WVU photo WVU alumna Valerie Pritt poses with her mom, Pam Pritt, executive editor, WVU Magazine Communications, and her dog, John Oliver, as the trio enjoys the outdoors together.

LEWISBURG — More than a decade after graduating from West Virginia University, a Pocahontas County native, public relations professional and member of Lewisburg City Council says she tries to live by a motto she learned while she was a student.

“It’s that spirit of ‘Mountaineers go first,’ always being willing to try something, being willing to do something new and be bold, and being willing to learn something different,” Valerie Pritt, director of public relations at Experience Greenbrier Valley, said.

“It’s never going by the stance of, ‘Well, that’s the way we always do it.’ That to me really lives up to ‘Mountaineers go first.'”

Pritt’s connection to WVU started early with help from WVU Extension.

“I had been involved in 4-H with WVU Extension since I was a teenager,” Pritt said. “I used those values all the way through high school and all the way through college. Having WVU be in the smaller communities, having 4-H teach kids how to be citizens of the world and be part of their communities is huge.”

After beginning her college career elsewhere, Pritt transferred to the Morgantown Campus in 2008.

“I think being in Morgantown and being a part of the WVU family is something that everybody loves, especially being a West Virginian,” she said. “I had a great time there. I had a great experience learning and finding mentors there.”

Pritt credits Ivan Pinnell, who died in June at age 81, with helping her through her time at WVU where she earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations from what is now the WVU College of Creative Arts and Media. She still draws from his lessons today.

“Ivan Pinnell, the PR titan, is one who guided me through so many things,” she said. “Even when I get down into the nitty-gritty of PR, I still use one of his PR alphabets to be a touchpoint for keeping it simple.”

Now living and serving in the Greenbrier Valley, Pritt gets to share the best parts of West Virginia with outsiders who may be surprised at what the Mountain State has to offer.

“I brag to my coworkers pretty frequently that out of all the jobs that we do for Experience Greenbrier Valley, I have the best, because what my job is I bring travel writers here,” she said.

“I get to show them the Greenbrier Valley and West Virginia. Some of these people are experiencing West Virginia for the first time. In May, we had 40 writers here, and some of them had never been to West Virginia. They couldn’t believe how green it is. They couldn’t believe the mountains. They couldn’t believe what all we had to offer. They couldn’t believe how nice the people were, how anybody would stop on the street and just talk to them.”

Pritt said even for those who went to WVU but found opportunities elsewhere, a return trip to the Mountain State can feel like coming home.

“Some of our people who I went to college with who have moved out of state, anytime we are able to get together in West Virginia, it’s always that feeling of like, ‘I just love to come home,'” Pritt said.

“Even if they weren’t from West Virginia originally, that time in Morgantown makes them a West Virginian. It makes them feel like this is a part of who they are and that this is home to them.”