UMW sophomore Mackenzie Hard’s iPhone slices into her sleep.

4:30 a.m.: “Good morning, crazy kid!”

She stirs at the first pre-programmed message, settles back in under the extra-long quilt her grandmother made for her 6-foot-2 frame.

4:45 a.m.: “If you don’t get up now, you won’t see the sun rise!”

She opens an eye, feels her FOMO kick in. But her Eagle Village room is … so … comfy.

5 A.M: “Okay, now you’ll really be late, way to go.”

The tone serves its purpose. She’s up. In a race with the sun. Off to meet crewmates at Alvey parking garage at 5:30, be out on the water by 6.

Growing up in Colonial Williamsburg and on Jamestown Island, Hard was as absorbed in water as she was in history. UMW would revive her passion for both. Now a crew member and English major pursuing a master’s degree in education, she hopes to teach high school, helping steer students toward their own college adventures.

“It was such a tough and busy time of my life,” Hard said of that 12th-grade transition. “I want to be able to tell them, ‘I know what you’re going through. I know it’s hard. You’ll get through it. Let me help you.’ ”

When she wasn’t playing the snare in the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums Corps or learning open-hearth cooking as a young volunteer, she’d spend long summer days on the James River. Then the air would turn crisp, and she’d go with her mother, a teacher, to help prep her second-grade classroom. Hard would play with the old-fashioned projector and sometimes, just sometimes, pretend to be a teacher, herself.

In high school, instructors she touts as “flawless” inspired her further, fueling her love of English. A fan of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, Hard played basketball and edited the yearbook before turning her thoughts to college. The first time she saw “UMW” on a T-shirt, she Googled it. She liked what she saw and scheduled not one but five visits to campus.

“I love our community. I love that we’re small,” she said during an interview at the Hurley Convergence Center. “I love that I have friends who walk in here and I can wave at them while we’re doing this.”

She was just meeting some of those friends when she showed up at that first Club Carnival freshman year, set to play basketball. Instead, she was coaxed into crew, where she found an unexpected camaraderie.

“The rowers tend to develop some pretty close relationships,” said Rich Adams, who coaches the team. “It requires a lot of discipline. The people that are not so tough very quickly decide it’s not the sport for them.”

But Hard has a soft side, as well. She cried last December to miss Williamsburg’s Grand Illumination, watching it live-streamed, instead, while she studied for finals. But her on-campus commitments leave little time to be homesick. She’s a resident assistant and Washington Guide who’s involved with Best Buddies. And, of course, there’s crew.

“The power and muscle and strength of eight girls in a boat?” she said. “It blows me away.”

Beaming in a photo in front of Big Ben, Dalton Herendeen couldn’t have known he’d leave London, and the 2012 Paralympic Games, without gold, silver, or bronze. Or that he would have a second shot next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I will have a chance to medal,” said Herendeen, UMW’s assistant swim coach. “That’s the thing that drives me the most now.”

Born with a blood clot that caused the loss of his lower left leg, Herendeen plunged into sports anyway, finding his niche in the pool. A record-breaking opponent to able-bodied swimmers, he would question his fit in the Paralympics. But in the long line of coaches he’d learn from, one would push him to try. Another would make sure he got there again.

“A medal would be amazing,” said Eagles head swim coach Abby Brethauer, who hired Herendeen and spent the past year training him for Rio. “I just want him to be happy with the way this journey ends.”

But first, the beginning.

Growing up in the Midwest, Herendeen tackled a series of clunky prosthetics but played the same sports as his siblings – basketball, football, and soccer. In the water, he excelled. Despite his disability, he’d made the state finals in high school and earned a scholarship to the University of Indiana. So when his coach suggested he look into the Paralympics, Herendeen balked. Competing against handicapped swimmers seemed like a step backward.

But he came around.

“I thought I was going to destroy these kids,” said Herendeen, who was disarmed by the wheelchairs and prosthetics that scattered the deck at that first 2008 meet. “But they were phenomenal. I got my butt kicked.”

He licked his wounds and set his sights on 2012. For the next four years, he would eat, sleep, and breathe swimming, and it paid off. But despite his sturdy performance in London, there would be no medals to bring home.

