By Edie Gross Aicha El Mahmoudi ’17 had plenty to adapt to during her first few days in Bilbao, Spain. The six-hour time difference. A full course load of finance, marketing, and Spanish classes. Streets teeming with rapidly conversing pedestrians who walked everywhere and dressed to the nines, even on their way home from the gym. But dinner each evening with her host family was perhaps the greatest challenge for the University of Mary Washington junior. “I found myself not wanting to sit down to dinner with them because I couldn’t understand what they were saying,” said El Mahmoudi, whose Spanish-language skills were more suited to a Latin American dialect than the euskara batua spoken in the Basque Country. That reluctance didn’t last. Not long into her spring 2016 semester abroad, El Mahmoudi declared dinner conversation with her host family her favorite part of the experience so far. “The first week was definitely hard. Everything was so different,” said El … [Read more...]
Women Take CAC Championship
The University of Mary Washington women’s basketball team blazed through another stellar season, winning 24 games including the Capital Athletic Conference Championship. Along the way, UMW head coach Deena Applebury earned her 300th career win. It was the Eagles’ sixth CAC championship and the eighth trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament under Applebury, who has coached at UMW since 2003. The program has made 10 NCAA appearances altogether. The Eagles advanced only through the first round of the NCAAs, losing 67-56 to Maryville College of Tennessee in March. But the season saw some great moments for the UMW women, including hard-fought wins over conference rivals St. Mary’s, Christopher Newport, and Marymount. … [Read more...]
Educating About the Birds and Bees
Maggie Magliato ’17 wants everyone to support the important work of bees, birds, butterflies, and other insects, so she’s creating a pollinator walk on campus. The international environmental firm Marstel-Day liked the effort so well that it honored Magliato with its Innovation in Environmental Stewardship Award. “We are trying to teach people how important and easy it is to incorporate pollinators into their own landscaping,” Magliato said. “There are many plants at UMW that support pollinators, so the tour will help people understand how and which pollinators interact with each type of plant.” Magliato, who is studying biology and environmental science, will create the pollinator walk with UMW Landscape Director Joni Wilson ’00. The walk will allow anyone walking on campus to learn about plants that are important to the region’s pollinators. Marstel-Day, which is based in Fredericksburg, gave Magliato $2,500 and is providing her with a project adviser. Marstel-Day judges selected … [Read more...]
Drawing History
Teresa Boegler ’16 and Sara Sanders ’13 received honorable mentions for the 2015 Leicester B. Holland Prize from the National Park Service’s Heritage Documentation Program. Boegler was honored for her drawing of the St. James House, a Washington Heritage Museums site in Fredericksburg and one of the city’s few remaining 18th-century frame houses. Sanders, a recent graduate of the joint historic preservation master’s degree program at Clemson University and the College of Charleston, based her submission on the 18th-century Pon Pon Chapel in the Jacksonboro, South Carolina, area. The Holland Prize recognizes the best single-sheet measured drawing of a historic site, structure, or landscape prepared to specific industry standards. The annual national competition is open to students and professionals. Boegler’s and Sanders’ works will be published in Preservation Architect, the online newsletter of the Historic Resources Committee of the American Institute of Architects. Each … [Read more...]