news insight
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What is so special about ʻBratʼ is how cohesive these disparate roles and viewpoints feel, revealing Charliʼs ultimate role on the album.
̶ Damien Kanner-Bitetti ʼ25
Cliff Fleet fined $500 for crash that seriously injured studen t Colonial Williamsburg CEO and Immediate Past Chair of the William and Mary Foundation Cliff Fleet ʼ91, M.A. ʼ93, J.D. ʼ95, M.B.A. ʼ95 addressed the Class of 2028 Saturday, Aug. 25.
Just three months prior, Thursday, May 30, he was fined $500 for striking Rosemary Raynal ʼ25 with his SUV in October 2023. Williamsburg Commonwealthʼs Attorney Nate Green J.D. ʼ98 told The Flat Hat in April that he did not know if the charges, if any, would be presented to a grand jury. Green later recommended the reduction in charges.
“So, if the priority is to treat a case as consistently or as similarly as other like cases, a summons or an arrest warrant would be expected,” Green wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “However, if the priority is to minimize the number of times a witness would have to attend court, an indictment presented to the Grand Jury would be considered.”
The Daily Press first reported that the charge against Fleet was reduced from reckless driving, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail, to improper driving. Fleet pleaded no contest and was fined the maximum amount ̶ $500 ̶ by Williamsburg-James City County General District Court Judge Joshua DeFord.
The College of William and Mary Board of Visitors member and former Virginia Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment J.D. ʼ73 served as Fleetʼs attorney.
“He has never reached out to see how Rosemary was doing. He has never said heʼs sorry,” Ann Brooke Raynal, the studentʼs mother, told The Daily Press in May. “I understand that accidents happen, and I believe this was an accident, but a brave man finds a way to own up to his mistakes. Period.”
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Ayanna Williams ’26, Professor Lindsay Barna compete in City Council of Williamsburg elections
One student candidate dropped out before November elections, three seats up for election
EMMA HENRY // FLAT HAT OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
Tuesday, Nov. 5, residents of Williamsburg will elect three members to the Williamsburg City Council. Of the five seats on council, the spots currently held by Vice Mayor Pat Dent, Barbara Ramsey ’75 and Caleb Rogers ’20 will be up for grabs this year.
Ramsey and Dent are running for reelection, while first timers Fraser Hudgins, Ayanna Williams ’26 and College of William and Mary adjunct lecturer Lindsay Barna have also begun campaign efforts.
College student Anne-Christian “Lulu” McCrady ’25 was originally slated to appear on the ballot, but has since dropped out of the race and declined to comment. Rogers will not be running for another term this fall, citing his desire to shift more focus toward his career at Voltus, a clean-energy technology company, in a recent article for The Virginia Gazette.
The practice of professors and students at the College running for council seats began in 2010, when Scott Foster ’10 became the first College student to run for city council. In 2016, Benming “Benny” Zhang ’16, J.D. ’20 became the second student to serve while Rogers was elected in 2020 as the third student candidate for council. Clinical associate professor of law Stacy Kern-Scheerer was most recently elected to city council in 2022.
As students return to campus and tune in to the fall election cycle, both Williams and Barna spoke to the importance of representation from the College on elected boards and both
hope to continue the legacy of the College’s involvement in the greater Williamsburg community.
Williams, a current government major at the College, serves as an undersecretary of fnance for Student Assembly and vice president of fnance for the College’s Consulting Club. Originally from Chester, Va., Williams hopes to bring her passion for community-building, transparency and service to Williamsburg.
Her platform primarily focuses on investing in K-12 education, addressing carbon emissions, strengthening the relationship between the College and the City and increasing transparency between constituents and local government. Williams also hopes to tackle conversations surrounding afordable housing and walkable infrastructure. “A lot of the time, the answers are within the people. I believe that Williamsburg’s a community, and when you think of community, you think of people living in unison with one another,” Williams said.
Rogers, who ran for city council during his senior year at the College, has experienced a similar trajectory to Williams. He endorsed her candidacy and spoke about the importance of students who are passionate about running for public service positions in their community.
Te city is, just by percentage, greatly made up of William and Mary students and associated faculty members,” Rogers said. “Tere is a built-in, natural constituency that really needs to have [student] representation on appointed boards and on elected councils.”
See CITY COUNCIL page 3
Ambler guts dean of students role in Student Afairs plan
New department structure plan aims to streamline services for s tudents, administrators hope
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI
FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
Te College of William and Mary will face numerous changes this upcoming academic year, particularly in the structuring of the College administration.
In a June email to the College Student Afairs Division, Senior Vice President for Student Afairs and Public Safety Virginia Ambler ’88, Ph.D. ’06 announced that she would not refll the position of dean of students, which was previously held by Stacey Harris. Harris came to the College in the spring of 2022. Ambler later announced these changes to the wider student body in an email Tuesday, Aug. 20.
“Instead, I am taking the opportunity to strategically re-align the existing Student Success staf and units, and simultaneously build upon existing senior leadership in the division,” Ambler wrote to the Student Afairs division. “With one less administrative layer, the new [organizational] structure will bring me closer to the current student success team, and it will distribute the workload more equitably across the division.”
Te new structure includes the removal of the dean of students position and the addition of three new positions below the vice president level. Wilmarie Rodríguez Ed.D. ’21 will serve as assistant vice president for Student Success, Greg Henderson will be associate vice president and chief of staf, while Anna Mroch will be assistant vice president for Planning and Strategy and director of assessment.
Te roles of Associate Vice President for Health and Wellness Kelly Crace and Associate Vice President of Student Engagement and Leadership Michael Patterson will be at the same level as those
three new positions.
According to Suzanne Clavet, the College of William and Mary’s director of Media Relations, there will also be three other new roles: associate vice president for Community Values and Connection, associate vice president for Planning, Strategy, and Integrative Practices and associate vice president for Academic Wellbeing. Clavet stated that while the structure of student afairs will be new, student services will remain intact.
Te changes were announced after the departure of Harris, who was slated to become the new associate vice president of student afairs and dean of students at Duke University. However, her employment at Duke was terminated before it was scheduled to start.
After leaving, Harris made public statements on Instagram detailing structural and professional problems at the College. She also said some individuals at the College reached out to Duke to discuss personnel issues surrounding her.
“My friends, from what I have heard there will no longer be a Dean of Students for you at all,” Harris wrote in an Instagram post on an account that was later made private. “How does this support students? I have no idea. But I believe you have a right to know about major changes that afect you, including where to go to get support and care, to seek guidance in having issues resolved, to fnd belonging. Tere are many amazing staf who can help you, they just may be harder to fnd.”
Harris’s posts have been met with support from many students.
Former member of Harris’s Dean of Students’s Council Atticus Gore ’26 said he was able to have close personal and professional relationships with her as a
student. While he was initially excited for Harris’ position ofer at Duke, he expressed dismay at Harris’s departure, particularly that she did not feel that she belonged at the College.
“If we are going to be saying ‘who comes here belongs here’, we need to be doing that from the president all the way down throughout our campus to to anyone who ever steps onto our campus and in whatever capacity they have,” Gore said.
Gore said he and his fellow colleagues on the Dean of Students’s Council drafted a plan for the restructuring of the council itself, which he has presented to Ambler and hoped to discuss in more detail with the vice president. While he said he does not intend to tell professional educators and administrators how to run the College, he believes that student advocacy is important and hopes to work with the person who flls Harris’ vacancy.
So far, the new AVPs expect a successful outcome out of the new restructuring plan.
“Students have access to the same services and support previously available,” Mroch, who oversees planning and strategy, wrote in an email to Te Flat Hat.
“Our dedication to helping all students to seamlessly integrate into the campus community and make the most of all W&M has to ofer remains steadfast. We are excited to explore the benefts of how this organizational change can help us enhance the ways we build relationships across campus, carefully design programming, and use data to inform our work.”
She also commented on the new title change, particularly the departure of “dean” and other similar titles, such as associate dean.
GRAPHIC BY LISA COELMAN
FLAT HAT NEWS BRIEF
JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT
A resident addresses the City Council of Williamsburg at the Willliamsburg Stryker Center. The council is comprised of five members elected at-large.
CITY COUNCIL from page 2
This summer, Williams began her campaign by knocking on doors to speak with constituents and anticipates working with a team of around 30 interns to help her with canvassing and voter turnout.
“I come from a very long line of teachers who were also very involved in public service in the community,” Williams said. “It’s very exciting and very encouraging as well to see that people are also passionate about advocating for more student representation on council.”
Barna, a visiting professor at the William and Mary Law School, follows in the footsteps of Kern-Scheerer. Kern-Scheerer ran for city council in 2022 and will end her term in 2026.
Barna’s primary inspiration for running is her goal to facilitate productive conversations about the newly proposed Williamsburg and James City County public school split. As a parent of two children in the school district, Barna is particularly passionate about ensuring student’s success.
As a professor, she also hopes to amplify concerns from students at the College, including issues such as affordable, safe housing and pedestrian safety.
“I like to create a community within the classroom, and I fnd that my students are willing to talk about issues with me,” Barna said. “I would hope that they would continue to if I should be elected to council, or even during this election process.”
Williams also hopes to address concerns surrounding the proposed Williamsburg Independent School System, writing on her campaign website that she plans to use the Student Performance Action Plan published on July 31 to navigate options. In addition, Barna laid out concerns voiced in this year’s independent school system feasibility study including academic performance and funding.
Barna mentioned that she always encourages her students to vote in all elections and hopes that, come November, student turnout at the polls will be substantial. She emphasized that while national elections impact the big picture, local elections are what impact students most directly within their own communities.
Rogers also gave his thoughts on student involvement, saying that he hopes they become equally as interested in local elections as they are in the upcoming presidential election.
“Please volunteer, please knock on doors,” Rogers said. “When you’re a young student wanting to learn about government to beneft your hometown or an area that you love, and just having gone to school there, you have a really unique opportunity.”
Students express concern with lack of additional beds in ten-year plan
During the past year, the College reached its highest deficit regarding the number of student beds available. Many students have occasionally run into construction sites while navigating campus in the past couple of years. These sites are a part of the College of William and Mary’s Housing and Dining Comprehensive Facilities Plan, which aligns with the College’s Vision 2026 plan.
