A degree from the University of Virginia can take you far. Just ask members of UVA’s Class of 2024.
Every year, UVA Today asks graduating students about their plans after they walk the Lawn and receive their diplomas for a video we call “What’s Next.”
We caught up with four Class of 2024 graduates featured in last year’s video to see where life has taken them so far.
Matt Ganyard
When Matt Ganyard graduated in 2024, he walked away with his second degree from Virginia, a yearslong dream realized and national buzz for being the UVA football program’s 34-year-old kicker.
Ganyard came to UVA from California in 2007, hoping to kick for the Cavalier football team. He didn’t make the cut. He graduated with a history degree in 2011 and joined the United States Marine Corps. After retiring from the service, he enrolled in UVA’s Darden School of Business in 2022 and tried out for the football team in 2023 – this time making the cut.
Matt Ganyard and his wife, Marie, pose with their children, Savannah and Noah. Since graduating from Darden, Ganyard and his wife have welcomed a third child into their family. (Contributed photo)
“I’d seen all the great things that a career in the military can do, but I was ready for the next chapter,” Ganyard said. “Business school is a natural steppingstone to … explore what I want to do when I grow up, for lack of a better term.”
He now works as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.
“My first project was in the airline industry,” Ganyard said. Fitting, since he was a Cobra helicopter pilot for more than a decade.
When Ganyard talked to UVA Today this spring, he was on paternity leave – he and his wife had their third child, a boy, just a few weeks earlier.
“To have this opportunity to have a long paternity leave, to support my wife post-birth, be there with our newborn and also just spend time with our two older kids, is truly a blessing,” Ganyard said.
At Darden, Ganyard said he found community and the courage to “run his own race.”
“Even at 36, with some unique experiences and accomplishments under my belt, I still find myself slipping into that comparison game, especially after entering the corporate world more than a decade later than most of my peers,” he said. “Put on blinders.”
Unoma Aguolu
Unoma Aguolu transferred from Hollins University to UVA in 2022, drawn in by UVA’s academic rigor and robust Army ROTC program. She graduated from UVA with a degree in global public health last May and has since joined the Army Medical Service Corps.
Unoma Aguolu poses with members of a basketball team. Before transferring to UVA, she was a successful basketball player at Hollins University. (Contributed photo)
Coming from a school with a student body of about 800, Aguolu wasn’t sure what to expect when she arrived on Grounds. She discovered she learned something new every day from her classmates, friends and fellow ROTC cadets.
“Education never stops. Most of my friends would always say, ‘How come you guys say third-year, fourth-year? Why not junior, senior?’” Aguolu said. “And I think the philosophy behind that is that at UVA, you’re never done learning. There’s always another step for growth.”
Since walking the Lawn, Aguolu has been to Fort Knox, Kentucky, San Antonio and Germany through the Medical Service Corps. She is now stationed at Fort Johnson in Louisiana. She said the highlight of her first year after graduation has been the travel and new experiences – even if she’s waking up at 5 a.m. every day.
She told current and incoming UVA students not to worry about what’s next for them.
“Be present, make friends and don’t stress too much about the future, because you’re in an environment where you’re guaranteed to thrive and excel,” Aguolu said.
Kevin Qi
Kevin Qi’s degree in physics and astronomy has taken him from the plains of Oklahoma to the skies above.
After graduating, he went to Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma, for pilot training, already a step ahead after earning his private pilot’s license through UVA ROTC the summer before his fourth year.
Kevin Qi stands outside an airplane in Oklahoma. He earned his private pilot’s license as a rising fourth-year student at UVA. (Contributed photo)
Qi worked a “casual job” on base for his first month, which he described as an entry-level position “anyone can do.”
“Out of the blue one day, they told me, ‘Hey, you’re starting pilot training tomorrow.’ I’m fortunate in the fact that I got pushed through the system really fast,” Qi said.
Not bad for someone who started his UVA career imagining a different life. When he arrived on Grounds, Qi intended to major in philosophy before he ultimately declared majors in astronomy and physics.
“My biggest concern was, what am I going to do after getting a degree in this stuff? I didn’t necessarily want to go to graduate school,” he said.
He learned that military pilots sometimes have the opportunity to sign up for the space program, and he’d be sure to have a job after graduation, so he joined ROTC as a second-year student.
“It wasn’t something I’d given much thought to before, but I’m glad I did it,” Qi said.
He completed pilot training in March and, when he talked to UVA Today in April, had just received his next assignment: He’ll be flying to England and, later, elsewhere in Europe.
