In conjunction with the West Virginia University Foundation, the Pride of West Virginia has launched a crowd funding campaign to create the WVU Feature Twirler Scholarship Fund. The campaign kicks off as the band selects its Feature Twirlers for the 2021 season.

"The WVU Feature Twirlers play an integral role in The Pride of West Virginia Marching Band, the pageantry of our art form and the excitement of the game day experience for so many fans,” said Band Director Cheldon Williams. “These performers are often the face of the Mountaineer Marching Band and handle that responsibility well both on and off the field.”

The Mountaineer Marching Band has a long-standing history of attracting world-class champion twirlers to WVU. As elite twirlers, these candidates are already individual champions, often holding both national and international medals and titles before coming to campus. 

Like any student-athlete, WVU’s Feature Twirlers perform at a level that requires continual training and commitment to their sport.  Along with the honor of twirling at WVU sporting events and other nation-wide performances with the Marching Band, the WVU Feature Twirlers compete as a team at National College Competitions and offer outreach to the State of West Virginia through clinics and performances to promote the art/sport of twirling.  

“Through an incredibly rigorous audition process, these talented members have earned their positions,” Williams said. “We are proud of their commitment to excellence as they represent themselves and The Pride of West Virginia at the highest levels.” 

The 2021 Feature Twirlers are:

Emily Cooper, a Sports and Exercise Psychology major from Annapolis, Maryland.

Kristen Cox, an Exercise Physiology major from Sutton. 

Alexis Keisling, an Exercise Physiology major from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Kaitlyn McGregor, an Exercise Physiology major from Birmingham, Alabama.

Being nationally recognized, the WVU Twirling program competes with other top Division 1 College twirling programs to recruit the country’s best. Increasingly, twirlers at this level of expertise are being awarded scholarships to twirl, which could significantly impact the WVU Twirling program.

Please help support the Feature Twirlers and the Pride of West Virginia at https://advancing.wvu.edu/project/25724.