Malcolm came to UVA as a first year undergrad in Fall of 2014, and after finding a passion and desire to grow as a leader, he enrolled in the Batten School BA program. During his undergraduate experience, Malcolm served as the President of the Class of 2018 for his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year and remained involved as a Resident Advisor throughout that time. After being selected to live on the Lawn for his 4th Year, Malcolm also served as the Head Resident of the Lawn, where he worked with university leaders and administrators to empower the Lawn community and preserve the unique landmark of the Academical Village. On August 11th, Malcolm was assisting and overseeing the first day of Move-In for the Class of 2018 Lawn Residents when the events of the weekend unfolded. With the help of Dean Allen Groves and Professor Larry Sabato, Malcolm worked throughout the night of the 11th to keep the Lawn Residents informed and safe during the march of the lawn that occured that evening. In his capacity as Head Resident, and the President of the Class of 2018, Malcolm spent much of his 4th year working with university officials to heal the class, the lawn community and to better prepare the University so events such as those could not happen again. Currently, Malcolm works as a Product Manager at an investment firm in Palo Alto, California, and looks forward to continuing his education when he returns to Grounds in the coming years as a Future Year Scholar at the Darden School of Business.

Ms. Thomson came to Charlottesville in 2013 to begin her undergraduate degree at UVA, where she studied English and politics. During that time, she worked in the UVA Emergency Department as a patient care technician. She also became a volunteer firefighter/EMT at local stations for the city of Charlottesville and in Albemarle County, where she is now a squad operator and a fire captain. Her desire to learn how to efficiently and effectively provide public safety and emergency services to her community motivated her to apply to the Batten School, where she began her post-graduate MPP program in the fall of 2017. The weekend of August 11th/12th , when she was an EMT staged downtown during the tragic events, was only days before her Batten orientation. During her time at Batten, Ms. Thomson worked at the International Association of Fire Chiefs and lobbied for important legislation that offered protection to EMTs, firefighters, other healthcare workers, as well as the communities they serve. During this time, she realized she wanted to continue in the healthcare field, and she went on to take the prerequisites for UVA’s Master of Science in Nursing – Clinical Nurse Leader (MSN/CNL) program during her final year in Batten. This upcoming school year will mark the last of her eight years at UVA, finding her training in the Medical Intensive Care Unit for her MSN/CNL capstone project, researching and implementing protocols to help improve the quality metrics on the unit. With her knowledge of public policy, leadership, and practical skills she has and will acquire as a nurse and first responder, she hopes to continue to create and evaluate healthcare and public safety policies to offer protection to our communities, healthcare workers, and first responders.