Members of Mary Washington’s incoming class traded tablets and cell phones for campfires and bug spray to live off the grid, so to speak, for three days and two nights.

And they loved it.

More than 48 hours with no Wi-Fi, no social media. Not even showers.

“I didn’t touch my phone all day,” said Abigail Conklin, a first-year student who took part in UMW’s Summer Orientation Adventure Retreat (SOAR). “I didn’t want it. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t need it.”

Held for the first time at UMW’s Eagle Lake Outpost in Stafford County, this year’s SOAR offering was a primitive camping trip with no running water. The program complements the on-campus Orientation activities all first-year students experience and puts budding Eagles in touch with fellow freshmen and natural settings surrounding the city of Fredericksburg.

“I think it’s a really great opportunity for them,” said rising senior and camp leader Daria Fortin as she served grilled cheese sandwiches cooked on a Coleman camp stove. “Besides being outdoors and learning about camping and that kind of stuff, it’s a way for them to bond with each other.”

Part of a 600-acre collection of properties assembled by the UMW Foundation, Eagle Lake Outpost is teeming with streams, a lake filled with lily pads, camping and picnic areas, boats and a dock. The site, established a decade ago off Route 17 in Stafford County, also features four log cabins, including a science-type lab, classroom space and more. Groups of staff and alumni have gathered there over the years, along with environmental science classes for field studies and research.

But SOAR is the site’s first large-scale program, said Foundation CEO Jeff Rountree. “[We] are excited to see such enthusiasm for the Outpost, which has always been one of UMW’s best kept secrets,” he said of the two late-June sessions, which held about 15 campers each and were so popular some had to be waitlisted.

The property provided the perfect low-pressure environment for first-year students, who pitched tents and got up close with nature – frogs, turtles, bunnies and bugs, including fireflies that lit up the night. And they began to form friendships that will grow throughout their college careers.

“I thought it would be a way to make some solid friends,” said Iisak Kukkastenvehmas-Skiggs, who hails from Northern Virginia, en route from London.

Fortin and fellow camp leader Michael Middleton ’16, who’s in Mary Washington’s master’s of education program, steered the agenda. In addition to hiking and water activities, like swimming, boating, tubing and fishing, participants took part in team-building exercises, with ice breakers, campfires, picnic-style meals, sunrise yoga sessions, games and crafts.

“Most of them just finished Orientation so it’s kind of a follow-up experience,” said Graduate Assistant for Fitness and Wellness Erin Hill ’17, who helped organize the event put on by Student Involvement, with help from the offices of Campus Recreation and Orientation. “They get the chance to gather and get to know their fellow freshmen.”

The upperclassmen were on hand to answer questions about life and traditions at Mary Washington, and each session ended with a tubing trip on the Rappahannock River, followed by lunch at Old Mill Park.

“I love this group,” said first-year student Riley Gildea of Waynesboro, Virginia. “I’ve learned so much on this trip. It’s given me a window into college.”

UMW senior Amanda Lynn Short rocked a shimmering black and gold dress in the Miss Virginia evening-wear segment.

She sported a lacy cropped top for her talent, ukulele and vocals to Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love. And the pale yellow number she wore in the swimsuit competition? Oh, my.

She’s got the beauty, talent and brains, but for this psychology and philosophy major, it’s the platform that makes pageantry personal. Thanks to a childhood incident, human trafficking hits closer to home for Short than viewers might have imagined when she answered her interview question onstage. And with the help of Mary Washington’s pre-law program, she plans to take her passion to the courtroom, where she’ll fight this terrible crime as an attorney.

“That was almost me,” said Short, recounting her experience as a 9-year-old girl, when two women nearly snatched her during a trip to her mother’s native Philippines. “By the grace of God, my mom screamed my name and I ran.” The family learned later that during their trip, a pair suspected of human trafficking had been detained.

