Despite traveling throughout the country to play lacrosse and to the other side of the world for an internship, Tommy McNeal had yet to venture down Elliewood Avenue for coffee.
“What’s Grit?” the University of Virginia student asked, casually cutting into a conversation with his new neighbors on the Lawn, the portion of the University’s original Academical Village designated to house outstanding fourth-year students.
McNeal laughs about it now. It’s been eight months since he realized he had some catching up to do when it came to local experiences.
McNeal, as of mid-August 2024, had never been to Grit Coffee on the Corner, though it was just a few hundred steps from his new abode. He hadn’t dined at Mariscos El Barco on West Main Street, toured Monticello or hiked the Blue Ridge Mountains, either.
This is the story of how a UVA student-athlete moved to the Lawn and gained a new appreciation for his school and its surrounding area.
“They actually had a checklist of ‘Things for Tommy To Do’ at the beginning of the year,” McNeal said of his fellow Lawnies, “and it was like, ‘He needs to go here and do this, do that.’ It was quite funny, but it’s honestly made me fall in love with the community more and be grateful that I was recruited to come here.”
McNeal, a defenseman from New Hampshire, has appeared in nearly 50 games as a Cavalier lacrosse player, including on big stages like the NCAA semifinals in 2023 and 2024. For three years on Grounds, his routine was typical of a student-athlete: In addition to his academic obligations, he lived, practiced, traveled and competed with his teammates, forming natural bonds amid a rigorous schedule.
McNeal excels on defense for the Cavaliers. He has appeared in nearly 50 games over his career. (UVA Athletics photo)
For year No. 4, however, McNeal sought a world outside the lacrosse bubble. The kinesiology major and aspiring doctor, who’s twice made the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll, applied to live on the Lawn.
“We don’t have houses with the lacrosse team anymore,” McNeal said, “so I figured why don’t I try something different and be in a different community?
“And it’s been an amazing experience being in an academic village with a bunch of different people that I wouldn't interact with normally.”
McNeal, who calls 36 East Lawn home, is the lone student-athlete among this year’s 48 student Lawn residents. James Edwards, a nursing major and 2025 fourth-year class president who lives at 12 East, is the author of McNeal’s to-do list.
“Tommy’s incredibly caring about us on the Lawn,” Edwards said. “He doesn’t say no to all these new experiences that I know are not foreign to me, but are definitely foreign to him. You can ask him to do anything – ask him to talk to someone, meet someone new, go somewhere – and he’s always down for it, which I think is really cool.”
McNeal, shown here with fellow Lawn resident James Edwards during Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn, says his move to the University’s Academical Village has made him “fall in love with the community more.” (Contributed photo)
Edwards describes McNeal as a “sponge” who eagerly soaks up any bits of new information he’s offered. McNeal said he’s learned more about “the ins and outs of the University” from Nathan Onibudo, the Cavalier Daily editor-in-chief living at 16 East. McNeal’s also participated in the Lawn Book Club, hosted by English professor – and Pavillion III resident – Michael Suarez.
“I just love these different experiences that I wouldn’t necessarily hear of if I wasn’t here,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh, sure, I’ll read this 250-page book over winter break and give my thoughts.’”
McNeal’s appreciation for different cultures stems from his mother, who once lived in Nicaragua, and his grandfather, who grew up in Chile. For two months in the summer of 2023, McNeal interned with International Medical Aid in Mombasa County, Kenya.
This summer, after graduation and the end of the lacrosse season, he plans to go to Moshi, Tanzania, to research tuberculosis through the UVA Center for Global Health Equity.
