Second-Year Council chose 13 students from the Class of 2013 as "Virginia Legends" yesterday at Alumni Hall, commemorating individuals who have "meaningfully enhanced an academic department, U.Va., the local area, or the community at large, through action, passion, and/or innovation," according to a press release.
Virginia Legends are members of the Class of 2013 who have made "amazing contributions to both U.Va., and the global community" and who otherwise may go unnoticed by many people at the University, said Suraj Mishra, Class of 2013 vice president. "It also sets an example for other students in our class."
Nearly 100 students were nominated by their peers, faculty members and contracted independent organization leaders. The 12 members of Council's selection committee set the criteria and chose the Virginia Legends, taking precautions to ensure the process was fair by using blind applications, said Drew Brophy, Council communications and marketing chair.
Brophy said he hopes Virginia Legends will extend past the Class of 2013.
"We are confident that with the support of our class, other class councils and organizations on Grounds, next year it will be a University-wide event," Brophy said. "We are already working to establish this next year, and it will hopefully include faculty and grad students."
The Virginia Legends' contributions ranged from starting a student hip-hop organization at the University to developing a water safety curriculum for the "Water and Health in Limpopo" project in South Africa.
Second-year College student Charles Zhao founded the cultural movement known as "The Student Hip-Hop Organization at U.Va.," of which he is now president.
"I've always had a passion for hip-hop culture, that is, the music, the style and fashion, the lifestyle," Zhao said in an email.
He said he noticed a lack of hip-hop culture at the University.
"I wanted to find a way to bring together the diverse underground population of hip-hop lovers around Grounds and together raise awareness of the artistic and cultural values of hip-hop," Zhao said.\nHe and the "orginial founders" of the organization organized a sold-out concert featuring Big Sean and Mac Miller to launch their group. The concert, which took months of preparation and fundraising, "resulted in an explosion of interest in hip-hop culture around Grounds never seen before," Zhao said.
Another honoree, second-year College student Melina Schoppa, participated in a Jefferson Public Citizen project in the rural Limpopo region of South Africa. The project worked on creating a public health curriculum "focused on clean water health practices and leadership and problem solving for primary school kids," Schoppa said.
She received a grant from the University to fund the group's work last summer. In March, the State Department gave her another grant to continue with the water health curriculum this summer.\n"We partner Nursing students with a university there and work on the curriculum to educate people," she said.
Schoppa is also in the process of organizing a school supply and book drive to give materials to two primary schools and a secondary school in Limpopo.
Second-year Nursing student Eliza Peak also helped the global community with the use of medical technology. She received the Rodriguez Grant, which awarded her $1,200 to buy iPod touches and take them last summer to the underprivileged island of Sweetings Cay, in the Bahamas. The island has 165 inhabitants and only one nurse.
With the iPod touch, "she can give care more easily at the bedside and at the clinic," Peak said, describing how this would affect the single nurse. "Without having to go home and diagnose patients, she will be able to get information about drugs or their conditions or symptoms right there at the bedside."
Second-year College student Max Grant is Madison House's program director for The Haven, a day shelter for the homeless off the Downtown Mall.
"It has been a fantastic opportunity to learn more about and to form relationships with the homeless population of Charlottesville," Grant said. "We are currently in the process of creating a free GED prep course for guests at The Haven so that they will have more options to further their education and job search."
Grant was inspired by the great need demonstrated in Washington, D.C., where he first became involved in volunteering.
"I have continued to try and make a difference in our own community of Charlottesville in any way that I can," he said.
The other Virginia Legends are second-year College students Hallie Clark for her work on Living Wage campaign, Alex Wilson for his work with the Spanish House, Monica Dominguez for autism awareness and research, Hillary Hurd for her efforts against domestic violence, Magdalena Leininger for raising awareness of Charlottesville area refugees, Saheel Mehta for registering South Asians in the bone marrow registry, Christopher Rannefors for sustainable investing leadership, Johnny Vroom for "Look Hoos Talking" and second-year Engineering student Caroline Hackett for the implementation of water filter programs in South Africa.
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