Student Experience

Building bridges, one story at a time

Ryan Levy has always been a builder; from cardboard constructs to learning to code, the fourth-year University of Virginia student has a passion for creating.

Now, he’s seeking to build a bridge between UVA’s current students and its alumni through his newsletter, Hoo You Know.

Levy is enthusiastic to reach out and hear the stories of UVA alumni. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“It felt like all UVA students should have internships based on how supposedly strong our alumni network is,” Levy said. “I felt like networking was a concept that I didn’t really understand, and others didn’t either.”

Levy, originally from Long Island, New York, is majoring in applied statistics and French in the College of Arts & Sciences. With a background in computer science, he started Hoo You Know as a software company the summer after his second year. Now a newsletter, Levy’s project has evolved into a guide not just for UVA students, but for all job seekers.

The newsletter is a blend of personal advice essays Levy writes himself and words from alumni. Levy provides advice on building a network, where to find contacts and how to approach them.

“The essays come from a lot of different places,” he said. “Some of them are just thoughts I have about networking, and others are sort of spurred from interviews that I have with people.”

UVA’s 10th Presidential Search - Take the survey. Nominate candidates.

His interviews with different UVA alumni have become the central focus of the newsletter; he asks them about their career paths, misconceptions about the industry they work in and the advice they have for current students.

Levy has interviewed an array of UVA alumni, including UVA President Emeritus Jim Ryan, CNN CFO Adam Cohn and men’s head basketball coach Ryan Odom. Levy hopes to interview the cofounders of Reddit and the owner of Birddogs clothing.

distance shot of Levy working on his laptop at an outdoor table.

With a background in computer science, Levy regularly uses code to build upon Hoo You Know. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

In addition to connecting Levy with the UVA alumni network, Hoo You Know has brought Levy closer to the student body.

“I’m really appreciative of the feedback that I’ve gotten from students and alumni,” he said. “I’ve had first-generation students come and tell me that my newsletter has helped them. Alumni have told me that this is something they wish they had when they were a student.”

UVA Today decided to put Levy to the test, asking him the same three questions he asks of his alumni subjects.

How did you get your start?
As a kid, I loved tinkering with and building things out of cardboard. As I got older, this progressed into learning how to code, building software and writing. Merging all these into a newsletter has become a really good creative outlet for me to continue these passions.
What challenge did you face early on?
Something I faced, and continue to face, is preventing myself from changing the newsletter too much. It’s very hard for me to leave it alone for a bit.
Do you have any advice for students?
Figure out what you’re interested in, find one person who is adjacent to that interest and reach out to them for the goal of learning about their story. Check-ins and updates will compound and serve you really well in the long run.

Like his subscribers, Levy is also actively looking for a job. He plans to continue Hoo You Know after graduating and hopes to expand the scope of the newsletter. His goal is to reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of the fall semester.