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“I’m just a guy,” said John Thach (Col ’26). “I’m not stressing over exams all the time. I’m not in the book all day. I love cooking for my friends. I love having people over and talking over tea. I go through life and see where it takes me.”
Thach is more than “just a guy.” He plans on eventually practicing medicine or dentistry and declared a biology major at UVA but remained open other areas. “I took a religious studies class because I was interested,” he said. “And once you take one, you have to take another. Then you have to take two or three more.” His curiosity led to enough credits for a religious studies double major.
“The religious studies faculty here are amazing,” he said. “Julia Cassaniti taught me to look at how religion affects people. She’s a trained anthropologist.” For his final project in Cassaniti’s class, Thach conducted fieldwork, recording interviews with monks and laypeople at a Buddhist temple. He presented the project at an Interdisciplinary Religious Studies Association conference held at the University’s Contemplative Commons.
“At UVA I rediscovered my own passion for Buddhism, which is what I grew up learning,” he said. Thach is a member of the Virginia Interfaith Coalition, which connects those of different faiths and backgrounds. He is also a member of the Kendo club.
As a high school senior from Arlington, Virginia, Thach initially hoped to go to college out of state. When he was accepted at UVA, he decided to attend Days on the Lawn. “That was a complete game-changer,” he remembered. “Nothing can beat Charlottesville in the spring. I completely fell in love with it. The people were so nice, and the trees and the sun. It was perfect. After that I immediately said yes to UVA.”
The Mangas Family Blue Ridge Scholars Fund helped to cover the cost of Thach’s education. “The scholarship opened so many doors for me. My family came to the U.S. from Vietnam. Their resilience gave me the strength to work harder,” he said. “UVA introduced me to all my best friends—people who push me in the right direction and give me the impetus to change the world. I really figured out my values here.”
English and Media Studies double major Hannah Stacy (Col ’26) came to the University from the opposite corner of Virginia: the Appalachian town of Hurley, tucked below the West Virginia and Kentucky state lines. She received support from the Judge Francis W. Smith Sr. and Avee Chiles Smith Endowed Scholarship/Fellowship Fund. “While I love home, I wanted to explore the world and meet people from different backgrounds,” she said. “Without this scholarship, I never would have been able to afford college, which was my only way out of the mountains.”
“I came here really frightened and overwhelmed by leaving home for the first time,” she remembered. “It felt like everybody was adjusting well except for me. It was a big culture shock. I was in classes bigger than my high school graduating class.”
After three difficult semesters, Stacy summoned the courage to apply to study abroad. “I thought it would help get me out of the funk I was in,” she said. She was put on the waiting list for a J-Term trip to London and considered other programs with openings, including a history class in Australia. “I was like, ‘I have never traveled internationally, and Australia is the craziest place out of all of these.’”
The trip was the turnaround she hoped it would be. “It was not just the highlight of my UVA experience but the highlight of my life,” she said. “I met the people who are now my best friends. I don’t go a day without talking to them.” Stacy went on to spend a summer in London. “It was so fun to see where so many of the authors I’ve been reading for years lived and wrote,” she said. This year she took a J-Term course in Paris.
Another pivotal experience was English professor Christina Griffin’s J-Term course A History of Romance. “I’ve always loved romance books, movies, and TV,” Stacy said. “The class was an analysis of romance in all forms of media. Professor Griffin’s feedback was so helpful and she really improved my writing.”
“I had considered teaching at the high school level,” Stacy continued. “But taking that class made me realize I could study romance from an analytical perspective, and there will be people that care about it. So my plan is to go to graduate school and pursue a career in academia.”
Stacy connected with the Charlottesville community as a member of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. She volunteered for Rock Steady, a boxing gym for people with Parkinson’s disease, driving other student volunteers to classes and assisting with the program. “Because I was going every week, I was able to make a connection with the people there,” she said. In turn, the participants kept up with the student volunteers’ college experiences, asking about homework and exams.
With graduate school ahead, Stacy acknowledges she has become more confident. “Coming to UVA pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’m leaving obviously with a great education, but I also think it’s turned me into a completely different person who can speak up for herself and can do hard things alone.”
“But I also always know that my mom is a call away,” she added.
The two graduates’ families were in Charlottesville to celebrate their accomplishments. “I was so excited to have my family to see me walk the Lawn and come to my major ceremonies,” said Thach. “I had replayed the image of them sitting on the Lawn in the sun, watching all the people and the balloons, and feeling proud so many times.”
