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Jane Kelly’s selection

Telling �鶹�ƽ�� Stories Helped Me Find My Own
by Renee Grutzik

I have the distinct pleasure of writing about our first UVA Today fellow, Renee Grutzik, and one of her fine pieces of writing.

I’ve chosen a story with stories within it to offer a glimpse of several of Grutzik’s works. Titled “Telling �鶹�ƽ�� Stories Helped Me Find My Own,” this Class of 2025 graduate thoughtfully reflects on her evolution as a student writer and some of her most memorable assignments.

She did a masterful job interviewing UVA alumna royalty Tina Fey and captured a touching tale about Class of 2002 roommates whose daughters later became UVA dorm mates. She accomplished all of this, mind you, while still a student.

Now a member of the full-time job club, Grutzik has taken her writing to new heights. She continues to challenge herself, volunteering to cover live events, including this year’s Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn and the Lighting of the Lawn.

UVA Today Executive Editor Mike Mather said hiring Grutzik was a no-brainer. “She quickly established herself as one of our most productive writers, publishing stories that earned tens of thousands of views,” he said. “Keeping her on after graduation was the easiest decision I ever made.”

Zeina Mohammed’s selection

Let history breathe: UVA masons are preserving the pillars of the past
by Matt Kelly

As a relative newcomer to Charlottesville, it was interesting to read about the work that goes into maintaining the buildings around me in Matt Kelly’s story, “Let history breathe: UVA masons are preserving the pillars of the past.”

Because our offices aren’t located on Central Grounds, I don’t interact as often with the historic parts of Grounds, and now take more time to observe the architecture when I do. It was also a reminder of how contemporary practices shape spaces we more closely associate with the past.

I enjoyed reading �鶹�ƽ�� historic mason supervisor Matt Proffitt’s words on how successive masons switched between materials to maintain columns, moving from a sand-lime mix to cement. I look forward to more stories about the spaces we inhabit, how they came to be and how they evolve. Thanks, Matt!

Alice Berry’s selection

For this Hoo, returning to school is a question of balance
by Bryan McKenzie

It’s easy to love a Bryan McKenzie story. It is much harder to choose a favorite. Do you go with the story on an invasive bug that took over Central Virginia last summer, where he coined the phrase “spotted lanternfly two-step?” Or what about his explainer on why the United States decided to ditch the penny, with its perfectly punny headline?

In the end, I knew I had to go with the kind of feature that Bryan – known around the office as Mac – has made his signature. He excels at telling the stories of students in �鶹�ƽ�� School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

My favorite from this year is Mac’s profile of Maureen Leahey, a survivor of domestic violence who earned her bachelor’s degree while working and raising her pre-teen daughter. You can tell how much Mac respects his subjects and how much fun he has interviewing them. It’s a delight to read.

Renee Grutzik’s selection

Bees are living the sweet life at UVA Northern Virginia 
by Zeina Mohammed

Zeina beautifully captures Dean Greg Fairchild’s unexpected beekeeping hobby at �鶹�ƽ�� Northern Virginia campus, an 8-month-old sector of UVA that many people still aren’t aware of. Her dedication shines through as she made the drive to Fairfax to bring this charming story to life, and it shows in the little details.

The headline is perfection. It’s playful, memorable and engaging. I particularly loved learning that Fairchild’s beekeeping journey began with a nucleus hive gifted by a colleague at the Darden School of Business. It’s a fitting metaphor: Just as the hive moved from Charlottesville to Fairfax, so did the spirit of �鶹�ƽ�� excellence. Paired with Matt Riley’s excellent photography, the piece perfectly highlights �鶹�ƽ�� new home more than 100 miles from Grounds.

Andrew Ramspacher’s selection

Killer outfits: UVA collection spotlights deadly designs through history
by Alice Berry

A challenge UVA Today writers take great pride in conquering is finding stories on our beats that align with the calendar or news cycle.

On Oct. 22, on the brink of Halloween, Alice Berry dropped a timely feature that not only matched the spooky season vibe, it took readers on a tantalizing, informative journey through a unique corner of the University. “Killer outfits” is an extraordinarily creative way to highlight �鶹�ƽ�� Historic Clothing Collection and the Department of Drama.

The collection “includes a multitude of garments that have poisoned, choked and burned their wearers or the workers who made them. From arsenic dyes to ‘father-killer’ collars, these styles in some cases claimed the lives of thousands,” Alice writes in the second paragraph.

This is a textbook way to rope in readers and keep them engaged. You’re telling me people have died just by wearing or being around clothes? Yeah, I’m hooked.

Alice, with assistance from a resident expert, goes on to describe in great detail the gory impact of these historic styles.

Our audience, naturally, ate this story up. Alice’s words, paired with Lathan Goumas’ captivating photos and Mike Cross’ interactive presentation, led to more than 10,600 pageviews, making “Killer outfits” one of our most-read stories of October.

Bryan McKenzie’s selection

1 billion pounds of Halloween pumpkins rot every year. Donate yours to this rescue farm 
by Jane Kelly

From strange words that make it into family lore to the cornucopia of condiments cluttering the grocery store shelves, UVA Today’s Jane Kelly finds fun and fascinating topics to inform and entertain.

My favorite story from 2025 does both of those things, using a mule, a pig, pumpkins and a menagerie full of geese, chickens, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys to highlight an effort by Lawn residents to recycle jack-o’-lanterns.

“1 billion pounds of Halloween pumpkins rot every year. Donate yours to this rescue farm,” aided by the video and photography of University Communication’s Matt Riley, goes to Albemarle County’s Feel Better Farm Equine and Farm Animal Rescue. 

There, the sights, sounds and citizenry – including a baby goat in a wheelchair – provide a barnyard full of reasons to divert the seasonal fruits from the landfill. 

It’s a light-hearted story that makes doing a nice thing seem like fun.

Matt Kelly’s selection

Facing terminal cancer, this former UVA football player has ‘no bad days’
by Andrew Ramspacher

As always Andrew has written a plethora of pieces presenting the wholeness of the UVA story. And it was hard to select just one, but I settled on his story of Zac Yarbrough, a 45-year-old former UVA football player with terminal breast cancer.

On one level, I appreciate the story because I have had family and friends who have received terminal diagnoses and have seen firsthand how this can bring out what John O’Hara called “a rage to live,” and the optimistic hope that gives them strength. Andrew brings this out well in the story, using specific details and anchoring the story in a place:

“Yarbrough ate Bodo’s bagels and Wayside fried chicken. He dined at Farmington Country Club and shopped on the Corner. He walked the Lawn. He tailgated outside Scott Stadium and then watched the game from the sideline.

“And he did it all with an infectious energy that leaves his friends optimistic about what’s next.”

Andrew uses small details to paint a colorful picture of Yarbrough, giving the reader an intimate peek into the man’s life. It is said a good obituary instills in the reader the thought, “I wish I had known him.” Andrew has captured an essence of Yarbrough, a strong and colorful coda for his life and career, a sharp image of a man still vibrant as his days shorten and given the reader a sense of having known him.