Philippi, W.Va. – Josiah Solak, a sophomore from Lewisburg, W.Va. and member of the Alderson Broaddus wrestling team, was a hero during the flooding that took place in the southern parts of West Virginia last week.

As the flooding began to worsen, Josiah and his father rescued a woman who was trapped in her car as it was being carried away by the water. They proceeded by taking her to a nearby tree while Josiah held her for nearly five hours.

The woman that was saved wanted to give up a number of times but Josiah stayed positive the entire time and would not give up even when the situation was getting extremely tough.

During the flooding, the Solak’s home was damaged and both Josiah and brother Davis Solak, who is also a member of the AB wrestling team, lost all of their clothing.

A family member of the Solak family has set up a gofundme page to help support the family. If you can help them out, even a little, to recover from the devastation suffered in White Sulfur Springs, it would be incredibly meaningful.

Congratulations are extended to a number of mass communication students.  Their course project, “AB is YOU” was awarded a Crystal Award from the West Virginia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.  “AB is YOU” received the award in the category video commercial for broadcast/and or web delivery submitted by students.  Produced by a team from the COMM 270 Video Production I course during spring 2015, the two minute video was directed by Eric Messick (2015) and Rory Winwood (2016). Forrest Miles (2015) served as video editor.  An original music score was composed and recorded by Messick for this production.

Other students involved in the project included Chris Stephens (2016), Tyler Schiefelbein, Khyree Robinson, and Tyler Upton.  The video was created as a promotional vehicle for the AB admissions department and was used on the University’s web site for eight months.  Isaac Mei (2014), who was working with AB’s admissions department at the time, provided the narration and served as the executive producer.

To alleviate local prejudice, the finalists in all categories were chosen by the Public Relations Society of America chapter in Chicago.  This was AB’s first entry into the Crystal Award competition.  Dr. James M. Owston, associate professor of mass communication and the course’s instructor, accepted the award on behalf of AB during the PRSA-WV Crystal Award gala on June 15 at The Cultural Center in Charleston.

The West Virginia Chapter annually honors the best public relations materials in 30 categories.  Each category has five award groups:  business and industry, not-for-profit, political and issue management, pro-bono, and student.

According the PRSA-WV, “Work entered by West Virginia practitioners or agencies can be for any client or employer, not just those based in West Virginia; work done for West Virginia based companies, or companies doing business in West Virginia may be submitted by out-of-state agencies or practitioners. Any student attending a West Virginia college or university may enter.”

“Project entries are judged on their own merits according to professional standards.”  In addition to the Crystal Awards, honorable mention certificates are awarded in each category.  This year’s competition had the largest number of entries in PRSA-WV’s history.