Distraught, Herendeen no longer wanted to look at a pool much less swim in one. That’s when he got a call from the folks at Bates College Swim Camp, which UMW’s Brethauer co-founded. They had seen a feature on him in the NCAA magazine Champion and asked him to join their coaching team.

Working with kids turned things around, pumped Herendeen up, and pulled him back to the pool. Back at U-Indy, he broke lots of records and became captain of the school’s Division II team. When he graduated, Brethauer asked him to coach at Mary Washington and promised to train him for Rio.

Then, at last year’s world championships in Scotland, something went wrong. Herendeen blew out his right knee, the good one, and had to have surgery. With Brethauer’s encouragement, he pressed through the pain of recovery and continued to train.

The two would spend hours each day in the Goolrick Hall pool or in the long-course lanes at the Jeff Rouse Family Swim and Sport Center, where Herendeen coaches the Fredericksburg Stingrays. Together, they’d focus on the technique and strategy he would need in Brazil, where he’s slated to compete in the 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley, 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter breaststroke and 400-meter medley relay.

Four years ago, at the Paralympic Games in London, Herendeen said, he was star struck. Just getting there was enough, and he soaked it all in. This time around he wants more.

“I’ve accomplished everything I want to in my career; the only thing I have not done is to medal,” he said. “Whether I do or I don’t, what I want to be able to do … is say, ‘Dalton, you gave it everything you had.’ “

The 2016 Paralympic Games run Sept. 7 to 18. Find the schedule online at  https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/schedule-and-results.

Beaming in a photo in front of Big Ben, Dalton Herendeen couldn’t have known he’d leave London, and the 2012 Paralympic Games, without gold, silver, or bronze. Or that he would have a second shot next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I will have a chance to medal,” said Herendeen, UMW’s assistant swim coach. “That’s the thing that drives me the most now.”

Born with a blood clot that caused the loss of his lower left leg, Herendeen plunged into sports anyway, finding his niche in the pool. A record-breaking opponent to able-bodied swimmers, he would question his fit in the Paralympics. But in the long line of coaches he’d learn from, one would push him to try. Another would make sure he got there again.

“A medal would be amazing,” said Eagles head swim coach Abby Brethauer, who hired Herendeen and spent the past year training him for Rio. “I just want him to be happy with the way this journey ends.”

But first, the beginning.

Growing up in the Midwest, Herendeen tackled a series of clunky prosthetics but played the same sports as his siblings – basketball, football, and soccer. In the water, he excelled. Despite his disability, he’d made the state finals in high school and earned a scholarship to the University of Indiana. So when his coach suggested he look into the Paralympics, Herendeen balked. Competing against handicapped swimmers seemed like a step backward.

But he came around.

“I thought I was going to destroy these kids,” said Herendeen, who was disarmed by the wheelchairs and prosthetics that scattered the deck at that first 2008 meet. “But they were phenomenal. I got my butt kicked.”

He licked his wounds and set his sights on 2012. For the next four years, he would eat, sleep, and breathe swimming, and it paid off. But despite his sturdy performance in London, there would be no medals to bring home.

Distraught, Herendeen no longer wanted to look at a pool much less swim in one. That’s when he got a call from the folks at Bates College Swim Camp, which UMW’s Brethauer co-founded. They had seen a feature on him in the NCAA magazine Champion and asked him to join their coaching team.

Working with kids turned things around, pumped Herendeen up, and pulled him back to the pool. Back at U-Indy, he broke lots of records and became captain of the school’s Division II team. When he graduated, Brethauer asked him to coach at Mary Washington and promised to train him for Rio.

Then, at last year’s world championships in Scotland, something went wrong. Herendeen blew out his right knee, the good one, and had to have surgery. With Brethauer’s encouragement, he pressed through the pain of recovery and continued to train.

The two would spend hours each day in the Goolrick Hall pool or in the long-course lanes at the Jeff Rouse Family Swim and Sport Center, where Herendeen coaches the Fredericksburg Stingrays. Together, they’d focus on the technique and strategy he would need in Brazil, where he’s slated to compete in the 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley, 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter breaststroke and 400-meter medley relay.

Four years ago, at the Paralympic Games in London, Herendeen said, he was star struck. Just getting there was enough, and he soaked it all in. This time around he wants more.