Through Vision 2026, the College aims to modernize campus residences and facilities to create spaces optimal for academic success and to address environmental issues through sustainability goals.
At the end of the plan, no additional beds will be added — campus housing will continue with the same original 5,000 beds across dorms. Beginning with 70 individual residence halls, the extensive developments will provide 55 newly-improved residence halls with full air conditioning and ventilation. The development of the West One Dining facility will also maintain the estimated 1,700 dining seats for students.
Some students are concerned about the lack of additional beds that the new housing development plan will contribute. Kalea Wen ’26 expressed her worry.
“I think it’s nice that the quality of beds will improve, but I do think it’s a little suboptimal that we’re not ending with any additional beds,” Wen said. “I feel like a lot of people have to look for offcampus housing in their junior and senior year and that’s not always the easiest.”
According to Wen, the College has problems with scarce housing, pushing students to look for off-campus options. One question that students may be asking about the new plan is whether it will solve the housing deficit. While newly improved housing is a bonus, distress remains when anticipating the amount of beds that will be available.
The Housing and Dining Comprehensive
Thursday, June 20, various U.S. senators, including Virginia’s Tim Kaine LL.D. ’06, introduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act of 2024. The legislation seeks to double the maximum award and preserve the grant’s value against inflation.
The act aims to expand the Pell Grant program’s effectiveness and outreach to recipients. Currently, over 6 million undergraduate students rely on the Pell Grant program for the opportunity to pursue higher education.
The proposed bill highlights necessary changes within this federal program, such as extending recipients’ eligibility from 12 semesters to 18, which will allow more students to attend graduate schools and other forms of continued higher education without the weight of financial insecurity.
It also proposes amendments to increase the eligibility of undocumented students.
“Every year, millions of students rely on Pell Grants to afford higher
Facilities Plan aims to increase students’ satisfaction with their overall college experience and motivate them to engage with faculty and become more involved on campus, strengthening their connection with the campus community.
The first phase to reaching this goal of increased student satisfaction on campus includes several projects involving construction, demolition and renovation. According to the spring 2022 phasing strategy, Reves, Willis, Hunt and Brown Halls will also be demolished alongside Green and Gold Village during phase one of the development. Additionally, the Campus Center site will be cleared for construction.
Construction of Cedar Hall began in January and will be the last building in a triangle-shaped residential area connected to Lemon and Hardy Halls. The building will maintain the architectural styles of Jefferson and Barrett Halls. The building will be three stories tall with an attic space, and all three buildings will be connected through a triangular courtyard. Cedar Hall’s expected completion date is July 2025, with a cost of $45 million. The new hall should hold around 200 beds for students.
The renovation of Monroe Hall began in June 2023 with its completion in August 2024. The renovation includes new interior and exterior doors, roof system, HVAC system, plumbing pipes, windows, fire and electrical systems and other interior amenities. The recently updated hall also includes additional common areas for students. The cost of renovations is $22.8 million. Similar renovations will be made on Old Dominion Hall, which began in June and will be completed in August 2025 at an additional cost of $26.7 million.
The West One Dining and Housing development consists of a five-building complex. Four resident halls — Oak Hall, Poplar Hall, Maple Hall and Pine Hall — will be built, along with the West Woods Commons Dining Hall. Construction began in June 2023 and will be finished in 2025.
education,” Kaine said in a press release. “I’m proud to introduce this bill to increase the Pell Grant award, boost funding for the program, and allow more students to access this crucial support. I urge my colleagues to pass this bill to help future generations get the education and training they need to pursue their dreams.”
Suzanne Clavet, the College of William and Mary’s director of Media Relations, said the College does not comment on pending legislation.
Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admission Tim Wolfe outlined the College’s policy regarding Pell Grant admissions via email with The Flat Hat.
“Last fall, the Class of 2027 included 14% more Pell Granteligible students than the year prior,” Wolfe wrote. “Though our enrollment is not yet final for this fall, we expect close to 20% of our incoming first-year, in-state students to be Pell Grant-eligible. In addition, the university remains committed to supporting our students with financial need and aims to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all in-state students.”
The West One Housing Complex should hold around 700 beds following its completion.
The estimated cost of projects under phase one of the development is $320 million.
“This is the most construction to have taken place at one time on William and Mary’s campus, and it’s part of a larger, bigger push of construction around Williamsburg,” Assistant Vice President for Business Affairs Sean Hughes said.
The College is collaborating with the City of Williamsburg throughout the construction of new facilities. In addition to its collaboration with the city, the College is working hard to maintain the architectural integrity and styles of older buildings, specifically those embodying the Georgian architectural style.
In terms of managing the impact of construction and renovation on student life and campus operations, measures are being taken to ensure that campus life can continue with minimal disruptions. One of the efforts being implemented includes setting defined work hours for construction. Construction sites, previously and moving forward, will be closed temporarily for major campus events, such as commencement and homecoming. Discussions have also been held to ensure minimal disruptions occur at construction sites near student housing. For example, construction hours should be avoided during mornings at sites such as the West One housing complex and Cedar Hall. However, some disruptions may still occur depending on how difficult it is to avoid the noisy nature of construction work.
The new facilities will comply with the Sustainability Measures of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, achieving at least a silver rating. The buildings will be better insulated and incorporate geothermal technology. The new dorms will save around 60% in energy savings, a drastic increase compared to dorms preceding the housing and dining plan.
“Learning Spaces and Housing and Dining each have an expected 10 year outlook, with
Other U.S. senators expressed their support for the bill, including Maryland’s Ben Cardin.
“The only prerequisite for secondary education opportunities should be a passion for learning,” Cardin said. “The Pell Grant program is a proven pathway for more diversity on college campuses and ensures that higher education is not reserved for those with generational wealth.”
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed weighed in about the effects of inflation on the award, outlining the prospective success of these amendments.
“The Pell Grant is the cornerstone of our federal financial aid programs,” Reed said. “But over the years, the grant has covered a shrinking percentage of the actual cost of college, requiring students to take on more debt or, even worse, not continue their education. This legislation would help expand access to Pell grants, lower student debt, strengthen our workforce and economy, and help deserving students achieve their full potential.”
Congressman Mark Pocan (DWI2) commented on the semester extension to the bill and its effects
Landscape at an expansive 100 years,” the Campus Comprehensive Planning Committee Student Representatives said in an email sent to the campus community by Student Assembly President Terra Sloane ’25. “This is a new initiative that will be coming to our campus; William & Mary is intentionally incorporating learning and green spaces as foundational elements of the Comprehensive Campus Plan.”
The Housing and Dining Comprehensive Plan will provide the same number of student beds, with the difference being newly renovated and energy-efficient dormitories and a dining facility. Students will soon be met with greater quality housing, but they may still grapple with the availability of onand off-campus housing.
on recipients’ opportunities, as well as the amendment to support undocumented citizens.
“Unfortunately, skyrocketing tuition costs and perpetual underfunding continue to undermine this critical program,” Pocan said. “The Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act would not only double the maximum Pell Grant, it would protect the program from future cuts, expand eligibility to include Dreamers, and ensure that postsecondary education is attainable for every student — regardless of their socioeconomic status.”
A Pell Grant recipient at the College offered an anonymous comment to The Flat Hat on the pending legislation.
“William and Mary’s financial commitment goes far and beyond what’s advertised, they made it well within my family’s scope to attend my dream school without any financial stress or barriers,” the student said. “Seeing the program be expanded makes me so excited to see how many more students will be able to attend this wonderful college without experiencing financial stress or insecurity.”
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
Williamsburg community member addresses city council at Stryker Center.
KEATON DRENNAN
THE FLAT HAT
LILA REIDY
FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT Campus constructio n worker accesses roof
College receives major grant from National Park Service to restore Wren Building
Wren steps will undergo reconstruction as part of restoration o f historical preservation sites
Monday, Aug. 21, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine LL.D. ’06 and Mark Warner LL.D. ’02 of Virginia announced that the National Park Service will be awarding $416,207 to the College of William and Mary for the restoration of the Sir Christopher Wren Building’s west steps.
The grant comes from the National Park Service’s nationwide initiative Save America’s Treasures Grants. It is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund, which pools money from federal offshore oil and gas leases. Tax dollars do not figure into the budget.
In a press release, Kaine and Warner expressed the importance of maintaining the historical legacy of the College through infrastructure renovation projects.
“As the oldest college building still standing in the United States, the Wren Building at William & Mary has served countless generations of students, faculty, and community members,” Kaine and Warner said. “We’re glad to see this funding, which will help restore and preserve this National Historic Landmark, headed to Williamsburg.”
In an email to The Flat Hat, the College’s Director of Media Relations Suzanne Clavet expressed the College’s gratitude for the National Park Services’ support.
“William & Mary is grateful to the National Park Service for their funding of this project and their recognition of the historical importance of the Sir Christopher Wren Building,” Clavet wrote. “The university also appreciates the support of Senators Kaine and Warner with this grant. With this award from the National Park Service, we can complete a full rebuild of the steps as part of the overall Wren work – which is the best stewardship action of this historic structure.”
Charles Fulcher ’99, director of Wren Building Operations and Events, evoked the building’s value to the College’s history and the steps’ crucial role in facilitating access to the institution’s vital community held within.
“The Wren Building is central to the William & Mary story,” Fulcher wrote in an email to the Flat Hat. “It exists both as an historic structure and also as an active and vital part of the W&M community. Every week, thousands of students enter the building along with countless visitors: for daily classes, receptions, meals, formal gatherings, concerts, services, and ceremonies.”
Fulcher also alluded to the Convocation ceremony, which welcomes frst-year students to the College.
“When they enter the building, they most likely walk on these courtyard steps,” Fulcher added. “We need look no further than this Wednesday’s Opening Convocation Ceremony for a reminder of the role these steps play in the life of the university. As incoming students pass through the Wren Building and down the courtyard steps, they are welcomed into the W&M family, met with cheers, high fives, and raucous celebration. These steps are the single-most traveled surface in the building, and this restoration will assure safety, preservation, and access to the nation’s oldest university building for the next century.”
CAMPUS
In total, the Save America’s Treasures Grant program will supply $25.7 million for 59 restoration projects across the country. Historical sites in 26 states and the District of Columbia will benefit from the initiative.
