MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University will host a special bell-ringing memorial ceremony to pay tribute to students who passed away over the summer.
The ceremony will be held on Friday, November 1st, at noon at Oglebay Plaza, where the lives of McKenzie Wilt and Scott Saylor will be remembered by the ringing of the bell of the USS West Virginia. WVU Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Campus and Community Life Carrie Showalter encourages those who knew the students to come to the ceremony outside of Oglebay Hall, where family members and friends are expected to attend and celebrate the memory of the two students.
“We just provide a place for the university community and families and other students to come together to grieve and to honor the students that we’ve lost,” Showalter said.
McKenzie Wilt was a senior animal and nutritional sciences major from Oakland, Maryland, who passed away on June 15. Scott Saylor was a doctoral student in biochemistry and molecular medicine from Washington, D.C.; he passed away on July 14. Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, will be on hand to assist in services that will begin with the bell-ringing, followed by a moment of silence. Showalter will then speak on behalf of WVU and briefly talk about Wilt and Saylor’s lives before they were tragically cut short.
“We have a service fraternity called Alpha Phi Omega; they actually ring the bell, there’s a specific process they follow, and they ring the bell at noon,” Showalter said. “Then we have a moment of silence, and then I actually speak on behalf of the university and speak about the students,” she said.
Once the bell-ringing is complete, family members of Wilt and Saylor will have a chance to speak, followed by friends, WVU professors, and students who attended classes with them. Showalter added that Saylor will be given his doctorate degree posthumously in honor of him being on pace to complete his class work if he attended fall semester classes. Stories involving the students will be encouraged at the end of the ceremony to further celebrate the lives of Wilt and Saylor.
“Then we allow an opportunity for families, friends, faculty, staff, anybody to come up and share a few words,” Showalter said. “And then, in this one, on Friday, we’re actually going to be awarding a posthumous degree to one of the students, so we will also do that,” she said.
The USS-West Virginia bell-ringing takes place every fall semester in honor of WVU students who passed away over the summer. According to Showalter, this is done to offer closure for students who may have been unable to attend funeral services over the summer due to long distances. With chances for family members, friends, and WVU community members alike to celebrate the lives of Wilt and Saylor, representatives from WVU are more than willing to help keep the spirits of those students alive for those who care for them.
“We think this is very important, especially because not every student can often go to the funeral,” Showalter said. “Or grieve with the family, especially if they live far away, so it’s just nice to provide that,” she said.