At 18, Stella Neeley left West Virginia. It wasn’t long until she came back. 

By Lauren Rodgers, RealWV

Stella Neeley had mixed feelings about moving back to her hometown after college. Raised in Greenbrier County, Neeley graduated from Greenbrier East High School in 2020 and pursued a bachelor’s degree at Stephens College, an all-women’s liberal arts college in Missouri. 

As her college career came to an end, Neeley moved to Arkansas to search for postgraduate work opportunities. In Little Rock, job opportunities proved to be limited, and her endless search for a job dragged on. She was open to moving anywhere — North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were a few states that she had in mind. 

Then, Stella saw a job listing at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg. She immediately applied, got the job, and made an unexpected move back to White Sulphur Springs.

Though excited about the job offer, Stella still had hesitations about coming home. 

“I was ready to get away from the Midwest, but it’s daunting to move back to your hometown,”  Neeley said. “I felt like I was taking a step backward because I had left — but I realized that this was my chance to write a new chapter in an old place.” 

Upon her return, she made a point to explore the outdoors as much as possible. 

“Now that I’ve lived in places where there isn’t access to the wild spaces that West Virginia offers, I’ve learned what a privilege it is to have access to the outdoors,” she said. 

In addition to hiking as much as possible, she threw herself into community-building activities, like spontaneously enrolling in line-dancing classes at Old Stone Presbyterian Church. As she began her new job at Carnegie Hall, she also began to settle into a new lifestyle in Greenbrier County. 

Now, Stella has crafted a new pace of postgraduate life that she’s come to love.

Initially, Stella chose to leave West Virginia because she wanted to explore more of the country and travel internationally. It was during her time away from home, including time spent living in Europe, that Stella realized just how special West Virginia’s community-oriented culture was. 

Talking about her adoration of West Virginian culture brings tears to her eyes. 

“I realized after I left how special it is here, mainly because of the people. I cry every time I think about it, especially considering the flood,” she said. 

The flood in 2016, which destroyed Neeley’s childhood home, is a powerful example of the community-first mindset that drew Stella back to the area. 

“After the flood, everyone opened their doors to help their neighbors. You see natural disasters happen in other places, and I don’t think you’ll see an entire community come together on the same scale we saw here,” she said. “Part of the joy in coming back here is being able to be a part of our community.”

As the development and education associate at Carnegie Hall, Stella is responsible for helping with grant writing, event planning, and coordinating educational programs between Carnegie Hall and Greenbrier County public schools. The educational programming that Stella has assisted with since beginning her position at Carnegie Hall ranges from music education to student art shows and theater performances. 

“One thing that I constantly find inspiration from at Carnegie is the students we work with, and seeing the teachers’ dedication to their students,” Neeley said. “As someone who knows how much a good education can impact someone’s life and future, I am eternally grateful for our teachers.” 

Currently, Stella has been helping organize Carnegie Kids’ College, an experiential learning program that begins in two weeks.

Despite loving her time back in WV thus far, there are still things about the area that Neeley hopes will change. A politically minded individual, she sees a lot of room for systemic improvement within our state government. 

She believes that West Virginia holds a family-focused mindset that sets it apart from other states, which she hails as one of our best qualities. However, she would like to see more pro-family legislation passed — policies such as paid parental leave and higher stipends for families. 

Passionate about the state’s public education system, she would like to see college students earning their degrees in education being encouraged to teach in West Virginia through a paid degree program for teachers. She points to Ascend West Virginia’s recruitment and retention program, as well as Greenbrier County Schools’ free meal programs, as emblematic examples of people-oriented systems that she believes support West Virginians.

Neeley has made a promise to herself to remain in the Greenbrier Valley for the next 10 years, building the foundation of her career in a place she’s proud to call home. 

“I genuinely love West Virginia, and I’m grateful to have been raised here. Part of the joy of coming back is being a part of our community again,” she said.

 Though she plans to be here for the next 10 years, there is no definitive endpoint in which Stella sees herself leaving for good — she’s open to living in the state far past her 10-year promise. 

“You can go somewhere else and seek out what you want from life there, but compared to the rest of the world, West Virginia is almost heaven.”