Since the grant program’s inception in 1999, over $300 million has been raised for over 1300 restoration projects nationwide. The program’s FY2024 budget of $25.7 million surpasses that of the previous year, which totaled $19.6 million and benefited landmarks across 26 states and D.C.
In a statement, National Park Service Director Chuck Sams celebrated the federal grant program’s 25th anniversary year, citing its remarkable contribution to preserving history.
“The Save America’s Treasures program began 25 years ago and continues to enable communities across the United States to preserve and conserve their nationally significant historic properties and collections,” Sams said. “It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone anniversary through a wide range of projects that help to pass the full history of America and its people down to future generations.”
The College will benefit from the National Park Service’s plan to give out $50 million dollars aggregated from public and private investments to protect the Wren and similar establishments.
The Wren Building’s west steps were first constructed in 1695 by enslaved people, and have served as a crucial functional component of the College’s flagship academic building.
Significant deterioration has accumulated since the steps’ last major restoration project, which spanned from 1928 to 1931. Since then, the College has only conducted minor repairs to address structural issues as they arise, making this project the first in nearly 100 years to entirely overhaul the design.
According to the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, the new steps will be made primarily of Portland Limestone. The College will recruit professional stonemasons, historic brick masons and other specialized craftspeople to fulfill the project’s needs.
The College has yet to announce a timeline for the steps’ restoration. However, the recent grant comes in addition to the College’s existing Wren Preservation Project announced in August 2023, which will address structural defciencies related to the building envelope, roof, cupola and water infltration, among other issues.
Construction for the Wren Preservation Project is slated to begin this December over winter break and conclude in December 2025.
In a statement last year, College Associate Vice President for Business Afairs Sean Hughes shared how the Wren Preservation Project will be crucial to conserving the College’s legacy as a centerpiece of the greater American story.
“As we consider the significance of these university landmarks, especially as we prepare for the nation’s quartermillennium, it’s important we address them comprehensively to preserve these national treasures for the next 100 years,” Hughes said.
Despite the breadth of renovations planned for the upcoming year, Hughes assured that the Wren Building will still be able to host the College’s trademark annual events.
“We understand the importance of these buildings to the
university community and providing ample advance notice about any disruption or impact is a priority,” Hughes said. “It is our hope and plan for the Wren Building to be open during renovations for major events such as Convocation, Homecoming, Yule Log and Commencement.”
As for the disruption of student tours and other regular events at the building during renovation, Hughes emphasized that the community will be notified well in advance.
Richard Childress ’26 is a member of the College’s Spotswood Society, which regularly gives tours of the Wren Building and studies its historical significance. Childress shared his enthusiasm for the Park Service’s funding, citing a long-term positive impact on the student experience.
“It’s wonderful to see such attention and funding being given for the preservation of the Wren Building,” Childress said. “Funding for this project is incredibly vital for the ability of current and future generations to learn, experience, and continue the story of America’s Alma Mater.”Construction for the Wren Preservation Project is slated to begin this December over winter break and conclude in December 2025.
In a statement last year, College Associate Vice President for Business Affairs, Sean Hughes, shared how the Wren Preservation Project will be crucial to conserving the College’s legacy as a centerpiece of the greater American story.
College establishes two new schools: Marine science, computer science
Marine science school established with Battenʼs $100 million donation, Computing school gets approved
PEERAWUT RUANGSAWASDI FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
As the College of William and Mary heads into the new academic year, two new schools are on the horizon in recents efforts to expand the institution.
Wednesday, July 24, the College announced that philanthropist Jane Batten HON ’17, L.H.D. ’19 donated $100 million, establishing the Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences. The gift is the largest in the College’s history.
With this expansion, the College will begin awarding the Bachelor of Science degree in marine science, the first for a public institution in Virginia.
“It’s the [James] River, it’s the [Chesapeake] Bay, it’s the ocean, it’s our coastline,” Batten said to The Flat Hat, noting that her philanthropy has been centered mostly on education and environmental issues. “Something like 40% of the population in the U.S. live in coastal zones and they’re all under the gun for these changes, particularly the sea level rise problem, it’s an environmental issue, it’s an economic development issue.”
Batten also alluded to Norfolk’s role in the U.S. military.
“Here in Hampton Roads, it’s very much a national security issue,” Batten said. “We have the largest naval base in the world in Norfolk, and a lot of its infrastructure is totally out of date and not prepared to deal with these changes.”
College President Katherine Rowe announced the donation Wednesday, June 24 in an email to the school.
“I am grateful to Mrs. Batten for her trust in William & Mary and our mission,” Rowe wrote. “She has challenged alumni, friends, philanthropists and policy-makers to join her in supporting the school’s groundbreaking education and research. William & Mary has set a goal to raise at least another $100 million to realize our vision for the school.”
The announcement was also made inperson at the College’s board of visitors summer meeting. Several dignitaries attended the ceremony, including U.S. Sen.
Tim Kaine LL.D. ’06.
The College first announced the creation of the marine science major at a board of visitors meeting in April. Board of visitors student representative Gwen Galleher ’24 said at the time that as an admissions interviewer, many prospective students have expressed their interest in spursuing marine science at the College.
In addition to the Batten School, the College announced that the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia approved its plan for a new school in Computing, Data Sciences and Physics.
“I appreciate SCHEV’s shared commitment to preparing broadly educated, forwardthinking citizens and professionals,” Rowe said. “The jobs of tomorrow belong to those prepared to solve tomorrow’s problems. Machine learning, AI, computational modeling — these are essential modes of critical thinking and core to a liberal arts education in the 21st century.”
According to the announcement, the four academic areas are already experiencing strong growth in external investment with over $9 million in 2023, as well as in student numbers. Master’s students enrolled in the new school represented a third of all Arts and Sciences master’s students. This proportion rises to almost two-thirds when considering doctoral programs.
Students applying to the undergraduate level will not directly apply to the school. Similar to the Raymond A. Mason School of Business current model, second-year students in good academic standing can obtain admission if they meet the criteria established by the school and their intended major. Students will also continue to have the opportunity to double major or minor in areas offered by other College programs.
Looking ahead, Batten hopes that her efforts will be joined by others.
“I’m hoping that this will be a very strong public private partnership, with support from the state and from the federal government, because this is a national and international issue,” Batten said.
ZACH LUTZKY / THE FLAT HAT
The Sir Christopher Wren Building houses religious classes and is one of the oldest buildings on campus. The building also contains a chapel. SAM
COURTESY IMAGE / 3NORTH
The VIMS conceptual rendering displays a courtyard connecting newly envisioned infrastructure to a renovated visitor center.
COURTESY IMAGE / 3NORTH
Jane Batten HON ʼ17, L.H.D. ʼ19 and her family donated $100 mil lion to the College to create the marine school.
STAFF COLUMN
“It
Ends With Us”: watch it for stars Ferrer,
Neustaedter
Isabella McNutt
In continuation with the boom of romantic comedies, the highly anticipated “It Ends With Us” sparks confusion, anger, love and happiness all at once. This film is based on controversial author Colleen Hoover’s romantic novel that was most popular in 2019. Hoover herself had experienced incredible backlash before the cast of the film was even announced. Many influencers on Tik Tok and Instagram criticized her novels for labeling and essentially encouraging manipulative and toxic relationships as romantic. While I do not think Hoover’s books are problematic by nature, the glorification of these types of relationships is what makes them harmful for younger viewers. So, does the film give us a painful and tragic story that explores the toxicity of these abusive relationships? Or is it just another one of Hoover’s attempts to make trauma seem romantic?
“It Ends With Us” is about a young woman, Lily Bloom, who shares her story of entanglement in an abusive relationship with doctor Ryle Kincaid and eventually finds the strength to liberate herself. Throughout this battle, she reflects on her upbringing in a home marked by abuse while building her understanding of love as a teenager into adulthood. Lily constantly thinks about her first love Atlas Corrigan, who she coincidentally runs into at a restaurant. As someone who absolutely loved the novel, this film only partially unpacks the complexity of Hoover’s gut-wrenching and deeply impactful story. Some of my most favorite parts of the book were simply left of or replaced. There was no “Better in Boston” magnet, no personal diary entries, no BIBS restaurant and no “Finding Nemo” reference to “just keep swimming.” All of the major abusive moments and relationship rapport are slightly altered, and for the worse if you ask me. The book that seemed so detailed and real is almost sped up by this new story line. Normally, I don’t mind these little changes when a book turns into a film, however, in “It Ends With Us,” these changes are what romanticize domestic violence. The storyline puts less emphasis on the complexity of domestic violence itself by minimizing Ryle’s subtle manipulation, suggesting that Ryle is quick to accept Lily’s desire to seek liberation, and reinforces the question “Why didn’t she leave?” as opposed to “Why did she stay?” All these little moments support the idea that Lily should have seen it coming. With just this, “It Ends With Us” is most definitely not worth watching. However, Justin
Baldoni’s somewhat heroic casting may just have been the saving grace that made this film the blockbuster it has become.
Blake Lively attempts to bring justice to adult Lily Bloom by capturing her hesitation yet intense passion with Ryle. Lily is brutally honest, distrustful, somewhat oblivious and coy. “It Ends With Us” is most definitely her story, through and through. Lively’s beauty (even with her hair dyed red) and innocent persona made her the most perfect actress to give the viewers an acceptable Lily Bloom. However, this cast was not what the book-lovers envisioned simply because they do not reflect the original vision for the characters. Just looking at the actors' ages – the story is already very different because they are much older than they are thought to be in the book. While this is not necessarily a deal breaker, many fans were incredibly outspoken about how the actors did not match the looks or vibes of the characters they were playing. Blake Lively specifically looks womanly and accomplished, while Lily Bloom is meant to look fragile and hopeful. While Blake Lively was the Lily I was most excited to see, it was young Lily Bloom played by Isabela Ferrer that absolutely took my breath away. She was everything I wanted and more. Her innocent demeanor, soft curiosity in Atlas and this almost helpless and fearful role she had with her father was visible from the very start. From Lily’s little flinches as her father enters the room as she is baking cookies, to the most heartbreaking scene of Lily’s father finding her and Atlas in bed, Isabela brilliantly brings young Lily to life.