“In 2016, there were 148 crimes of human trafficking that were reported. Fifty-nine of those crimes were reported against minors,” Short told the host of the Miss Virginia Pageant, held in Roanoke and livestreamed online. “It’s time for Virginia to take a stand and say ‘no’ to human trafficking. There’s no reason why we are waiting to solve this issue.”

A graduate of King George High School, Short fell for the beautiful campus, small class sizes and serious vibe at Mary Washington, where she’s president of the Commuter Student Association and a cheerleading captain. She carries an 18-credit course load, interns with the Charles B. Roberts law firm in Fredericksburg and works at a bridal boutique in Spotsylvania County.

“I’ve always been a busy lady,” said Short, who recently took the LSAT and hopes to get into a Virginia law school. “I try to be involved as much as possible.”

She was still a teenager when she entered her first pageant in the King George Fall Festival, placing among the top five and claiming the crown the following year. She won the Miss Hanover title in January and wore that sash in the Virginia pageant in Roanoke. She didn’t make the final round but won a $500 scholarship for her volunteer work with the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault and her knowledge of Virginia’s human trafficking laws.

“Of course, it’s super disappointing not to make Top 11,” she said. “One goal of mine from last year was to be a lot more prepared and confident coming into this year, and I definitely achieved that.”

Short hasn’t been back to the Philippines since her narrow brush with the cause she now champions, but she hopes to return someday to see relatives. For now, she’s fighting for Virginia, the state with the seventh highest human trafficking rate in the U.S. and the last to pass legislation to stop it.

“Our state is not adequately preparing our youth to be aware of such dangers,” she said. “That’s why I feel I must advocate this issue.”

Watch the livestream of all three of the 2017 Miss Virginia Pageant evening competitions.

Melanie Fuechsel was in middle school when she saw that old Spanish coin peeking out through the crust of the Earth. The piece from the past, uncovered during her first archaeological dig, would color her future.

“It was the coolest thing they’d found to date,” said Fuechsel, who graduated from Mary Washington in May with a bachelor’s degree in historic preservation and a Geospatial Information Science Certificate (GISc). “After that I was hooked.”

Now a GIS intern at the Fortune 500 engineering firm AECOM, she was drawn to UMW for its unique historic preservation program. Despite her late start – she transferred from a community college – she embodied the spirit of a liberal arts and sciences education, soaking up hands-on learning experiences, attending conferences across the country and taking courses in everything from forensic archaeology to cell biology. Finally, at the place where antiquity meets technology, she found her sweet spot.

“I just want to try it all,” said Fuechsel, whose senior capstone project, exploring the evolution of segregation in Fredericksburg, melded her two courses of study. The remote sensing she learned in the GISc program, for example, let her make maps showing the people and periods she explored with historic preservation professors.

Born in Berlin, Fuechsel was 7 when she moved with her family, including sister Martha Fuechsel, M.Ed. ’17, to Warrenton, Virginia. After high school, she indulged her hunger for learning and “did a lot of things to try to spread my wings,” she said. She toured Germany, volunteered in fire and rescue, and worked for a hospital, the National Park Service and the school system.

“Sometimes it’s just as much about finding out what you don’t want to do as it is about learning what you do want to do,” Fuechsel said. “It’s OK to fail; that’s how you learn.”

At Mary Washington, she kept up the pace, working in Residence Life, interning at the Mosby Heritage Area, volunteering at the Montpelier Foundation and loading up on experiential learning opportunities.

“Historic preservation is a hands-on field,” said Fuechsel, who – in addition to her capstone project on segregation – helped conserve historic objects at the Masonic Lodge, designed coloring book pages for Archaeology in the Community and studied bottle glass shards from a Civil War encampment.

“She threw herself into the project 110 percent,” said Adjunct Professor of Historic Preservation Lauren McMillan, who advised Fuechsel on the study she presented at the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference in March. “Melanie’s ability to combine her passion for history and material culture with her skills in GIS and other digital technologies makes her a unique graduate of the program and … a highly sought-after historic preservation practitioner.”