“I’ve accomplished everything I want to in my career; the only thing I have not done is to medal,” he said. “Whether I do or I don’t, what I want to be able to do … is say, ‘Dalton, you gave it everything you had.’ “

The 2016 Paralympic Games run Sept. 7 to 18. Find the schedule online at  https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/schedule-and-results.

Alex Clegg is just as comfortable sitting on the lawn next to the Eiffel Tower as he is lounging in an Adirondack chair on Ball Circle. For the incoming senior, the college experience isn’t just about collecting academic credits – it’s about crafting a global education.

With 34 countries on his passport to date, the jet-setting senior returns to UMW this fall after checking off a semester in the Czech Republic and an internship and two-week game design course in Wales. And while overseas, Clegg won election as UMW Student Government Association president and landed a position on Finland’s National Men’s rugby team.

“I grew up traveling,” said Clegg, who took his first trip to Europe before he was in high school. “My grandfather lives in Mexico so growing up, I was used to spending months at a time out of the country.”

It’s a lifestyle he’s applied to his college curriculum. The digital communications major flew to Europe last February to begin a semester at the CESP University of Economics in Prague, living in an apartment with American students outside the city center where he attended classes.

From Prague, Clegg traveled to Bangor University in Wales where he interned with the school’s International Education Center. Having worked as a peer advisor with UMW’s Center for International Education for two years, the internship gave him the chance to see the study abroad experience from the ‘other end.’ During his final two weeks abroad, he designed a video game as part of a Castle Quests course with six other students from UMW.

“Studying abroad widened my view of how daily life is lived all across the world,” said Clegg, who is originally from Arlington, Va. “I think each culture has something we can learn from.”

Between semesters, Clegg traveled extensively throughout Europe. Perhaps the most significant trip was his visit to Finland, where he tried out for and made the country’s National Men’s rugby team.

“My grandmother was Finnish so I was eligible for the team,” said Clegg, who has played club rugby for UMW for three years. “My first game, we led Finland to the country’s first-ever victory over Bulgaria.”

Now back in the U.S., Clegg is settling into his final year on the Fredericksburg campus, where he will wrap up his digital communications major and serve as SGA president.

“I’m going to build a two-way street between students and UMW’s administration,” said Clegg, who attended a leadership conference in August to prepare for his position. “I’m here to advocate for students and be a liaison between them and the administration.”

His global experience isn’t over yet though – this fall, he’s headed back to Finland for his next national rugby game.

“This is just the beginning,” said Clegg. “I plan to visit more than 100 countries in my lifetime.”

Junkyard dog – that’s how UMW alumna Jena Abernathy describes herself. Fresh out of college, she had the street smarts and savvy assertiveness that would propel her to the top – or so she thought.

Just a few years later, Abernathy found herself reluctantly headed to charm school for some professional polish. Three days of executive coaching later, she walked out of an experience that proved to be a turning point for her career.

Today, the Southern business woman is the author of The Inequality Equalizer, a book about claiming career success that paves the way for other professionals to make it into the C-suite. A managing partner and chair of Board Services at executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, Abernathy uses her own life lessons to explain why you need to balance your inner junkyard with pedigree to find success.

“It takes both the scrappy tenacity of a ‘junkyard dog’ coupled with the refined polish of a ‘pedigree’ to move ahead,” said Abernathy. “You have to understand that it is not just hard work that will make you successful.”

With more than 20 years in executive leadership, Abernathy has found the sweet spot between the two. Fast-tracked early in her career, she’s made a name for herself as an expert in human resource management and has been featured in the media and leading industry publications.

Having found her own success, she aims to give back to those who come behind her.

“I have witnessed too many talented professionals derail in their careers because they ‘did not know what they did not know,’” explained Abernathy, who divides her time between Florida and North Carolina. “You have to learn the social skills and nuances that will help you navigate the political forces.”

A co-host for the on-campus television station during her time at UMW, the class of 1984 business major praises her Mary Washington education for positioning her for the future.

“The business curriculum focused on my core passion while the required classes outside of my major taught me how to think differently, solve problems and navigate issues,” said Abernathy. “That’s what is so valuable about a liberal arts education.”

So what advice does a jet-setting executive have for determined college students today?

“Don’t settle,” said Abernathy. “Hold out for what motivates you, go for it, and when you get it – own it.”

Laura Gilchrist’s sense of style unfolds on Facebook, where the UMW senior sports an Eagles sweatshirt and jeans, a leather jacket and shades, a black and white dress with heels.

