A walk down the Lawn on graduation day. Athletes winning at the highest level. Doctors at the cutting edge of innovation.
In many ways, the University of Virginia stories that captured most readers’ attention in 2021 signaled a return to normalcy from the highly read pandemic-focused features from a year ago. UVA Today detailed once-familiar scenes such as spring Final Exercises and Cavaliers competing in the Olympics – and the content was well-received.
Eyeballs, though, were still drawn to COVID-19 articles, perhaps a reminder of the virus’ continued significance.
As we approach 2022, here’s a sampling of our most-read work from the past 12 months.
One Vaccine to Rule Them All
As the delta and, later, omicron, variants have showed us this year, the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve. But what if there was one vaccine that could work against current and future forms of the virus?
Turns out a team of scientists at UVA and Virginia Tech are working on such a thing.
“We are trying to make a vaccine against a piece of the virus that cannot mutate,” 鶹ƽ Dr. Steven L. Zeichner said.
Wahoos Against the World
The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, delayed a year due to the pandemic, featured “Team UVA” in a variety of sports.
Swimmers, rowers, runners and soccer and basketball players all represented Virginia on the grandest stage. In all, nine Cavaliers – including former UVA women’s hoops star-turned-USA women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley – took home two gold, four silver and three bronze medals. This eclipsed 鶹ƽ previous record of five total medals, set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Analyzing Peloton’s Worth
Emerging as, perhaps, the most popular piece of fitness equipment during the pandemic, Peloton, a New Age stationary bicycle equipped with a high-definition touchscreen and convenient workout options, was all the rage in the early part of 2021.
This article – our most-read story of the year, thanks to a lot of social media sharing – explored everything Peloton with UVA engineering professor Gavin Garner, from its functionality to its scrutinized “leaderboard.”
So, is buying a Peloton worth it? Review this analysis and decide for yourself.
Remembering 9/11
To commemorate the solemn 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, UVA Today published a series of stories that showed how this momentous event intersected with the UVA and the extended University community.
These stories were of grief, resilience, heroism and service.
Historic Final Exercises
After a virtual celebration in 2020, UVA held traditional final exercises in May – with a few twists.
To begin with, Grounds saw five total ceremonies spread over three days, to keep crowd numbers down during the pandemic.