Fuechsel joined UMW’s Mortar Board honor society and Historic Preservation Club, presented her work at the Student Research and Creativity Symposium and holed up at the Center for Career and Professional Development. She showed her share of school spirit, as well, attending events from the serious Honor Convocation and Eagle Gathering to the super silly lip sync contest and ice cream social.

“Mary Washington has so many cool things,” she said. “You’re surrounded by people who really have your best interests at heart.”

Melanie Fuechsel was in middle school when she saw that old Spanish coin peeking out through the crust of the Earth. The piece from the past, uncovered during her first archaeological dig, would color her future.

“It was the coolest thing they’d found to date,” said Fuechsel, who graduated from Mary Washington in May with a bachelor’s degree in historic preservation and a Geospatial Information Science Certificate (GISc). “After that I was hooked.”

Now a GIS intern at the Fortune 500 engineering firm AECOM, she was drawn to UMW for its unique historic preservation program. Despite her late start – she transferred from a community college – she embodied the spirit of a liberal arts and sciences education, soaking up hands-on learning experiences, attending conferences across the country and taking courses in everything from forensic archaeology to cell biology. Finally, at the place where antiquity meets technology, she found her sweet spot.

“I just want to try it all,” said Fuechsel, whose senior capstone project, exploring the evolution of segregation in Fredericksburg, melded her two courses of study. The remote sensing she learned in the GISc program, for example, let her make maps showing the people and periods she explored with historic preservation professors.

Born in Berlin, Fuechsel was 7 when she moved with her family, including sister Martha Fuechsel, M.Ed. ’17, to Warrenton, Virginia. After high school, she indulged her hunger for learning and “did a lot of things to try to spread my wings,” she said. She toured Germany, volunteered in fire and rescue, and worked for a hospital, the National Park Service and the school system.

“Sometimes it’s just as much about finding out what you don’t want to do as it is about learning what you do want to do,” Fuechsel said. “It’s OK to fail; that’s how you learn.”

At Mary Washington, she kept up the pace, working in Residence Life, interning at the Mosby Heritage Area, volunteering at the Montpelier Foundation and loading up on experiential learning opportunities.

“Historic preservation is a hands-on field,” said Fuechsel, who – in addition to her capstone project on segregation – helped conserve historic objects at the Masonic Lodge, designed coloring book pages for Archaeology in the Community and studied bottle glass shards from a Civil War encampment.

“She threw herself into the project 110 percent,” said Adjunct Professor of Historic Preservation Lauren McMillan, who advised Fuechsel on the study she presented at the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference in March. “Melanie’s ability to combine her passion for history and material culture with her skills in GIS and other digital technologies makes her a unique graduate of the program and … a highly sought-after historic preservation practitioner.”

Fuechsel joined UMW’s Mortar Board honor society and Historic Preservation Club, presented her work at the Student Research and Creativity Symposium and holed up at the Center for Career and Professional Development. She showed her share of school spirit, as well, attending events from the serious Honor Convocation and Eagle Gathering to the super silly lip sync contest and ice cream social.

“Mary Washington has so many cool things,” she said. “You’re surrounded by people who really have your best interests at heart.”

UMW alum Becca Arm ’16 walked away from a recent episode of the long-running TV game show Jeopardy! with $27,500 and a second-place finish.

Now employed as a library assistant, Arm served as a special collections student assistant in the Simpson Library during her time at UMW.

“She was a wonderful library assistant, very detail-oriented and a very good writer,” said UMW Head of Special Collections Carolyn Parsons. “We’re excited to see that she’s gone into the library profession.”

Arm was a fierce contestant on Jeopardy!, leading her competitors – a management consultant and the returning champion, an ESL teacher – for most of the game.

She tore through categories like “1817,” “design & architecture” and “children’s books” in the show’s first round, finishing in the lead with $9,000. In the second round, she muscled through topics including “similes,” “entertaining fruits & vegetables” and “Biblical pairs,” maintaining the lead with $22,200. Arm also snagged one Daily Double in each of the game’s first two segments.

