I wish my math skills were stronger…

While I am pretty good at math (I am in fact a certified electronics tech with almost enough credits to have BS in Electrical Engineering (EE), I lack the abilities to do statistics well enough for any serious publication. I mean ACCURATE statistics with a wide variety of pertinent data points. There’s several things I would investigate, in particular at this point in time, the number of former West Virginians (born or raised, or both) that have went out into the world and made a mark for themselves bigger than a mere “15 minutes of fame.” I am talking about a real mark, such as Katherine Johnson (the human computer for NASA), Homer Hickam (again, of NASA fame – and later a successful author), Booker T. Washington, Chuck Yeager, Brad D. Smith, Pearl S. Buck, John T. Chambers, Milan Puskar, Alex Schoenbaum, Stephen Coonts, Jon McBride, John Nash and an absolute PLETHORA of others in the sports and entertainment industries. I would like to be able to analyze the population at the time of each and do a statistical comparison of every last person from WV that’s considered to be famous, or a celebrity. Lists such as the one maintained on Wikipedia.

Besides those that qualify for “celebrity” status, we have a HUGE number of folks that don’t make the lists that have went out and took their own future by the horns and done some amazing things. Folks that no longer live in West Virginia, but dang sure make West Virginia proud.

Needless to say, while coal may have built West Virginia (and the nation), our greatest export has always been our people. Off the cuff, comparing our per-capita export of talent vs. most other States, we have to have a very high percentage of accomplished individuals and that friends, is something to be extremely proud of, regardless of what part of the State in which you hail, being a West Virginian truly is something special.