Lively’s other co-star Brandon Sklenar portrays adult Atlas Corrigan, the young love, the one that got away and Lily’s protector. Sklenar was a perfectly okay actor to capture the mysterious and incredibly charming character. His longing facial expressions, subtle mannerisms around Lily and undeniable love and passion captured the Atlas many book-lovers envisioned. However, the new storyline did not allow the audience to connect with Atlas as much as the book did, which is why his character was not better received and most definitely not my favorite. However, young Altas Corrigan was absolute perfection with the acting of Alex Neustaedter. Even with the little screen time Neustaedter was given, his role as Atlas was instrumental to making this film even comparable to the book. Atlas was calm, patient, shy and self-sacrificing with all the same intensification as the book. Neustaedter and Ferrer together cre -
Khelif
The problem with the summer schedule is that we have to wait a while before we can publish anything, so this opinion is a little bit late.
The Boston Globe published a piece a few weeks ago, written by an Associated Press reporter, with the headline “Transgender Boxer Advances.” You know who I’m talking about unless you’ve been living under a rock for the whole of the Paris Olympics: Imane Khelif, an Algerian cisgender boxer who went on to win gold in the women’s boxing event. The boxer recently doubled down on the abuse she received with a cyberbullying lawsuit that names many well-known conservative members of the rich and famous, including JK Rowling.
Being a female athlete, even today, can be a slippery slope. Boxers and other athletes like Khelif need to defend their ability to be seen as women at all, just because their features aren’t dainty or stereotypically feminine. Yes, there are transgender athletes that participate in female sports, and they are fully within their rights to do so, but just because those athletes exist, conservative influencers believe that any female athlete that is taller or stronger must be transgender.
Right-leaning media outlets like Fox News live in a world where you can paint the world of female sports as under attack by men who are competing as women. We’ve come to expect that perspective from these places, where facts are suggestions. But after the fight between Khelif and Italian boxer Angela Carini, the last place I would have expected to buy into that narrative did: The Boston Globe.
I’m not here to attack The
ated the chemistry that makes this movie worthwhile. As someone who absolutely loved the book for the complex romantic yet terrifying relationships it explored, the film left me with incredibly mixed feelings. If you are someone who was dying to see “It Ends With Us” to showcase the
Boston Globe as a left-leaning screw up or a right-leaning liar, but the newspaper has won Pulitzer Prizes and has been one of the most respected newspapers since it was founded in 1872. They should have known better. What makes it worse, they used an article written by an Associated Press reporter, which did not once mention the word transgender. So not only can a Pulitzer Prize winning paper not edit, it also can’t be bothered to read the articles it prints.
Organizations make mistakes but this one was so egregious as to border on a reckless disregard for the truth
It was a headline, for God’s sake. It would have had to make it through at least two levels of editors, and no one thought to ask “Is she actually transgender? Can you even be transgender in Algeria?” Like the bare minimum of common sense.
Just because someone said she was does not mean a newspaper can just publish it.
plot of the book, do not bother. If you have never read the book, the storyline is perfectly fine but not the reason you should watch this movie. Even with the little screen time these characters get, young Lily and Atlas allow you to better understand the complexity of relationships and reinforce key aspects of long term effects of domestic violence.
There is a higher level of journalism than we should be accepting or expecting from mass media today. This is probably a one-off for The Boston Globe, but the damage is done. Organizations make mistakes, but this one was so egregious as to border on a reckless disregard for the truth. Doing things like that gives power to a perspective that shouldn’t ever see the light of day, let alone on the front of a sports page.
More and more media is dedicated to one point-of-view instead of good, honest reporting, and it shouldn’t be that way. We live in our bubbles of left or right-leaning media to confirm our own views, rather than ever face the idea of being uncomfortable. And having uncomfortable conversations is the only way we can grow as people and that our country can grow at all. That is what honest and competent journalism can do: make us uncomfortable with our preconceived notions of the world. Mistakes like this make it almost impossible for people to trust the thousands of good stories an organization like The Boston Globe can publish, and where does that leave us? Fox News and its conspiracy theorists can do what they want, as much as we would like them to act differently, but organizations as historic as The Boston Globe and The New York Times and The Washington Post should have more respect for journalistic integrity, or at least general competency, than Sean Hannity.
Mollie Shiflett ’26 is a history major who may also major in linguistics. She plays on the Gold Women’s Club Soccer team for the College of William and Mary and is an avid fan of most sports — except golf. Email Mollie at mrshiflett@ wm.edu.
Therefore, if you are going to watch “It Ends With Us,” do it for young Lily and Atlas, who single-handedly save this otherwise sub-par film. Isabella McNutt ’27 is a Government and History double major, and she is a member ofAlpha
How Charli XCX curated a BRAT Summer
Damien Kanner-Bitetti FLAT HAT OPINIONS ASSOC.
Brat Summer is ephemeral. It has few rules and even fewer inhibitions. Its few defining characteristics are shameless hedonism, lingering melancholy and an omnipresent lime green. It has inspired hundreds of parties, multiple popular TikTok dances, thousands of derivative memes and the alleged revitalization of indie sleaze. It has included presidential endorsements, seagull fancams, endless discourse on what it truly means to be “brat” and the coining of the phrase “work it out on the remix.”
It is, in my opinion, the most fun, free-spirited and alive that pop music has felt in a long time. As this magical time period begins to wind down, it’s worth revisiting the music (and the marketing) that made Charli XCX’s “Brat” the album of the summer.
First, the music. As someone who has listened to Charli (on and off) since her 2020 album “How I’m Feeling Now,” I really enjoyed “Brat.” However, I don’t want to contribute to the endless stream of reviewers calling it her best work yet (which it is) or to the critics analyzing the implications of her push for commercial success (which are complicated). Instead, I’d like to just briefly touch on what I loved so much about the album, specifically its sound, structure and ethos.
Its roller-coaster vibe is centered around the contradictions inherent to a night out: thumping club rhythms clashing with insecurity and angst. Its imagery-heavy lyrics (most notable on “360,” “Club classics,” “Mean girls” and “Everything is romantic”) provide a compelling visual guide for the listener. They even extend to the point of direct orders (“keep bumpin that,” Charli says on “365”). This is all in the vein of classic club music, yet neither her insecurities, nor the album’s more experimental sound matches that. The production is innovative, top-notch and yet
STAFF COLUMN
somehow so fluid that it seems generic, like common sense. The same is true of Charli’s more melancholic feelings, which either completely interrupt her partying (like on “I might say something stupid”) or contrast with more upbeat instrumentals (like on my personal favorite track, “Sympathy is a knife”). This contrast is the point, however, while “Brat” does it exceptionally well, it is not the first album to do so. This begs the question: What is so special about “Brat”?
For me, what makes “Brat” such a unique and interesting album are the many roles that Charli plays on it. She is a braggadocious, confident socialite on “Von dutch”; a (fashionably) relatably insecure celebrity on “Girl, so confusing”; a woman contemplating pregnancy on “I think about it all the time”; a nervous lover on “Talk talk.” She even takes on different roles sonically, becoming a vocal sample on “Club classics” and “365.” What is so special about “Brat” is how cohesive these disparate roles and viewpoints feel, revealing Charli’s ultimate role on the album: She positions herself as a curator, surrounding herself with only the best of pop culture. The album’s beats and lyrics, the stanculture-oriented features on its remix, even the invites to Charli’s celebrity-studded 32nd birthday party — everything has been carefully and selectively chosen.
Charli’s curatorial role has not been limited to the music, either — and I think this is where the album’s success comes from. The album’s rollout has also been discussed and praised at length. The Boiler Room set, slow buildup of song releases, social media marketing and meme-ability of the album cover have all been covered extensively online. But it’s what Charli has done since releasing “Brat” that has stood out. In this day and age, mega-popular musicians often promote an album before, during and after its release. “Brat” promo, however, has been both relentless and unconventional. There have been Brat-themed walls, an airplane flyover sign and a deluxe version announced the same week as the original — all more in pursuit of digital aesthetics than direct-to-consumer outreach. Eschewing talk shows in favor of internet memes has resulted in unprecedented success for Charli, and in doing so, changed the course of our summers.
Overall, “Brat” has had a far-reaching cultural impact in many different arenas beyond music, including fashion, linguistics and politics. The most drastic impact, however, may be on WM AUXes — far from when I was bullied for playing “7 years” in my freshman hall, Charli XCX and “Brat” are here to stay.
Damien Kanner-Bitetti ’25 is an English Major andAmerican Studies minor fromArlington,VA. In addition to the Flat Hat, he is a member of Club B Soccer, Jewish Voice for Peace, a librarian for the Meridian Coffeehouse, and a DJ for WCWM. Email him at dskannerbitett@wm.edu.
Summer discoveries of a rising Sophomore
Three months and some change ago we all left the College of William and Mary, uttering the phrases “see you in August” and “keep in touch.” Well, here we are at the beginning of another academic year with careless summer days behind us and long, extremely long evenings at the Earl Gregg Swem Library ahead. Before we plunge into the endless pit of uncertainty called First Day of Classes though, I wanted to talk about some things I learned this summer. Now, I’m not saying I will remember these lessons next month, let alone this entire year, but it’s nice to have at least some wisdom going into my sophomore year. Summer was everything and nothing, as it so often is — it was hard but invaluable, sometimes fun and other times boring: reflective, forgetful, absolutely insane. But listening to “In My Life” by the Beatles right now, I see that things are much simpler than we make them out to be.
Surprisingly enough, I’m not from the United States (I know it’s crazy, my last name sounds really American). So, the minute I finished my exams, I packed up my suitcases and flew back to Georgia (a country in the Caucasus and an unfortunate coincidence of nomenclature). There is this thing about leaving home that most students will relate to, whether international or not — but life back home is constantly changing whilst also being at a standstill. It becomes overly clear when you’re in familiar places with people you know like the back of your hand and suddenly you realize there are hidden corners that have spawned out of nowhere; things your friends have done or gone through without your knowledge. You realize that you know some past version of things as opposed to the updated one and sometimes it hits hard. Though, I think there’s a point of comfort in knowing that there will always be something new to discover about your hometown, your childhood friends, the world in general and lastly, about yourself. People and places always change, but that doesn’t mean summer needs to be some sort of nostalgiainducing, painful time. The world is full of questions and unknowns; wouldn’t you want to try and answer at least some of them?
