Final Exercises 2025

James Edwards: After graduation, I’m headed to Delaware to be a pediatric trauma nurse.

Maya Johnson: I’ll be attending Vanderbilt University, pursuing a master’s in higher education administration.

Nicholas Lacy: I’ll be going to Pittsburgh to work as a gold bar recruiter for the Space Force.

Nakayla Figgins: After graduation, I’ll be moving to D.C. to work as a PICU nurse at Children’s National.

Chris Johnson: I’ll commission as an ensign in the Navy and head up to D.C. to start my career as a cyber warfare engineer.

Alex Schaefer: I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

Laura-Louise Rice: I’ll be moving to South Carolina to work on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

GK Do: I’m going to be a Double Hoo and get my master’s in business analytics at the McIntire School of Commerce.

Nick Chu: After graduation, I’ll be in D.C. while I apply to medical schools.

Precious Ezealigo: After graduation, I’m moving to Arlington, Virginia, to join Amazon as a finance manager.

Rebecca Fitch: I’ll be going to William & Mary to get a master’s in counseling with a concentration in military and veterans. And I’ll also be commissioning into the Army Reserves.

Ben Foote: I’ll be staying in Charlottesville to run my sports nutrition startup with my wife and co-founder, Paige.

Jack Siegel: I’m going to Richmond to be a Virginia Management Fellow, where I’ll do policy work for three different state agencies over two years. I really hope to continue my opera career as well.

[♪ Jack Siegel singing ♪]

Katie Rogers: I will be going to New York, and I’ll be working for Mars Wrigley doing corporate finance.

Jade Preston: After graduation, I’ll be moving to Northern Virginia to continue my Air Force career as an operations research analyst.

Kaylee Chan: I’m going to be a fifth-grade math-science teacher at Walker Upper Elementary School right here in Charlottesville.

Marie-Clare Matricardi: I’m moving to D.C. to work for the Republican Attorneys General Association.

BreAnn Dishman: After graduation, I’m going to be staying right here in Charlottesville to work at UVA in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Malia Takei: I’m moving to Chicago to be a finance attorney with Mayer Brown.

Sasha Ivanov: I will be pursuing a chemistry Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Josh Novick: I’ll be moving to New York City as a private credit analyst for Blackstone.

Izzy Spanswick: After graduation, I’ll be joining the Peace Corps and going to Vietnam to teach English.

Charlotte Devine: I’ll be heading to Denver to work as a senior designer at the landscape architecture firm MVVA.

Jacob Hobbs: I’ll be in Washington, D.C., working as an associate software engineer at CoStar Group. Eventually, I’ll be pursuing a Ph.D. in ethical AI.

Michael Gonçalves: After graduation, I’m going to Duke University, while I’ll be completing my residency training in psychiatry.

Serena Kopf: I’m going to be a Double Hoo and pursue my master’s in counselor education here at UVA.

We are starting our first year at the University of Virginia. Yeah! Coming up from Georgia yeah.

Just getting moved in, first day on campus or Grounds. Long 15 hour drive to get here. Yes, for sure but happy that we’re kind of getting settled. You know, today is a really exciting day it’s a whole new journey now. Yes, this is our last one. We live in a tent just to pay for all this tuition.

I’m a little nervous of course it’s a whole new environment for me but it’s great I love UVA so I’m excited to move in and get my things ready. Yeah I’m kind of nervous because I kind of had to quarantine for like two years of high school, so I haven’t really done in person in a while.

I’m looking forward to meeting new people. Getting to take classes I care about, that’ll be good. Having my independence and like make me figure out like more who I want to be and like what I want to do. Excited for football games I’m just excited for class overall. Explore all of Charlottesville just ride around on my bike honestly that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.

It’s obviously exciting to have like a sense of freedom but obviously I’m going to miss everyone so much. She wants me to call her every day, every day, I’m fine with that. Once a week you know like maybe you set a time to check in.

But it should be more often than the times that you need to ask for money. Right! That’s right! We haven’t set up rules but I have some in my head so twice a day at least. Maybe like the first couple days then I feel like I’m going to get distracted.

Like this is such an exciting time you’re going to make so many great friends, I already love your roommate, just enjoy yourself. Be kind to yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in expectations and what you’re supposed to do and how you’re supposed to do it.

Study hard but have a lot of fun. Sounds good. It’s all gonna be overwhelming the first two weeks but after that you know things will be starting to feel like home.

My wife and I, Kimberly Grantham, we are alum and we’re just really proud to have him join the ranks of the Wahoos and man it’s just a great moment you know.

This will be the first time in 29 years that we won’t have any of our children in the house with us anymore. That’s crazy. Yeah. It’s outrageous. He was always at home when I got home and he’s always there to hang out and now he’s not, now he’s in Charlottesville, Virginia.

That’s outrageous, man. I’m officially an empty nester after today so it’s going to be an adjustment. I really don’t want to talk too much about it because I’ll probably start crying. Like you said, it hasn’t sunk in yet so we’re just waiting for the storm to pass over.

We’re saving the crying for the car drive home we’ll have a good solid eight hours of crying ahead of us so, we’ll be okay. It’s hard it’s just hard to see her go. Love you. It’s gonna be weird to have four people at the table having dinner instead of five. She is clearly my very good friend so I will miss her advice, oh now you’re making me teary. I think just know that what you may feel like you’re losing, the University is gaining plus some.

Try to keep being me as best I can, meet new people, spread my impact, fulfill the legacy that you left coming here and that mom left and that I’m gonna continue to be a role model for my two younger siblings, Copeland and Jovi, that may be coming through here in a few years.

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