Six Days, Six Values: Celebrate UMW’s Annual ASPIRE Week
The University of Mary Washington will celebrate community values across six days, providing a week’s worth of ways to ASPIRE. The annual tradition – set for Monday, Sept. 28, through Saturday, Oct. 3 – will feature student-led events inspired by the values behind the ASPIRE acronym: Accountability, Scholarship, Personal and Institutional Integrity, Inclusive Excellence, Respect and Civility, and Engagement.
“What makes ASPIRE Week so special is how it unites different groups across campus and town,” said Jaylyn Long ’24, the former Student Government Association (SGA) president who established the event in 2023.
She envisioned activities that would remind campus of the importance of community, especially in a post-COVID world, and said she is pleased to see the event continue. “Seeing these values thrive is the most rewarding feeling,” said Long, who earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College and now works with first-generation college students as an assistant director at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
Her successor, Amira Said ’26, helped grow the celebration. “Jaylyn created a solid foundation that made it easy for me to expand the events to include every part of campus,” said Said, who spent a summertime stint as a Randal Fellow at the Piedmont Environmental Council. “As the tradition grew, everyone wanted to be part of it.”
This year, the role of ASPIRE Week chair falls to current SGA President William Goodman ’27, who’s looking forward especially to Friday’s Respect and Civility Day, highlighting the enduring legacy of civil rights leader and longtime Mary Washington professor James L. Farmer Jr. “Dr. Farmer dedicated his life to advancing equality, civility and mutual respect,” Goodman said. “I encourage every student to reflect on what Dr. Farmer would advocate for today and to commit to concrete ways we can carry that mission forward.”
Goodman and the entire SGA Executive Committee are working alongside Associate Provost for Community Relations and Compliance Shavonne Shorter, all of whom are excited to see their planning come to life. “Seeing everyone’s faces as they make their way from table to table at the daily events brings me feelings of cohesive unity and joy,” Shorter said. “I feel such a sense of Eagle pride during ASPIRE Week.”
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