Year: 2nd
Major: Commerce & Computer Science
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Activities around Grounds: First Year Council, Second Year Council, Entrepreneurship Group, SEED, Sustained Dialogue, Alternative Spring Break, Club Rugby, and Blueprint Leadership.
Why are you involved with these organizations? What motivates you / inspires you in these areas of your UVa experience?
A major reason (if not the main reason) I came to UVA was because the students here are so awesome! They are all unbelievably intelligent, down to earth people. They are what make this university so great, and they are the reason why I became involved in Class Council. Being a member of Class Council gives me an opportunity to give back to the students who make this school so great!
As for SEED and the Entrepreneurship Group, having come from a long line of entrepreneurs I have come to appreciate the positive impact business innovation can have on a community. One day, I hope to be one of the entrepreneurs working to make this world a better place, and I feel as though being a member of SEED and EG is giving me the education I need to fallow through on my dream.
What has been the most rewarding moment / experience for you during your time at UVa?
My most rewarding moment here at UVA was most definitely escaping to Ecuador over spring break, through UVA’s Alternative Spring Break. It was the most authentic cultural immersion experience I have ever had. We spent a week in the Amazon Rainforest helping the Shuar community develop infrastructure for their school district, and, towards the end of the trip, we hiked even deeper into the Amazon and saw some of the most amazing sights a mind could ever conceive.
Favorite class taken at UVA:
I took a 2 credit USEM my first semester called “Argumentation,” with Professor David Lee Rubin, it was, by far, the most challenging (as well as the most rewarding) class I have ever taken. If you have never met him, Professor Rubin is one of the most caring and authentic people you will ever meet. To this day, we still occasionally meet up to grab a cup of coffee and simply talk.
Proudest moment at UVA:
My proudest moment at UVA was when I represented our University to a group of students from my old high school (Trinity Valley School, in Fort Worth, Texas). Every year, my high school makes a trip to the East coast, and on that trip they visit one school: UVA.
In their time on grounds, I had the opportunity to talk to roughly 90 students about how wonderful UVA is and how much fun it is to go here, and, hopefully, I inspired some of them to apply here in a couple of years.
Something people don’t know about you:
Believe it or not, I was actually waitlisted for UVA. Back in high school, I was just a normal student, with normal grades, and I really wasn’t all that involved with extracurriculars (I think I went to maybe one club meeting in high school; and that was because my girlfriend at the time was the President).
I had heard good things about UVA from my college advisor and family members that lived in the area, so I figured it would be worth paying a visit. However, after seeing Jefferson’s University and everything it had to offer, I truly fell in love with this school. I absolutely had to go here.
Admittedly, when I was waitlisted it was a little bit heartbreaking, but after a few days I picked myself back up and decided to do something about it. I contacted everyone affiliated with UVA I knew, and, eventually, managed to get a representative from admissions to talk with me for 30 minutes. In the middle of AP Exam week, I dropped everything I was doing and flew up to Charlottesville for this interview. I told the representative my story and showed him how enthusiastic I was about going here, and then turned right back around to fly back home. The next day I received a phone call from the admissions office asking me if I would like to return in the fall. Needless to say, the answer was “yes!”
Best way to spend a Friday night:
My Friday nights are pretty simple. I just try to spend as much time as I can with friends, doing anything that comes to mind. Whether that be going to Class Council events, Frisbee on the lawn, or just hanging out, I try to get away from school for a little while and simply relax.