In Final Jeopardy, she questioned the answer – “His First novel, from 1920, incorporated some of his pieces from The Nassau, a Princeton literary magazine” – correctly (F. Scott Fitzgerald) but wagered only $5,300, which left her just short of winning the game.

Arm, who lives in Herndon, Virginia, majored in art history and was a scholarship recipient at Mary Washington. She is interested in onomastics, the study of names, she told the show’s host, Alex Trebek, who admitted to being unfamiliar with the topic.

“It can be any kind of name, but I’m interested in personal names, given names. I like to watch what’s in the media, what’s going on in the news, see what’s going to become popular as a baby name,” Arm told Trebek. “It’s kind of fun.”

Five longtime professors and faculty members will be awarded emeritus status during the University of Mary Washington’s graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13.

Friday’s graduate ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. Saturday’s undergraduate ceremony begins at 9 a.m. on Ball Circle on the university’s Fredericksburg campus.

Manning Collier will be named Associate Professor Emeritus of Mathematics; Steve Hampton will be named Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychology; Mary Rigsby will be named Professor Emerita of English; Douglas Sanford will be named Professor Emeritus of Historic Preservation; and David Berreth will be named Director Emeritus of the Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont.

The title emeritus is bestowed on faculty members and administrators who have served the university for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor.

During his 35 years at UMW, Associate Professor of Mathematics Manning Collier has taught more than 300 courses, from Linear Algebra to Real and Complex Analysis. Collier served the university extensively as department chair and as a member of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies Committee, the Promotion and Tenure Committee and the Campus Academic Resources Committee.

An expert in general mathematics and functional analysis, Collier is currently working on a book project, Analysis of Metric Spaces. He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Associate Professor of Psychology Steve Hampton was welcomed to the Mary Washington faculty in 1980, the seventh faculty member to join the psychology department. He taught a wide range of subjects, including General Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Human Sexuality. During his 37-year tenure at UMW, Hampton was awarded the Richard Palmieri Outstanding Professor Award by the Class of 1996. He won the Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2002.

Hampton has studied a variety of cognitive phenomena, including eyewitness testimony, face perception and methods of learning. He earned his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Northern Illinois University.

Professor of English Mary Rigsby arrived at Mary Washington in 1992. During her 25-year tenure, she taught an array of classes, including Introduction to Women’s Studies, and multiple courses in American literature and advanced writing. Her areas of expertise include writing pedagogy and literary theory with a specialty in feminist theory. She has published many articles on 19th-century women writers.

Among her many accomplishments, Rigsby has served as an editorial consultant for Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature and LEGACY: A Journal of American Women Writers. At UMW, she was director of the Teaching Innovation Program, and served on the Writing Intensive Program and Quality Enhancement Plan. She was president of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate from 2008 to 2010. Rigsby received her Ph.D. in English from Temple University.

Professor of Historic Preservation Douglas Sanford came to Mary Washington as an adjunct professor in 1987, teaching historical archeology. Sanford developed the department’s archeological field school at Stratford Hall Plantation, which focused on the domestic sites of enslaved African Americans and landscape of the plantation. He has conducted archaeological research across Virginia, including at the Yorktown Battlefield and Monticello, and in the Northern Neck area, as well as in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Brazil.

He served as director for UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation as well as chair of the department for Historic Preservation and was appointed the Prince B. Woodard Chair in Historic Preservation in 2011. Sanford received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Virginia.

David Berreth, director of Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, has served Mary Washington, which administers the historic site for the commonwealth, for 27 years. During that time, with the university’s support, Belmont has expanded facilities and staff through private and public fundraising. Major building projects include the 1995 conversion of the carriage house into a visitor center and museum shop, the 2000 restoration of the original studio and galleries, and the addition of a pavilion to accommodate public events and a collection storage facility in 2006.

In 1992, Berreth established the Friends of Belmont, a group of almost 400 donors who provide regular funding for operations and special projects, including historic preservation initiatives often carried out by UMW students.

