Mary Washington Alum Cycles Cross-Country – and Campus Walk – for a Cure
Pat McAleer ’89 remembers being in college when the bricks were laid to make the University of Mary Washington’s Campus Walk.
He’ll ride that same route when he visits his alma mater Oct. 7 during the final stretch of his cross-country cycling journey – spanning more than 4,000 miles – to support research for type 1 diabetes (TD1). His daughter, Mary Kate, now a registered nurse, was diagnosed with the condition at age 10.
McAleer was inspired to take this trip to transform his family’s experiences into an opportunity to spread awareness about TD1, he noted on his website, which chronicles his three-month trek that will end at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach. “Not as a cyclist, but as a father who believes that with enough collective determination, we can find a cure.”
Determination shaped his college experience from his first visit to campus during high school. The late Senior Vice President Emeritus H. Conrad Warlick, who then worked in admissions, spent an hour helping him map out a plan to earn his college degree.
“He was incredibly instrumental in my decision to come to Mary Washington,” said McAleer, who grew up in Annandale, Virginia. He took Warlick’s advice and spent a semester shoring up his grades in community college before joining what was then known as the Blue Tide, which became the Eagles in 1986. Learn more about Mary Washington Alum Pat McAleer ’89.
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