Another thing about my summer was that I, like many of you, participated in some sort of summer research and internship. Now let me just get this out of the way: internships and research projects are amazing opportunities to get to know new places, to explore career options, to network, to improve so many skills
you would otherwise never have had the chance to develop. That being said, “summer duties,” let’s call them that, are double-sided. I did not expect to be as tired as I was two months later at the end of July. But I realize now, this is not because of the internship or the research, but rather my inability to accept change. Last summer, before my freshman year of college, was the most carefree time I had ever experienced in my entire life. No stress of further finals, our grades were in. All that I really had to worry about was getting the right sized bed sheets for my dorm. The summer was full of daily hangouts with friends, doing nothing and everything all day, going to amusement parks and playing games. As naive as it sounds, I wanted this summer to live up to the last one. So, between the work, the research, the meetups that would go until 3 a.m. and everyday stress, I was done. Most of my energy had been successfully sucked out of me. My point is that you shouldn’t overwork yourself if you have the privilege of doing so. Don’t set unrealistic expectations, don’t expect everything to be the same, because it won’t be. And you never know, it might even turn out to be better. Speaking of better — I should probably mention the “grass is always greener” argument. Now that I think about it actually, maybe that is the one real lesson I learned this summer — the grass is always greener on the other side. Despite really wanting to go home during the semester, I ended up really missing the College. I knew I would miss my friends, of course, I’m not heartless. But there seems to be
something about the College that grows on you with time and you end up reaching for it when away. We always romanticize things we don’t have or things that we’ve already lived through so much, we fail to appreciate the things we do have and the moments we’re living right now. We reminisce over the days when we knew every single detail of our best friends’ lives, while now all we get is one phone call a week; we make an effort to see our friends every time they go out because we want this summer to be like the last; we are tired at the end of an internship, but if we didn’t have it, we would feel unaccomplished; we love spending time with family, but the minute we see someone traveling, we wish we were doing that instead. Everything is a double-edged sword. Classes start in a week, and I have no idea how everything is going to go. The only thing I do know is that I’m excited to see my friends. I want to see what’s changed, I want to be caught up on the endless summer lore, I want to get ice cream from the Sadler Dining Hall. Like most people, I’m also scared of changes, but maybe these changes aren’t ones to be feared but embraced. Maybe, if the semester doesn’t live up to our expectations, it’ll exceed them. And just maybe, things will be much better than you ever expect them to be.
LanaAltunashvili’27isaprospectiveinternationalrelationsmajor.Sheisa James Monroe Scholar and a member of Club Tennis. Contact her at laltunashvili@ wm.edu.
Disney’s film factory
Avi Joshi FLAT HAT OPINIONS EDITOR
In the beginning, there were trains. A dude named Walt Disney really liked trains and made cartoons with his brother. Then, with the help of construction workers paid in vanilla milkshakes, Disneyland was born. Since then, Disney has grown into an American powerhouse and implanted itself very deeply into American culture. Almost all of you reading this grew up with some aspect of Disney in their lives. However, the recent release of Disney’s Star Wars show “The Acolyte” has brought attention to the quality of recent Disney projects. To put it bluntly, the show was terrible. This is not a review of “The Acolyte,” but know it was truly horrible. The show was also not received too well by general audiences, with the show scoring low across many different platforms. So, what happened? Well, to be completely honest, the same sh*t that has been happening for years. Disney does not care about the quality of content being given to consumers anymore.
I think there is a definitive point where Disney’s creative quality began to deteriorate and consumers started to get more content than we knew what to do with or care about (i.e. “The Acolyte”). Namely, after “Avengers: Endgame,” there was a noticeable lack of care with a lot of Disney projects. While “Avengers: Endgame” is a Marvel movie, there seemed to be a ripple across all Disney content. I think that a majority of the projects released by Disney since “Endgame,” whether presented as Marvel, Star Wars or anything new, have been horrible. “Wandavision” takes an interesting, powerful character and asks the audience to sympathize with her as she mentally enslaves an entire town to foster children that aren’t real. “Lion-King,” like all the live-action films Disney has released, was ugly and hurt the legacy of an actually good movie. Do you know someone who watched “Hawkeye”? Get them help. The Star Wars sequel trilogy was diarrhea with porch lights stuck on it; that’s what most Disney content feels like nowadays: an hour and a half of explosions, bright colors and catchphrases.
I think it is important to establish that I don’t think that Disney has been so out of touch with audiences since the beginning. There is a lot of genuine love and artistry put into many of the projects that I and many other people grew up with. There used to be a sense that Disney had a vision with its projects. Now, it all feels gray, lifeless and incorporated. “The Acolyte” embodies all the worst qualities of Disney content. It’s bland, horribly acted and continues to ruin a franchise already deeply wounded by much of its previous content. Shows like “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Ahsoka” also scored low and were berated online for their stories. Again, I won’t go super in-depth, but most of the top reviews of “The Acolyte” mention all the problems I just did. What sucks more is that the times Disney does put out something good, it gets buried under all of the horrible content being pumped out to consumers. A great example of this is “Andor.” This was a Star Wars show that wasn’t completely wasteful and actually had characters that said more than just weak catchphrases. “Soul” got a lot of praise and it was a great movie, but again, I feel like its creativity and vision also got buried under all the sh*t.
Do you know someone who watched “Hawkeye”? Get them help. The Star Wars sequel trilogy was diarrhea with porch lights stuck on it; thatʼs what most Disney content feels like nowadays, an hour and a half of explosions, bright colors and catchphrases
So, why does any of this matter? I mean, I’m not the target audience for current Disney content; none of you are either. Disney is for kids, right? Well yes, but the argument that content intended for children can’t resonate with older viewers is not something I want to believe. It’s also an argument that I would say most people my age disagree with. By all means, if you think of yourself as a big grown adult in a big scary world who is not allowed to watch “Up” simply because you aren’t the intended audience, then go on with your day. Please continue to be dull. For the rest of us, who still have an imagination, it is a genuine heartbreak to see Disney destroy its franchises. Disney isn’t the only one, of course; most big production studios across all media platforms seem to be focused on factory-made, fast content. Honestly, I don’t have any optimistic views on this topic. We will continue to get content that slowly melts our eyeballs, and we won’t even notice when they fall into our heads. Disney, along with every other big studio, will continue to lose it over their sheets of money and demand more money for meaningless projects.
Avi Joshi ‘26 is a prospective English and education major. He is a member of theAlpha Tau Omega fraternity and Wind Ensemble. Contact him at asjoshi@wm.edu.
COURTESY PHOTO / FLICKR
Lana Altunashvili
GRAPHIC BY AGAVNI MEHRABI / THE FLAT HAT
GRAPHIC BY AGAVNI MEHRABI / THE FLAT HAT
variety
SHAPING SOLIDARITY AROUND DIABETES
New Diabetes Club represents misundertood condition on campus
Statistics say that there are diabetics all around us, but those with the invisible disease are constantly faced with misinformation and often create communities to associate with those they can relate to. However, up until recently, there has been no organization for diabetics on the College of William and Mary’s campus.
The need for a group that could connect diabetics and any others who wanted to be involved did not go unnoticed by co-founder Annika Natividad ’26, a Type 1 diabetic who has been diagnosed for over a decade.
“I knew that there was someone on campus that was going through the same thing I was. I was really missing the community that I had in my hometown,” Natividad said. “I’ve been very involved with a lot of Type 1 stuff back in Fredericksburg, Virginia. There’s a summer camp for Type 1 kids. There’s just a very big network of people that support you through your diagnosis and just living with it, and I hadn’t really gotten that here, especially living on your own with Type 1. It’s a really big transition.”
While applying to found such a group, it didn’t take long for Natividad to connect with someone else affected by diabetes. Co-founder Katherine Criswell ’27 had also begun the process of starting a Diabetes Club, and the two were connected by the school. Now operating as a team, the pressure of starting a club alone was lifted off of Criswell’s shoulders.
“It was really relieving because I was doing the constitution and all of that by myself, and founding the club. I was worried about ‘how am I going to find people interested in this,’” Criswell said. “So it was a blessing that there was someone else who wanted the same thing as me, and we could work together to accomplish this common goal.”
The club’s recent founding has not hindered any camaraderie by the members, who have already begun to develop a group passionate about awareness and education. Nick Hoelting ’27, who has previously been involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,
expressed appreciation for finding a similar sense of community on campus.
“Some of them don’t have diabetes and some of them do, but they all have a really positive outlook,” Hoelting said. “It’s lot’s of good people, and it’s very reassuring and positive, which would say I value a lot about the club.”
Current members emphasized that the greater College community should know that this club is not just for those diagnosed with diabetes. Often comically and affectionately referred to as having Type 3 diabetes, family and friends of diabetics are more than welcome to join.
“A big misconception for the Diabetes Club is that only people with diabetes can join,” Natividad said. “We’re considering changing our name to something with either education or awareness, or something like that in it, so that it brings in a different demographic of people.”
The community aspect of the club is only one side of its mission and effect. The education provided by the presence of the organization is something that members expressed a desire to capitalize on.
“It’s just the fact that we’re here and we’re present on campus and people with or without diabetes of any kind can join and learn,” Natividad said.
The club has already faced some of the common misconceptions about diabetes, like about its causes, the differences in the types, the risks and complications and the realities of the life of a diabetic, including stereotypical comments from passersby during the club’s tabling. This has made members realize the need for education even more.
“I feel like most people kind of think it’s just a label of a bad lifestyle, rather than a legitimate disease that needs treatment,” Hoelting said.
Ultimately, dispelling feelings of loneliness through a welcoming environment is something that Criswell remains passionate about as the club
RE E L TA L K : A l o t o f f e e l i
This summer, Disney dove back inside the brain to create a sequel to its 2015 animated film “Inside Out.” The original followed Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear, a star-studded voice cast of anthropomorphized emotions led by Amy Poehler as they managed the
memories, core identities and of course, emotions of a young girl’s head. With the original movie being a beloved tearjerker from my childhood, I was excited to tune into the sequel, simply titled “Inside Out 2.” The film picks up two years after the events of the original,
with the protagonist Riley, voiced by Kensington Tallman, now 13 years old and preparing for high school. The Kelsey Mann-directed sequel promised Riley experiencing many of the struggles I personally remembered from my own early teens: braces, social awkwardness and, most interestingly, anxiety. I was intrigued to see how the complex emotion with which I am (unfortunately) all too familiar would be portrayed, especially in a film primarily for kids.
