MORGANTOWN — University High School’s Rebecca Chmiel, 16, who excels both on the playing field and in the classroom, just might be on her way to becoming a historical footnote in her home state.
Here’s the backstory.
Spring is on the way — yes, really — and that means a new legion of Knights and Ladies of the Golden Horseshoe.
Call them the Mountain State’s elite historians of the eighth-grade ilk, who can tell you all the unique tales of the only state born of the Civil War.
That alone is enough for whole libraries of serious discourse.
This being West Virginia, though, there are the fun factoids, and pop-culture quirks to balance the gravitas.
You know: Such as Barney Fife — or rather, Don Knotts, the comedic actor from Morgantown who won five Emmys for his portrayal of the bumbling character on “The Andy Griffith Show,” the landmark TV sitcom of the 1960s.
And the Pringle brothers, John and Samuel, who had nothing to do with potato chips but wanted everything to do with personal survival.
That’s why the battle-weary siblings deserted the French and Indian War at the height of the fighting in 1761, slogging from what is now the Eastern Panhandle all the way to what is now Buckhannon, Upshur County.
There, they lived for years thereafter in the most unlikely of addresses: A hollowed-out tree.
Add your Mothman, your Mary Lou Retton, plus your John Denver and Jennifer Garner, and you’ve got a pretty good mix.
Don’t forget the pepperoni rolls and the ramps.
A Knight or Lady of the Golden Horseshoe knows all that history.
Forging ahead, while looking back
They know the fun stuff and the serious achievements coming out of the state. As said, West Virginia is a state whose early residents took a hard stand in a bitter conflict that threatened to rip the very weave of the Republic beyond repair.
Then there’s the aforementioned Rebecca, she of the footnote-in-waiting.
The UHS junior is one of six finalists in the Golden Horseshoe Sword Smithing Design Contest, a move by the state Department of Education to update the crest on the ceremonial sword used during the official recognition in Charleston.
Or, virtually, as was the case last year due to the pandemic.
Two Randolph County students, Melody Calkins of the Randolph Technical Center in Elkins, and Cullen Crosston, who attends Elkins High, are also finalists.
Ava Britton, of Roane County High made the cut, along with Jillian Eicher and Avery Nine, who are both students at Musselman High, in Berkeley County. The winner will be announced May 12.
It’s not just about sketching out a design. It’s about forging it, also.
Finalists will partner with professional workers to put their concept to the metal, which Rebecca finds interesting, she said, as she has some history with the Monongalia County Technical Education Center.
“I don’t know much about sword-smithing,” she said, “but I did take a course in the summer at MTEC when I was in eighth grade. I learned the basics of welding.”
She’s learning the basics of well, everything, at University High.
Art, she said, is a fun hobby that has garnered some recognition. She wants to major in medical laboratory sciences in college.
Brawling in the years
She’s a born-and-bred West Virginian, meanwhile, and first generation. Her parents hail from New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
She plays varsity soccer and lacrosse and is also on the swim team.
That’s why her favorite bit of historical lore here involves the Backyard Brawl. WVU and Pitt’s matchup from Oct. 8, 1921, specifically.
The rivals lined up that afternoon at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and while the games have their share of storied history, this one, well, was more historical.
KDKA carried the game.
“It was the first-ever broadcast of a college football game, by the nation’s first radio station,” she said.
Making history is always exciting. The Pitt fans were excited that day. It wasn’t a mauling, but the Panthers did outlast the Mountaineers to prevail. The score in the footnote read 21-13, their way.
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