But this 21st-century student feels just as tres chic when she pulls on a corset and a pair of starched stockings.

“All of a sudden you walk a little straighter,” said Gilchrist, who’s donned period garb and done historic re-enacting for years. “You’re a whole different person. It transports you to another time.”

She hopes her dream job as a museum curator will, too, pushing her into the past and feeding her passion for sharing it. A hotshot in UMW’s prestigious historic preservation program, she’s as dynamic as the degree she is working to earn.

“Laura is simply outstanding,” said Assistant Dean for Student Involvement Melissa Jones. “She’s taken her Mary Washington experience and capitalized on every bit of it.”

Commuter Student Association president, Class Council vice president, student orientation coordinator, historic preservation student aide and Washington Guide, Gilchrist blazes like wildfire through the campus she loved at first sight. A postcard memento from that middle school visit a decade ago still graces her desk.

Born in Panama, Gilchrist was nudged by her aunt, a Central American Supreme Court justice, toward a career in the law. But when her military family moved to Dahlgren, Virginia – and the historic Fredericksburg area – she found something new … and something old.

They joined the Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society, where Gilchrist delved into 18th-century drama and dance. As her love of heirlooms and relics took on a life of its own, so did her wardrobe, brimming with petticoats and parasols, bloomers and ball gowns.

Then, in high school, a second jaunt down Double Drive – this one for Discovery Day –showed Gilchrist how her love of the past could help shape her future. She sat in on a historic preservation class, talked in depth with former department chair Gary Stanton and made a decision.

“I love history. I love historic re-enactments. I didn’t know you could do something with that,” said Gilchrist, who set her sights on UMW’s historic preservation program, one of the best of its kind in the country. “This is exactly what I want to do with my life.”

Now, as she nears graduation, she’s working to wrestle her resume onto one page. She’s helped refurbish the Frank Lloyd Wright House, attended Colonial Williamsburg conferences, spent Spring Break at the Craik-Patton House. And that’s just for starters.

“We don’t watch PowerPoints,” Gilchrist said of UMW’s unique and highly hands-on program. “We learn by touching and holding, so you can actually understand.”

Winner of Mary Washington’s Bowley and Annie Fleming scholarships, she’s planned exhibits and led lessons at famous Fredericksburg sites like James Monroe Museum, Kenmore Plantation and Mary Washington House. Online, she blogs about English Regency-era styles.

And on campus? Gilchrist will welcome her brother, Michael, to UMW’s Class of 2020 in August and finish her own degree in December. But she plans to stick around for one more semester to wrap up her responsibilities with Class Council and more.

“Once I’m going, you can’t stop me,” she said. “I put myself into everything I do. I feel that’s the only way to live life.”

Cancer may be up against some of the brightest minds in the University of Mary Washington’s physics department.

That, and a collection of nanoparticles smaller than the human eye can see.

Physics Chair Hai Nguyen and rising senior physics and mathematics double major Pengcheng Zhang are crafting a project that could lead to groundbreaking cancer research.

This cutting-edge venture is nothing uncommon for the intimate group of students and faculty who make up the physics department, according to Nguyen. Driven, determined, communal and curious, students and faculty work on projects ranging from internships with NASA, giving presentations for adults and school-age children and testing the slowing of light with a full board of lasers.

Their nanoparticle experiment, which has been in the works for close to a year, uses a specific laser light to test whether nanoparticles could enter the human body at certain temperatures without damaging the body itself. Research using the type of laser light, measuring a wavelength of 915 nanometers, has begun only as recently as 2011 in the scientific community, according to Zhang.

Results have yet to be documented of this laser’s effects on nanoparticles or how it could act in the body, particularly as some nanoparticles may have been found to attach to cancer cells.

Zhang and Nguyen, who meet a few hours a week to work on the project, aim to be among the first to document these results.

Though their experiment is no small feat, the particles they work with might be better seen under a microscope. According to Nguyen, fellow UMW physics assistant professor Josephus Ferguson and collaborators from Virginia Commonwealth University, their collection of nanoparticles measure approximately 32.5 nanometers. These particles are so small that if you lay them in your hand, they could slide through your skin into your body.

Working to challenge his students and give them a meaningful experience with potential real-world change, Nguyen kick-starts projects that also challenge and inspire him.