The movie begins with Riley preparing for a weekend hockey camp she hopes will set her up for success on her high school team. Suddenly, though, the little emotions in her head are hit with an unexpected overnight renovation: puberty.
New emotions show up to join the original five, the most significant being Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke. Blinded by her goal of getting Riley a spot on the hockey team, Anxiety ejects the original emotions and Riley’s growing “sense of self” from the emotions’ headquarters, taking control of Riley’s consciousness.
The middle of the film sees Riley in many relatable scenarios for an anxietyridden teen. She plays along when high school girls deem her favorite boy band immature: exactly the type of compulsive lie we’ve all told in order to fit in. Anxiety also forces Riley to wake up early and run exercise drills, which couldn’t help but bring to mind all the obsessive things I’ve done out of an anxiety-fueled desperation to succeed. One scene even shows an office in Riley’s brain run by Anxiety, dedicated to drawing up the worst possible outcomes for different scenarios.
Overall, Riley’s actions as a result of
anxiety felt like an honest representation, leaving the audience cringing at, and simultaneously resonating with her misguided endeavors.
All the while, Anxiety’s actions are forming a new sense of self inside Riley, ruled by the thought, “I’m not good enough.” Hearing the young protagonist echoing those words, which anyone who battles anxiety hears all too often from their own inner critic, was a detail that simultaneously broke my heart and made me feel incredibly seen.
Things escalate as Anxiety encourages Riley to break into the hockey coach’s office and read her notes, which say that Riley is not ready to be on the team.
Overtaken by Anxiety, Riley uses the final scrimmage at camp to attempt to prove her worth at all costs, playing aggressively and taking every shot she can.
Possibly the most poignant representation of anxiety comes when Riley accidentally hurts one of her friends during the match and is sent to the penalty box. Anxiety begins to spiral out of control, causing Riley to hyperventilate and creating an intense whirlwind around the control console in Riley’s mind. This visualization of a panic attack was a striking and truthful image that has really stuck with me, and it certainly goes above and beyond the depth of mental health awareness I ever expected in a children’s movie.
Naturally, however, this success is followed by the film’s biggest failure: an ending that wraps everything up in a bow all too easily, almost completely undermining the commendable representation from the previous 80 minutes. When the old emotions
eventually return to the emotions’ headquarters, ending Anxiety’s total reign, Riley forms a new sense of self that embraces both her positive traits and her flaws. And what happens when Anxiety gets fired up and wants to take control of the console? Well, Joy simply sits her down in a corner and offers her a calming cup of tea, of course!
While I understand such happy endings come with the territory of a children’s movie, this one left a bad taste in my mouth. Everyone deals with the emotion of anxiety at some point in their life, and maybe for some, managing it is as easy as a deep breath and a warm beverage. But for someone who had previously felt distinctly seen by the film’s portrayal of anxiety symptoms, it’s hard not to come away with the message that, if your problem is more persistent than the apparent one weekend of Riley’s life spent struggling with anxiety, something is seriously wrong with you.
It’s probably highly unrealistic and selfish of me to expect a grim ending in a movie for kids just so it can be more eerily similar than it already is to my own adolescence. (I mean, Riley and I literally both used drink powder to dye red streaks in our hair. Did Mann have a hidden camera on me in middle school?) And besides a decisive final few minutes, “Inside Out 2” does deserve credit for solid mainstream mental health representation. But it also seems wrong to turn anxiety into a quirky cartoon character, not to mention a large part of your marketing, just to skirt around the fact that for many people, it’s more than just another emotion, and there is no quick and easy happy ending.
COURTESY IMAGE/ KATHERINE CRISWELL
TORY COLE // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC.
MEGAN RUDACILLE // FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR
GRAPHIC BY EMNET ABRAHAM / THE FLAT HAT
College’s pickleball sprawl
The Collegeʼs Pickleball Club works to establish community, practices, spotlights rapidly-growing sport
MILES MORTIMER // FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR
If someone asked you what the fastestgrowing sport in America is, there are likely a few answers that would jump to mind. Maybe you would think of basketball or baseball, some historically well-known sports in the United States, or maybe you would think of soccer, which seems to be on the rise. However, the fastest-growing sport in America is none other than pickleball. Pickleball is a paddle sport most similar to tennis, which grew 51.8% from 2022 to 2023 and 223.5% in four years since 2020. This meteoric growth has been spurred on by people all across the country and across different age groups, and, as of last semester, has even seen its reach expand to the College of William and Mary with the introduction of the College’s very own Pickleball Club.
Club co-Presidents Ryan Blackburn ’26 and Ben Rakatansky ’26 founded the club in the spring of 2024 after not only seeing how they both were interested in the sport, but also how there wasn’t an existing way for students at the College to play recreational pickleball.
“When I got to William and Mary, I was really bummed that there was no club or anything like that,” Blackburn said. “So I had it in the back of my mind where I was like, ‘Man, we should start a club,’ and then I found Ben, and then we got to playing, and now we’ve just been playing together ever since.”
In line with the aforementioned statistics, many club members, such as Rakatansky, only started playing pickleball in the last few years, after playing other similar sports. However, Rakatansky began to really enjoy it once he started to play.
“I played competitive tennis for a while, I played varsity tennis in high school, and then one of my teammates and friends from my varsity tennis team introduced me to pickleball two or three summers ago,” Rakatansky said. “Then, after I met Ryan and we started playing pickleball together, that’s really when I started playing mainly pickleball.”
One of the main appeals of the club, and what Blackburn and Rakatansky noted as a possible reason for the sport’s overall growth, is its easy and more forgiving learning curve compared to other similar sports. Specifically, they noted how its less-challenging nature lends itself to being a great community-building exercise.
“The biggest thing is both the accessibility and social factor of the sport,” Blackburn said. “With pickleball, it’s primarily a doubles game,
which is kind of unusual. So you’re constantly just chatting, you’re having a good time. If you make an awesome shot, you get three people around you who are gassing you up. So I’d say it’s generally more of a relaxed atmosphere.”
Rakatansky specifically juxtaposed pickleball with tennis, and he agreed with Blackburn’s sentiment that pickleball’s relative ease made it something that cultivated a lot of interest.
“People who have never played can’t just go pick up a tennis racket and play tennis, because the technicality required to perform those strokes is much harder for a beginner compared to pickleball,” Rakatansky said. “I think that’s why so many people gravitate towards pickleball.”
Pickleball Club member Dipin Khati Ph.D. ‘26 echoed this notion, adding about the appeal of improving in the sport.
“It’s very easy to get started and difficult to master,” Khati wrote in an email to the Flat Hat.
Blackburn pointed out how this lower barrier to entry does not only lead to more people playing, but it also can lead to incredible friendships being made.
“I think the biggest thing is the community; this is just the quintessential community sport,” Blackburn said. “This is a great way to get out, be active, be with friends and make new friends. It’s such an awesome sport, and I can’t help but gush about it.”
To this end, many members of the club, especially those in higher-up positions, have even gotten to know people from other universities from inter-collegiate pickleball games and tournaments. This has not only served as a way to build friendships, but also, for those on the organization’s executive board, it has provided a way to learn about other parallel clubs and build up the College’s own Pickleball Club.
“I played in a couple of tournaments over the summer, and there was one tournament where I actually met the former president of the UVA Pickleball Club,” Rakatansky said. “There was also a couple of JMU guys and some Virginia Tech guys, so I met them and talked about how we were still a small club, but growing.”
For the upcoming fall 2024 semester, the club is looking to regularly hold two to three practices per week, with a couple of hours of open play where members can play with anyone else in the organization who shows up, with an emphasis on holding designated games and sessions for more serious players to allow
casual and competitive players alike to find fun in the experience.
“Even if you’re not a competitive player and you’re just looking to play once a week or so, we’re open and we want everyone from all skill levels to come,” Rakatansky said. “We’re looking for anyone who has any sort of interest at all in the sport.”
Those higher-level players who not only played during last semester but also over summer break saw only further proof of the sport’s growth at their local, hometown courts.
Blackburn noted how it would be a rare sight to see them not completely full, with there often being people of all ages joining in on the fun.
“It’s a very accessible sport that anyone can play, and you can have fun games with pretty much anyone,” Blackburn said. “I go down to my local courts and I’m playing with people who are literally 80 years old, and we’re
laughing and having a good time.”
In fact, Rakatansky noted how so many people enjoyed playing at his local court, that there would often be a queue formed in order to play.
“Sometimes when it gets busier, you have people putting their paddles in the fence holes above the racks, in queue, so it gets crazy,” Rakatansky said. “The amount of people who are playing pickleball, and the growth I’ve seen compared to a year or two ago, I don’t really see how it wouldn’t stop growing.”
Above all else, the College’s Pickleball Club encourages interested students to simply give the sport a chance if they haven’t already.
“This sport will surprise you. There’s a reason why it’s growing so quickly,” Blackburn said. “We just want people to come out, and truly, we want to build a community around this sport.”
Behind Brick Walls: Blow Hall
LORENZO SHORT // FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC.
Blow Hall has loomed over Richmond Road for almost 100 years, yet to many students the building’s history remains as mysterious as its labyrinthine interior. A building which was referred to as “the College of William and Mary’s junk drawer” in a previous Flat Hat article was once a symbol of hope and renewal for the College, and also starred in a popular ‘80s music video.
“I think the most interesting thing for Blow Hall is not what it’s become,” said Dr. Rick Mikulski, a history focused research librarian. “I think what’s interesting is what it represents for the College when they built it.” After the College’s instrumental status in the colonies and early Americas, the rise of other universities and destruction during the Civil War brought a period of uncertainty. Afterwards, the sleepy and somewhat disconnected nature of Williamsburg before its restoration hampered donor interest.
“I think before the 1920s, the idea of investing heavily in the College was a bit of a gamble, because it was kind of in the middle of nowhere,” Mikulski said. “Williamsburg was not even a literal backwater. A backwater is where a train stops for water. It was not even a backwater, the train just went right through.”
In 1923, Adele Matthiessen Blow donated $130,200, equivalent to almost 2.5 million dollars today, for the construction of a new men’s gymnasium at the College, according to Swem Special Collections. The generous donation was proclaimed by The Flat Hat as “the largest individual donation ever made to
the College” at the time. It marked a major inflection point on the College’s path to expansion and notoriety, especially because John D. Rockefeller Jr. had yet to publicly announce his investment in the restoration of Williamsburg, which occurred in 1928.