Top 10 things prospective University of Mary Washington students will learn from watching the recently released YouTube series The New Guy:

1. UMW mascot Sammy D. Eagle has great dance moves.

   

From basketball to golf, UMW’s 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports, along with a lineup of intramural and club teams, offer something for everyone. Cheered on by Sammy, UMW DIII players consistently advance to the national level.

2. Mary Wash horses get police escorts.

Mary Washington’s varsity intercollegiate riding team, housed at nearby Hazelwild Farm, packs in the horsepower. One of just 25 Virginia schools listed with the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association, the team has long been a national contender.

3. Frisbee lives.

Dotted with Adirondack chairs, UMW’s Ball Circle is a sidewalk-encircled sanctuary of sunshine and grass, and a hub of student activity. The space is home to Commencement and a host of uniquely UMW activities, and a place where a friendly game of Frisbee is never too far away.

4. University presidents like ice cream.

   

Nostalgic and delicious, Carl’s ice cream is a local institution with a national reputation. Opened in an abandoned gas station in 1947, it’s been on the National Historic Register since 2005 and touted on major media outlets like CBS News and PBS.

5. Amtrak delivers.

An hour north of Richmond, Virginia, and an hour south of Washington, D.C., UMW is strategically located between state and national capitals. Amtrak makes accessing D.C. offerings – politics and power, art and museums, and some of the most prestigious internships in the United States – even easier.

6. The CEO of Rolls-Royce North America is a UMW grad.

Many of UMW’s nearly 40,000 living alums have gone on to reach incredible heights in their fields. Meet Rolls-Royce North America CEO Marion Blakey ’70 and VP for government relations at Owens Illinois, the world’s largest glass manufacturer, Dan Steen ’84.

7. UMW’s people are “people people.”

   

It’s a tight-knit group of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members. “As a student, you want someplace where … you can take your academics seriously,” Paino said in the series. “But also, it’s a place where you feel like you can be yourself.”

8. The Rappahannock River is a great place to paddleboard.

The longest free-flowing river in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Rappahannock runs adjacent to campus. It’s home to UMW’s club rowing crew and a great place to tube, canoe, kayak and paddleboard.

9. Mary Washington might have played golf.

Home to one of the nation’s oldest and most respected historic preservation programs, UMW – and its location near many museums and historic sites, including The Mary Washington House (where Paino finds an interesting piece of sporting equipment) – offers students unique opportunities for hands-on learning, research and valuable internships.

10. George Washington grew up in Fredericksburg.

More than 300 years of social evolution folded neatly into 11 square miles, Fredericksburg, Virginia, is a small city with big opportunity, offering a presidential past, Civil War battlefields and Colonial charm alongside savvy restaurants and iconic eateries.

Perched impossibly high in the sky over Bordeaux, UMW senior Emily Ferguson releases her swing. She braces for that quick stomach flip as she swoops down toward the vibrant French port city, feels the wind rush through her hair, and takes it all in.

“I felt like I’d had one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” she said of the lucid dream she induced and directed, “and I was just sleeping.”

When she graduates in May, Ferguson will be among the first to complete UMW’s Contemplative Studies program, one of the few undergrad curricula of its type in the world. Melding ancient meditative techniques with cutting edge research in the cognitive sciences, the minor promotes mindfulness, self-exploration and critical inquiry. It teaches students to find their breath and relax in the present. And, with implications for reducing anxiety and increasing concentration, it can help them harness their dreams in more than one way.

For Ferguson, a biology major and neuroscience minor on the pre-medical track, that means grad school and a career in academia or research. Contemplative studies brought the pieces together. “Biology, philosophy, sociology … ” she said. “It merged all those things and gave me a real sense of clarity.”

The 18-credit curriculum also offers electives in anthropology, art history, geography, psychology and religion, among others. Students in the core courses must meditate daily, working their way up from five- to 45-minute sessions. Sensory headbands that record brain waves help monitor their progress.

