It Starts at State

Bruce Whitten, Class of 2019

Bruce Whitten didn’t expect to start on a journey to a degree at STATE after living away from West Virginia for many years, but he will soon complete his bachelor’s degree in Community Health Education. 
 
“I moved back to my hometown a couple of years ago and, at the time, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do,” he says. “I hadn’t intended on going back to school, but I needed an outlet.”
 
He found his way to WVSU thanks, in large part, to location.
 
“I needed to be close to my parents, and campus is close to home. The price was right, and the program was great.”
 
After looking into a physical therapy career, he found his way to STATE’s Community Health Education program and will graduate in 2019.
 
“The program is very suited to me. I’ve always had an affinity for health, and our community here in West Virginia certainly needs some focus, so it was a natural evolution.”
 
That evolution, he says, involves more than simply his academic interests. After spending years in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, returning to West Virginia could’ve been a bit of a culture shock if it weren’t for the diversity found at WVSU.
 
“I am a minority, and West Virginia does not have a huge minority population. At STATE, I’m finding an oasis of diversity that I’d become used to in a larger city. I was surprised that I could find the diversity that I like in big cities here on campus.”
 
Bruce is already putting his education to work, volunteering for community health organizations in and around Charleston, with plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health after graduation.