Mrs. Blow made the donation on behalf of her husband, George Preston Blow, who had passed away in 1922. Lieutenant Blow had enjoyed an eventful career in the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War, and was later knighted by Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii, according to Swem Special Collections. Blow reportedly had a fondness for the College, since both his father and grandfather were alumni.
Blow Gymnasium was a welcome addition to the College, according to Mikulski, as sports and recreational activities were just as important then as they are today, and their popularity heavily taxed the College’s old gymnasium.
“Almost every student was in some sort of activity, because there’s not much else to do in Williamsburg in 1924,” Mikulski said. “So club sports are actually super, super popular.”
When Blow Gym opened, it was hailed as the best gymnasium in the South, according to Mikulski. The building was declared “modern in all respects” by The Flat Hat at the time. The new gymnasium most notably included basketball courts and a pool in the basement. However, by the 1940s, Blow Gym was becoming outdated and small, despite a substantial addition which added the rear wing present today.
Blow Gym remained the home of
William and Mary basketball until late 1970 when Kaplan Arena opened. In 1988, the tired gymnasium, along with other locations in the area, were featured in the music video for “The Valley Road,” a song co-written and performed by Bruce Hornsby, a homegrown celebrity and Grammy winning artist. That year, “The Valley Road” would top the Billboard charts, and the interior of Blow Gymnasium would be seen around the world.
Cory Springer ‘90 MA ‘11, who grew up in Williamsburg and now serves as an Associate Registrar at the College, told The Flat Hat in an email that she knew and recognized a few of the people in the video, including Eric Stone, a former fire chief of Williamsburg, and John Coleman, who worked on the campus police force. Springer also personally knows Hornsby, as their children went to school together.
Springer recalled the times she spent as a student playing volleyball, working out, using the sauna, swimming in the small pool and running on the rickety track at Blow.
“Rickety, in that the track was a wooden track that was maybe 10 feet wide, and you could certainly feel vibrations when there were multiple people running at the same time,” Springer said in an email to Te Flat Hat.
Registrar’s Office manager Shannon Turnage also remembered frequenting the Blow Gymnasium track while growing up in Williamsburg.
“My dad used to play racquetball in here when it was a gym, so we used to walk around the track and entertain ourselves while he was playing,” Turnage said.
When the current Recreation
Center opened in 1989, the Blow Gymnasium’s long tenure concluded, and the College began a sweeping renovation of the building. The newly renovated Blow Hall was to house offices, classrooms and meeting spaces, leaving few vestiges of its past as a gymnasium. A notable exception is the pool, which still remains in the basement of the building. Now inaccessible to the public, the pool is empty and the area is used for storage.
The area which once was an open gymnasium was cut in half by the renovation, and it is now two floors of office space. Both Turnage and Springer have worked in Blow Hall for many years in its renovated form, and their offices are located where many students once played basketball.
This year, things are set to change yet again, according to Turnage. The third floor of Blow is receiving major renovations to house the Provost’s Office, which will likely move in next semester. Blow’s roof is also being replaced. While the third floor renovation project started on time, the roof project did not. The scaffolding, which was supposed to be up around the start of the summer, was only put in place a few weeks ago.
“The roof is anticipated to take about five months or so, because they’re also going to be doing repairs and upgrades to the cupola on top of the building,” Turnage said. “So it will be under construction for quite some time, which makes this one big construction zone.”
The construction on both Blow Hall and neighboring Old Dominion Hall has inconvenienced those who work in the building, according to
Turnage. Employees no longer have access to the parking lot beside the building, and they must either park in the few spots in Dawson Circle or further down Richmond Road.
At the end of last semester, it was discovered that Blow Hall was harboring thousands of bees within an exterior wall, and a professional was brought in to help remove the hive. The bees had filled an entire cavity in the wall, attaching their honeycombs to a pipe which traversed through the area.
“There were so many of them because when the beekeeper came down off the scaffolding, he had honey, he had a cone, and it was dripping. I mean, it was amazing. It was just dripping off of his gloves,” said Turnage. “He did let us taste it. And it was raw. I mean, fresh out of the comb.”
It is impossible to grasp now what Blow Gymnasium was really like in those early days, as all the students who attended the College in 1925 are dead. The building however, lives on into its second century.
“I think we focus rightly on the colonial aspects of the College,” Mikulski said. “But I think that buildings like [Blow] that have been here for a century and sort of tell these other stories of the College, it’s worth stopping and paying attention to them.”
Both Turnage and Springer look back on their time in the building very fondly.
“As someone who’s been around for a while, I find myself often drawn to nostalgia,” said Springer. “I can’t say that I miss it the way it was, but I do enjoy reminiscing about those times.”
JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT
GRAPHIC BY TAIGA LEWIS / THE FLAT HAT
sports
Green and Gold seeks CAA success following 2023 title run
Tribe enters season with additions to coaching staff, standout players
Fueled by fresh talent and unwavering enthusiasm, William and Mary field hockey looks to continue its success in 2024. With two new assistant coaches, five freshmen and a graduate student transfer, the 2023 Coastal Athletic Association champions remain optimistic about the upcoming season.
Hailing from Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the incoming squad includes three midfielders/forwards, one defender and one goalkeeper.
“We’ve got some really good, talented freshmen who are just super full of energy and ready to learn,” graduate student goalkeeper Maddie George said. “All of our returners have really stepped up since last spring, and everyone’s really open to the new coaching staff we have.”
Head coach Tess Ellis echoed this sentiment, emphasizing changes in the team’s structure since last fall.
“They’re very excited to see if they can repeat last year’s effort, effort being performing each week and not jumping ahead,” Ellis said.
“When you lose eight players, nothing is the same out there.”
In addition to the eight graduates, assistant coach Rachel Gantz ’22 and associate head coach Hillary Fitts parted ways with the team after the 2023 season. Fitts now serves as the head field hockey coach at Hofstra, where she works alongside assistant coach Lauren Curran ’23. Prior to her time at Hofstra, Curran played as a forward/midfielder for the Tribe.
Ellis hired assistant coaches Christina Walker and Mimi Smith in May.
During her collegiate career, Walker played goalkeeper for Maryland, helping the team to consecutive national championships in 2005 and 2006. Walker coached at Virginia Wesleyan for nine years, leading the Marlins to two Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournaments.
Having coached in the Virginia Beach area, Walker was familiar with many Tribe field hockey players before taking on the assistant coach role.
“From that point of view, it was a lovely transition,” Ellis said.
Smith played for Old Dominion, where she helped lead the Monarchs to two national title games and three CAA championships.
Following her collegiate career, Smith played for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1999 to 2004, where she was coached by Ellis for three years.
“We’ve had a friendship of 20-odd years or more, but we speak the same language,” Ellis said.
Before joining Tribe field hockey, Smith coached at the Garrison Forest School in Baltimore, Md. Under her leadership, the team won back-to-back state championships.
Though Walker and Smith only started working with the team in the fall, their impacts have already been visible.
“They’ve really helped us embrace our growth mindset and bring a whole lot more confidence in each and every one of us in terms of our self-talk and our team talk,” George said. “Even after one week, everyone seems completely more on board with being able to take risks just for the sake of learning.”
Ellis highlighted Walker and Smith’s determination.
“They’re very aware of supporting people to achieve their goals,” Ellis said. “They’ve both still got that strong competitive edge that they want to bring to this team.”
Graduate student defender Ellie Taylor also joins William and Mary field hockey this season. A transfer from Davidson, Taylor was a four-year member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Academic Team.
“Ellie just brings a whole different kind of perspective in terms of experience,” George said. “Obviously her college experience was a little different, but I think she fits in really well.”
In addition to Taylor and George, graduate students Mollie Schuma and Maddie McGaughey are using their fifth year of eligibility to play with the Tribe.
“Having all the people with strong experience out there, it’s like, ‘How can I pull this young group of players together to try to repeat what we did last year?’” Ellis said.
As an older member of the team, George hopes to focus on her leadership this season.
“Overall, I’m just really positive with the group of girls that we have and the growth every single person has shown since the last time I’ve seen them,” George said.
Both George and senior midfielder Pyper Friedman earned spots on the 13-player Preseason All-CAA Team. Sophomore forward Josie Mae Gruendel secured a place on the honorable mentions list.
Friedman finished her junior season with 24 points on eight goals and eight assists. Her assist total ranked No. 2 in the CAA and No. 64 nationally.
As a freshman, Gruendel was named to the
CAA All-Rookie Team, starting 15 of the Green and Gold’s 21 games.
In fall 2023, George recorded a careerhigh 16 saves against No. 1 North Carolina, the most for a William and Mary goalkeeper in the NCAA Tournament in program history. George also earned a place on the CAA AllTournament Team.
“I think anyone being named to the roster is a win for the team,” George said. “If we can get a win just by another William and Mary player being on the list, then that’s great.” With a 12-9 overall record and a 4-2 conference record last season, CAA coaches ranked William and Mary at No. 2 in the preseason poll vote. Drexel tied with William and Mary for second, with both teams receiving two first-place votes. Monmouth received three first-place votes to take the top spot.
“We’d all like to win the CAA again and go back down to North Carolina and perform bigger and stronger,” Ellis said. “It’s always there in the back of our minds.”
George emphasized the importance of embracing change while setting ambitious goals.
“Our new identity is something that we’re looking to find right now,” George said. “I think what we’re trying to frame our mind around is this group of 24 plus three coaches earning a CAA championship is going to be different from how our last squad earned a CAA championship.”
As Tribe field hockey opens its season Friday, Aug. 30 against Duke at Williams Field in Durham, N.C., Ellis hopes players will remember to take the season game by game.
“If we get ahead of ourselves, then we’re really going to miss the journey to get there,” Ellis said. “We just need to be where our feet are and get through each day, and everything else will happen accordingly.” FIELD
WOMENʼS SOCCER
Tribe rights ship against George Mason after slow season start
William and Mary sweeps Patriots 3-0 in third game after
After a solid 2023 season, William and Mary women’s soccer (1-2, 0-0 CAA) has started slower than it would have hoped in 2024.
