Where are they now? Catching up with UVA’s Class of 2025

Every year, UVA Today highlights a selection of soon-to-be University of Virginia graduates and tells their stories.

This year, we decided to revisit a handful of the most-read graduating student profiles from last year and catch up with those young alumni.

Here’s what the Class of 2025 is doing now.

Tommy McNeal

(Contributed photo)

The last time UVA Today checked in with Tommy McNeal, he had just finished hiking Mount Kilimanjaro with two of his friends and fellow former Lawn residents, James Edwards and Kevin Lee. The hike capped off a weekslong residence in Tanzania, where McNeal, a kinesiology graduate, worked as a research assistant in infectious diseases at Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kilimanjaro.

When he returned to the United States, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He had another research position lined up, but said it increasingly didn’t feel quite right for him. So, McNeal reread his old journals and realized he had written repeatedly about the prospect of becoming an EMT. He signed up for a course and landed a job as a ski EMT in Lake Tahoe.

“I took my exam on a Friday in November, and on Monday, I was packing up my car and driving cross-country,” McNeal said.

From November to March, McNeal was on ski patrol. On any given day, he might assist a less experienced skier, or he might stabilize and transport someone who had broken their leg.

Now, McNeal is working on medical school applications. He hopes to specialize in infectious diseases.

He relayed advice he received from a mentor to incoming students.

“Immerse yourself completely in the University,” McNeal said.

It’s a lesson he lived. As a lacrosse player, he wasn’t always able to participate in every UVA tradition. He spent his fourth year completing a UVA bucket list.

“Graduating from college was a bit like being thrown in a blender, and I was thinking, ‘How do I figure out this life thing?’” he said. “I took a leap of faith, and I’m lucky it’s all worked out.”

Marlee Morgan

(Contributed photo)

Tragedy struck early in Marlee Morgan’s time at UVA.

She was on the charter bus bringing a group of UVA students back to Grounds after a field trip to Washington, D.C., when a gunman on the bus opened fire, injuring Morgan and her classmate Mike Hollins, and killing student-athletes Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry and Lavel Davis Jr.

Morgan overcame the tragedy and her injury. After years of not being fast enough, she fulfilled her dream of joining the Cavaliers’ track and field team during her fourth year. She graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce.

At UVA, Morgan said, she was encouraged to push boundaries and try her hand at a number of activities. She credits assistant coach Laron Bennett with helping her excel.

Now, she is a master’s student at Syracuse University, working toward a degree in multimedia, photography and design. Morgan, a deeply religious person, also produces a podcast about how her fellow students navigate their faith and student life.

She turned down a position at Dell Technologies to go to graduate school.

“I just wanted to explore,” Morgan explained.

It wasn’t an easy choice – a corporate job offered stability and enviable benefits – but she is on track to earn her master’s degree ahead of schedule, in three semesters rather than four.

“You can’t let money rule everything,” Morgan said.

Brian Douglas

(Contributed photo)

A year after receiving his bachelor’s degree, Brian Douglas is in much the same place: preparing to walk the Lawn once again and receive a UVA diploma.

His second UVA degree will be a master’s in commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce, where Douglas focuses on biotechnology. Birth defects forced the amputation of both his legs at 11 months old. As an undergraduate, Douglas built prosthetic legs he wore until his fourth year at UVA.

“If you’re trying to impact the community through healthcare, the best way to do that is to try to commercialize some piece of innovative technology,” said Douglas, who received a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.

To that end, Douglas has worked for a local startup, Stride Robotics, that is building motor-powered prosthetics. He fits that in with classes, studying and hitting the gym.

The busy schedule is “what we sign up for in McIntire, since it’s an accelerated program,” Douglas said.

As president of the Student Disability Alliance, Douglas put together UVA’s first adaptive field day. This year, they put together a ‘Rec ’n’ Roll,’ with a similar premise, but allowing students to sign up as teams rather than individually.

“Those were absolutely the highlights of my UVA career,” Douglas said.

Douglas said the most important thing he learned on Grounds was a willingness to engage. When he first got to UVA, there wasn’t much accessible signage. He and his fellow students voiced their concerns and found an administration that was willing to listen.

“I would tell any incoming student to be willing to engage and really listen, and disagree with each other, and grow, because that’s what we’re here to do,” Douglas said.

Juan Pablo and Natalie Rodriguez

(Contributed photo)

When Natalie Rodriguez and her father, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, became Hoos, they didn’t realize they would graduate together. Natalie earned a bachelor’s in international relations, and Juan Pablo got his degree in interdisciplinary studies from UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

The Northern Virginia residents still work together. Juan Pablo is the vice president of a property management company based in Washington, a role he started shortly after Final Exercises. A few months into the gig, he asked Natalie if she would work in the accounting department. Their jobs don’t overlap all that much, but they fight the Washington-area traffic together every morning and evening.

“We talk the whole time,” Natalie said. “My whole life, we’ve always been people who could talk to each other nonstop. He gives me great advice.”

Advice that includes nudging her toward law school. Natalie is now studying for the LSAT, after sitting in on an immigration hearing for a colleague at the property management company.

“We know our lives are going to take us on separate paths, especially since she’s going to law school. We know this is temporary, so we’re making the most of this time,” Juan Pablo said.

Juan Pablo’s studies in politics have come in handy during his work. His employees sometimes refer to him as “the diplomat.”

“I go back to my professors and my classes at UVA, and you don’t always think those are going to play into your daily life. But all those principles and concepts are so important for what I do now,” he said.

His advice? “Don’t give up,” he said.

Natalie, for her part, relayed words of wisdom from her father.

“Lead with love. It’s really difficult, because sometimes people are going to annoy you, but you have to have love for other people,” she said.