Class of 2011
Valentine Family Jefferson Scholar
Denver, Colorado
“Coming from Colorado I knew very little about the University of Virginia, and even less about the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Most of my college search focused on smaller Northeastern and California schools. When I arrived in Charlottesville for the finalist selection weekend I had no conception of what the University had to offer.
“Given that I’m writing this now, it’s clear that what I saw that weekend changed my thinking about my college choice in a pronounced way. Ultimately, there were two main sets of observations that shaped my thinking. The first were conversations with random students on ‘grounds’ (U.Va.’s jargon for ‘campus’). These were students unassociated with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, and who, for all practical purposes, had absolutely no stake in whether I attended the University. Random student after student would drop whatever they were doing to talk about how much their school meant to them. It wasn’t forced advocacy; it was candid enthusiasm for the school that had become their homes. This was something that I just didn’t see at all of the other schools I’d visited.
“The second deciding factor for me was the level of student responsibility at the University. You’ll hear the term “student self-governance” often, and it would be easy to write such a phrase off as a series of buzzwords. But the minute I stepped onto campus it was clear that students have the freedom to create, maintain, and run enormously large organizations without administrative oversight and guidance. For me, that potential for true leadership experience in college was a key selling point.
“Every year there are tens of thousands of individuals who can say they graduated from an Ivy League school. Only 30 individuals can say they graduated as Jefferson Scholars. That’s not to say U.Va. is for every type of person, or that picking Princeton is a poor choice. It’s not. But the Foundation’s motto puts it best: “Excellence in Leadership, Scholarship, and Citizenship.” If those words ring true with you, then the Foundation is an opportunity that you can’t ignore, and a decision that was clearly best for me.”
As a fourth year, Greg is majoring in Economics. Outside of class, he is captain of U.Va.’s award-winning Collegiate Mock Trial team. He is also a member of the University Judiciary Committee, a facilitator for the class “Honor and Ethics in Everyday Life,” and a participant on the Virginia Alpine Ski and Snowboard team.
