Education Task Force and a LIGHT (Living in Good Health Together) Project volunteer at Milan Puskar Health Right. Chennuru has also presented her undergraduate research at the WV Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol, assisted with student recruitment as an Honor College ambassador and served resource-reduced communities abroad with Global Medial and Dental Brigades.

Megan Frappier  is a dual major in criminology and political science from Cliffwood, New Jersey. She is the founder and president of Peer Advocates student organization on campus as well as a diversity ambassador for the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the vice president of inclusion for the National Panhellenic Council. Frappier also served as the director of social awareness for Delta Gamma Alpha Xi Chapter in 2022-2023, and was named a Puskar Scholar by the Milan Puskar Leadership Scholars Program.

Charlie Long, from Charleston, West Virginia, is majoring in political science and philosophy. He is the current Student Government Association president, the co-founder and president of the WVU Pre-Law Society and a two-time Eberly Scholar. Long is an undergraduate research assistant at the WVU College of Law and spoke during the 2023 TEDxWVU "Dig Deeper" event.

Mary G. Roush is an advertising and public relations major from Mason, West Virginia. She served as the 68th Mountaineer Mascot and is a presidential student ambassador and a research assistant in the Public Interest Communication (PIC) Lab. Roush is also the communications coordinator for the Student Government Association and a member of the Fentanyl Education Task Force.

James Cameron Speaker, from Roanoke, Virginia, is majoring in biomedical engineering. He served as part of WVU's 2023 National Scout Jamboree Service Contingent, as the 2022-2023 WVU Club Quidditch Team president and as a member of the Virginia Reunited Quidditch team. Speaker is currently the climbing wall student manager at the WVU Student Recreation Center and a certified EMT. He also served as a First Year Trip leader with Adventure West Virginia in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Christopher J. Smith  is a biomedical engineering major from Morgantown, West Virginia. He is a National Goldwater Scholar and a National Gilman Scholar. Smith served as the medical vice president for WVU's Global Medical and Dental Brigades and has been an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in the MESA Research Laboratory since Fall 2022. He also recently completed the CMaT National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez.

Dakota Swiger, from Bridgeport, West Virginia, is majoring in journalism. She is a WVU Higher Education in Prison Initiative volunteer and student as well as a member of the WVU Athletics video production crew. Swiger has been named to both the WVU President's and Dean's lists and earned both a gold and silver President's Volunteer Service Award. She has also served as the director of programs at Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) WV for the past two years.

The 2024  Mountaineers of Distinction will be named during halftime ceremonies of Nov. 16 WVU football game vs. Baylor.