“What I want from my students is to have true ownership of what they do,” Nguyen said. “They take on [this project] and say that it’s theirs.”

Their goal is to record and publish their results in the hope that researchers who specialize in cancer treatment can pick up the experiment where they left off.

So far, the experiment and specialized equipment have cost $30,000 with funding and equipment from organizations like the University of Paris, Kansas State University and financial support from UMW’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Even still, Zhang has looked to offset the costs of the project by making tools at UMW they could not get anywhere else. Using a 3D printer and his skills in mathematics to create the exact dimensions, he designed an optical fiber adaptor.

Zhang has spent weekends and summers on the project, rushing from math classes across campus to reach the lab. He also presented the experiment for UMW’s Student Research and Creativity Symposium this year and last year and is doing two additional independent studies with the physics and math departments.

The possible real-world impact of the nanoparticle experiment has driven him to keep researching.

“This could be something that is very personal to everyone,” Zhang said of the experiment that has sparked interest across the chemistry and biology departments.

Physics has given him the chance to set down the textbook and take on projects that are both potentially risky and potentially rewarding.

“Physics is not as scary as you might think,” Zhang said, who plans to pursue a graduate program in mathematical physics. “It requires a logical mind and some persistence, but nothing more. Physics give you more curiosity, but more importantly, it gives you the ability to explore your curiosity.”

Cancer may be up against some of the brightest minds in the University of Mary Washington’s physics department.

That, and a collection of nanoparticles smaller than the human eye can see.

Physics Chair Hai Nguyen and rising senior physics and mathematics double major Pengcheng Zhang are crafting a project that could lead to groundbreaking cancer research.

This cutting-edge venture is nothing uncommon for the intimate group of students and faculty who make up the physics department, according to Nguyen. Driven, determined, communal and curious, students and faculty work on projects ranging from internships with NASA, giving presentations for adults and school-age children and testing the slowing of light with a full board of lasers.

Their nanoparticle experiment, which has been in the works for close to a year, uses a specific laser light to test whether nanoparticles could enter the human body at certain temperatures without damaging the body itself. Research using the type of laser light, measuring a wavelength of 915 nanometers, has begun only as recently as 2011 in the scientific community, according to Zhang.

Results have yet to be documented of this laser’s effects on nanoparticles or how it could act in the body, particularly as some nanoparticles may have been found to attach to cancer cells.

Zhang and Nguyen, who meet a few hours a week to work on the project, aim to be among the first to document these results.

Though their experiment is no small feat, the particles they work with might be better seen under a microscope. According to Nguyen, fellow UMW physics assistant professor Josephus Ferguson and collaborators from Virginia Commonwealth University, their collection of nanoparticles measure approximately 32.5 nanometers. These particles are so small that if you lay them in your hand, they could slide through your skin into your body.

Working to challenge his students and give them a meaningful experience with potential real-world change, Nguyen kick-starts projects that also challenge and inspire him.

“What I want from my students is to have true ownership of what they do,” Nguyen said. “They take on [this project] and say that it’s theirs.”

Their goal is to record and publish their results in the hope that researchers who specialize in cancer treatment can pick up the experiment where they left off.

So far, the experiment and specialized equipment have cost $30,000 with funding and equipment from organizations like the University of Paris, Kansas State University and financial support from UMW’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Even still, Zhang has looked to offset the costs of the project by making tools at UMW they could not get anywhere else. Using a 3D printer and his skills in mathematics to create the exact dimensions, he designed an optical fiber adaptor.

Zhang has spent weekends and summers on the project, rushing from math classes across campus to reach the lab. He also presented the experiment for UMW’s Student Research and Creativity Symposium this year and last year and is doing two additional independent studies with the physics and math departments.

The possible real-world impact of the nanoparticle experiment has driven him to keep researching.

“This could be something that is very personal to everyone,” Zhang said of the experiment that has sparked interest across the chemistry and biology departments.

Physics has given him the chance to set down the textbook and take on projects that are both potentially risky and potentially rewarding.

“Physics is not as scary as you might think,” Zhang said, who plans to pursue a graduate program in mathematical physics. “It requires a logical mind and some persistence, but nothing more. Physics give you more curiosity, but more importantly, it gives you the ability to explore your curiosity.”