There is so much to commemorate at a graduation,
but this December, some will celebrate getting an education, starting a small
business and having found the love of their life.
Maxine “Macky” Solliday will graduate with a degree in animal and nutritional sciences from West Virginia University Davis College ofAgriculture, Natural Resources and Design a different person than when she started.
Maxine started school as Maxine Boehne and without a place she considered home. She grew up with her dad in the military, which took her family all over the world. By the time she began her college journey, she had lived in eight different places and graduated from high school in Germany where her parents were still living. When she came to WVU, she moved into her residence hall alone.
During her first semester, Maxine met Mathias Solliday, who just happened to live across the hall from her in the Living Learning Community of the Davis College.
“He came into my dorm room and saw that I had plants, and I was propagating them myself,” Maxine said. “That was one of the first connections we had.”
Having to leave campus in March 2020, the couple maintained a long-distance relationship during the pandemic with him in Greenbank, West Virginia, and her in Ohio with her grandparents. When the University campus reopened, the two arranged their schedules to have more classes together.
After a year and a half of dating, Mathias proposed to Maxine on a beach in Delaware. On March 12, 2022, they were married in a small church in southern West Virginia. And this December, she’ll graduate as Maxine Solliday and as someone who can attest that country roads led her to the place she now calls home and where she feels she belongs.
Maxine also will graduate as a West Virginia small business owner of Macky’s Tree House, a
business she and her husband co-own and co-create products for. The pair combine woodworking and plants, creating products such as air plant treehouses, hand turned wooden pens, live décor and more, with most products having a simple and natural look.
“I had my ideas a long time ago and never went for it,” Mathias said. “Macky was the driving force for it all.”
“The air plant holders were our original product idea. The business started from that and grew,” Maxine said. “My personal goal is to expand Macky’s Tree House and make it into a career.”
Until their business is successful enough to provide a steady income, Maxine plans to enroll in an education program in the spring. At the same time, she will gain experience working at Cardinal Market, a new store in Morgantown that sells Macky’s Tree House products.
Her advice to anyone wanting to start their own small business is to make sure you’re having fun and enjoying what you’re doing.
"That was a hard lesson we learned,” she said. “At one point we were doing five or six events a month, on top of work and school. It just got too crazy.”
The couple learned that they sometimes need to take a step back and be more selective about the events they attend in order to allow for more time together.
Once Mathias graduates in spring 2023 with a degree in horticulture, they’ll move to Lewisburg, West Virginia, closer to his hometown in Greenbank. This is the place they both plan to one day call their home—with crops and animals all their own.
“I majored in animal and nutritional sciences with a minor in horticulture and equine therapy, because animals and plants have always been a passion of mine,” Maxine said. “It’s the basis of having your own small farm, being able to raise your own animals and have the benefits that both of those give to you.”
The Solliday couple can look back on their time at the Davis College with appreciation for what they found. This is where they met. This is where they started a business. This is where their future began.
The Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design envisions a world sustainably fed, clothed and sheltered. To learn more about the Davis College, visit davis.wvu.edu. Keep up with the latest updates and news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by following @WVUDavis.
-WVU-
ls/12/15/22
CONTACT:
Leah Smith
Public Relations Specialist
Davis College of Agriculture,
Natural Resources and Design
304-290-8680; lnestor2@mail.wvu.edu
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