Kirsten George, a senior psychology major with a second minor in linguistics, is researching mindful eating, a potential treatment for disorders like anorexia and obesity. At least once a day, she grabs her favorite “Betty Boop” pillow, cracks open the window in her Alvey Hall room and sits down to meditate.

“You need a lot of self-discipline,” said George, whose coursework has helped her reduce anxiety and stress. “You have to look at it as a positive thing.”

UMW’s Leidecker Center for Asian Studies opened in 1998, thanks to the late Professor of Philosophy Kurt Leidecker, a Buddhism specialist who left his estate to Mary Washington. Rich with plump pillows, Buddha statues and Tibetan texts, it’s the perfect place for students to focus their minds and relax.

When Assistant Professor of Religion Dan Hirshberg came to campus in 2014, he brought his own expertise in Buddhism and meditation. After spending a semester abroad in India and Nepal as an undergrad, he said, “It was all over for me. I never wanted to do anything else.” Hirshberg earned a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University, a leader in contemplative education, and a Ph.D. in Tibetan studies from Harvard University.

Along with Professors of Classics, Philosophy and Religion David Ambuel and Angela Pitts, who began offering the original meditation course in 2012, he launched UMW’s Contemplative Studies program in fall 2016.

“I think it’s a really important mindset,” George said. “I feel lucky to have experienced this at my school.”

UMW junior Ben Henderson practically grew up in his parents’ faith-based community center. There were no weekend basketball games for this shooting guard; Sundays were all about church. Religion makes his world go ‘round. Yet when it came time for college, he was reluctant to study the subject.

“I felt like it would be contradicting my personal beliefs,” Henderson said.

He was wrong.

In opening his eyes to other religions, he said, “It made me a better Christian.”

That’s key for Henderson, who spent long summer days playing games with the children who were dropped off for daycare at the center his parents, both pastors, built to support the Fredericksburg community. Somewhere along the way, playtime turned serious, and he found himself called to the ministry. It’s a quest he continues at UMW, where his majors, sociology – and now also religion – will guide him toward his dream to help at-risk youth.

The youngest of four – brother Joseph Jr. ’14 and sister Ashley Nicole ’11 are also UMW alums – Henderson was reared on hard work. As his mother and father labored tirelessly around him, “It became second nature to try to do as much as I can,” said Henderson, who stocked food, sorted clothes and swept floors early on. The first to arrive in the morning. The last to leave every night.

When middle-school basketball, with no Sunday obligations, gave him a chance to do his own thing, his parents showed up to support him.

“Even when I was on the bench most of the game,” Henderson said, “they were the family that was always there.”

Choosing Mary Washington kept Henderson close to them – and to the center – but he was adamant about living on campus. “When I’m on campus, I’m at school,” he said. “I get caught up in learning.”

That includes that first shaky foray into religion with Associate Professor of Classics, Philosophy and Religion Mary Beth Mathews. “The Abrahamic Religions” dissected Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and gave Henderson a new view.

“I liked that class,” he said. “[Studying religion] has given me a chance to set aside my Christian lens and find a different perspective.”

With a schedule like his, perspective is important. He’s in the UMW Chorus, took part in the University’s recent branded marketing campaign, helps out in the Office of Admissions and squeezes in side jobs and classes where he can. That’s on top of a full-time curriculum, a part-time job with Academic Services, and of course, his work at the center, where he now administers the youth program he used to be part of.

Program Support Technician Charlotte Corbett-Parker, who supervises Henderson in Academic Services, credits his stellar performance, in part, to the skills he picked up at the center.

“These are life experiences that other students just don’t have,” she said. “You don’t see a lot of people wanting to serve the community the way [his family does]. Ben is tied into helping others. It’s something that comes natural to him.”

He also plays drums at church, where he’s passing his passion for the art down to the kids who’ve come after him. He plans to weave his musical talent into his dreams – attending seminary school, developing nonprofit programs, and teaching, all to bolster families and community.

“When I think of things I want to do, I never can say just one thing and leave it at that,” he said. “I think that’s because of how I grew up.”