Thursday, Aug. 15, the Tribe fell in its season opener against Radford (31, 0-0 Big South), losing 4-1 at Patrick D. Cupp Stadium in Radford, Va. After a scoreless first half, the Green and Gold’s defense slowly began fading just two minutes into the second. Graduate student defender Helena Willson started the scoring for the Highlanders in the 47th minute, assisted by graduate student forward
June Stevens. Less than 10 minutes later, junior midfielder/forward Lilly Short added a second Radford goal, courtesy of another Stevens assist. Less than 60 seconds later, in the 57th minute, sophomore forward Eileen Albers tacked on another Highlander goal, cementing a solid 3-0 Radford lead with just over 30 minutes left to play. Despite the substantial deficit, the Green and Gold regrouped and attempted to claw its way back into its season opener. In the 68th minute, freshman defender Peyton Costello scored the Tribe’s first goal of the season and the first of her early collegiate career, decreasing the deficit to two.
Unfortunately, with just under eight minutes left in the match, the Highlanders struck again. Sophomore midfielder Ava Kertgate found the back of the net for her first goal of the season, increasing the Radford lead back to three. Despite its best efforts, the Green and Gold failed to close the gap and lost its season opener 4-1.
Thursday, Aug. 22, the Green and Gold looked to bounce back and secure its first win of the season at home against Old Dominion (3-1, 0-0 SBC) at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, Va. However, the visiting Monarchs had a different idea.
In the fifth minute, freshman forward Brooke Edwards started the scoring for ODU, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead. Just two minutes later, the Monarchs struck again, this time courtesy of a goal from junior midfielder Andrea Balcazar Algarin.
After falling behind 2-0 after just seven minutes of play, the Tribe offense slowly began applying pressure on the visiting team. At the conclusion of the first half, William and Mary’s six shots matched the Monarchs’ six, despite having nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
In the second, the Tribe continued pressing forward with no success. Despite taking nine shots, the Monarchs held the Green and Gold scoreless, and after 90 minutes of play, two ODU goals within the first seven proved to be the deciding factor in the Tribe’s home opener. Sunday, Aug. 25, the Tribe looked to
right the ship against George Mason (0-2-2, 0-0 A-10) at the George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Va.
Unlike the previous game, the Green and Gold took complete control of the match in the first half.
In the 23rd minute, junior forward Ivey Crain scored the Tribe’s first goal of the contest, thanks to an assist from senior forward Leah Iglesias.
In the 46th minute, Iglesias scored a goal of her own, assisted by Costello, giving William and Mary a commanding 2-0 lead fresh out
of the break. The game remained scoreless for nearly 40 minutes, but in the 85th minute, junior forward Sheridan Brummett tacked on a third Green and Gold goal, giving the visiting Tribe a 3-0 lead it carried until the end of the match. With an offense heating up and a stronger defense, William and Mary will look to even its season record when it takes on Virginia Commonwealth (0-3, 0-0 A10) Aug. 29 at
Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Va.
MAX GRILL FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
Senior midfielder Pyper Friedman secured a spot on the 13-player Preseason All-CAA Team. Friedmanʼs assist total last season ranked 64th nationally.
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
Senior forward Leah Iglesias recorded an assist and a goal in t he Green and Goldʼs away victory against George Mason.
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT Junior forward Ivey Crain scored the Tribeʼs first goal against George Mason in the 23rd minute, putting the Green and Gold in the lead.
sports
Knowles, Garnett, Delossantos become Tribe’s latest
Multiple William and Mary players join MLB for second consecutive season
Following an impressive spring 2024 season, William and Mary baseball’s seemingly endless successes carried right into July’s Major League Baseball Draft.
For the second consecutive year, multiple Green and Gold players received the call to begin their professional careers in the MLB. Pitchers Nate Knowles and Travis Garnett and outfielder Joe Delossantos became the 46th, 47th and 48th players in Tribe program history to be drafted.
Knowles, who was selected with the 124th overall pick in the fourth round by the Tampa Bay Rays, quickly emerged as a top pitching prospect following his dominant junior season. En route to winning Coastal Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year, Knowles ranked ninth nationally in ERA (2.48), 13th in hits per nine innings (5.63), 20th in strikeouts per nine innings (12.6) and 21st in strikeouts (112).
Knowles also played a pivotal role in the Tribe’s highest-ranked win in program history against No. 6 Duke. The junior was also named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-America Third Team, becoming the first All-American pitcher in William and Mary history.
After three years with the Green and Gold, Knowles ranks in the top 25 in Tribe baseball history in seven different categories. Most notably, his .197 career opposing batting average ranks second all time, his 10.67 career strikeouts per nine innings ranks third, his career 3.35 ERA ranks ninth and his 204 career strikeouts ranks 13th.
Knowles has started his career with the FCL Rays, the Rookie Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, where he’s yet to make his professional debut.
Shortly after Knowles was taken off the board, fellow Tribe pitcher Travis Garnett was selected with the 254th overall pick in the eighth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. After starting his collegiate career at Maryland and suffering an untimely season-ending injury as a freshman, Garnett found a home in Williamsburg that he says helped turn him into the player he is today.
“At William and Mary, Coach Sweeney and Coach McRae taught me a cutter, which I think has had a tremendously positive impact on the trajectory of my career,” Garnett said. “This coaching staff also gave me an opportunity when I was coming off of some extreme struggles previously in my college career. I will forever be grateful for that.”
Last season, Garnett appeared in 14 games out of the bullpen for the Tribe, posting a perfect 5-0 record for the season. In 27.1 innings of work, Garnett accumulated 45 strikeouts while allowing just 19 hits, holding opponents to an abysmal .194 average during that time. Off the field, Garnett also earned high honors on the Coastal Athletic Association Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll during both his semesters at William and Mary and was named a Provost Award winner.
Despite his successes on the mound, Garnett initially gave little thought to becoming a professional baseball player.
“I did not really have any strong expectations to be drafted at all,” Garnett said. “I was just at home, had the draft on but was doing other things, until I got a text from my agent saying to pay attention to the eighth round. My family and I started watching closely, and a few minutes later, my agent texted again and said I was going to the Diamondbacks.”
Garnett is currently with the Visalia Rawhide, the Single-A affiliate of the Diamondbacks. In one appearance, the Tribe alum tossed 0.2 innings of no-hit baseball, letting up no runs and striking out one.
When asked about his ambitions as a professional athlete, Garnett explained how his ultimate goal is to play on the biggest stage the game can offer.
“I think to accomplish my professional dream would be to get called up to the big leagues,” Garnett explained. “I’ve had a very up and down journey throughout my high school and college career, and I honestly never expected to make it back to this point. I feel extremely blessed to even have this opportunity, and everything at this point really feels like icing on the cake.”
Just two rounds later, outfielder Joe
Delossantos became the third Tribe player to be drafted in 2024. Delossantos, a Queens native, was fittingly drafted by the New York Yankees with the 301st overall pick in the 10th round.
“To this day, being drafted still feels surreal,” Delossantos said. “It is always something you hope to achieve and you work to achieve, but considering it doesn’t happen for many baseball players around the country, you never know if it’ll be you.
Over his five-year collegiate career, Delossantos was undoubtedly one of the best players to ever wear the Green and Gold. The new Yankees signee ranks fifth all time in program history in stolen bases (54), eighth in home runs (32), ninth in RBIs (153), 15th in games played (198) and 18th in games started (180).
In 2024 alone, Delossantos started all 57 games and began his final season with a 37game on-base streak. He also was named to the All-CAA Second Team and ranked as high as No. 80 on D1Baseball’s Top 100 Outfielders List in 2024.
When reflecting on his time in Williamsburg, Delossantos looks back on his collegiate career with gratitude.
“William and Mary shaped my career into what it is today because it gave me time to grow physically and mentally while still allowing me to play high level competition,” Delossantos said. “It also gave me experience with many types of personalities and individuals, which has set me up for success in the future.”
Delossantos is currently with the Tampa Tarpons, the Single-A affiliate of the Yankees, and has had a hot start to his professional career. In 11 games, the outfielder is hitting .273 with nine hits, three RBIs and six stolen bases. Delossantos has also already notched three multi-hit games in his early career.
When contrasting his time at William and Mary to his time as a professional athlete, Delossantos explained that the biggest differences between professional and college athletics are not only the talent level but the amenities, the technology, the responsibilities bestowed upon the athletes.
However, he also noticed how the relationships he’s formed within the team have differed.
“We don’t refer to our coaches as ‘coach’ we are on a first-name basis,” Delossantos said. “It is very much a workplace setting where everyone is equal.”
Like Garnett, Delossantos hopes to one day reach the major leagues.
“Being drafted, being a part of an organization, being called a Yankee are all just the first steps of this professional career of mine,” Delossantos explained. “The dream will forever live on until I’ve played many years in the big leagues. When it’s all said and done, whatever the outcome be, I will most be appreciative of the time and effort that I and others put into myself and my career, because no one does it alone.”
No matter how Knowles’s, Garnett’s or Delossantos’s professional careers unfold, the trio of Tribe alumni will forever represent the Green and Gold on the biggest stage of professional baseball. Their years of hard work and the legacy of their time as members of the program will never be forgotten, and the team they helped build will continue to grow heading into this season.
Whether they’re playing in Tropicana Field in Tampa, Chase Field in Phoenix or Yankees Stadium in the Bronx, Knowles, Garnett and Delossantos will always hear a proud cheer from Williamsburg when they take the field.
With five new additions to its coaching staff and an incoming class of standout athletes, William and Mary football aims to rebound this season.
“You can be at an academic school and you can compete for championships,” head coach Mike London said, following the Green and Gold’s final game of 2023 against Richmond. “That’s the bar.”
According to the 2024 Coastal Athletic Association preseason poll, William and Mary is expected to finish fourth in its conference. The Tribe received 175 points, just four behind Albany and 42 behind Villanova, who coaches predicted will finish first for the second year in a row
Last season, the Tribe went 6-5 and placed seventh in the CAA, a stark contrast to their dominant 11-2 record in 2022. Since the fall, London has hired running backs coach Perry Jones, quarterbacks coach Ted Hefter ’21, outside linebackers/nickels coach Kevin Jarrell ’22 and offensive quality control coaches Nick Remo and Jamie Wilson.
As William and Mary football alumni, Hefter and Jarrell are no strangers to the program.
Before serving as the passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Dayton last season, Hefter played quarterback for the Green and Gold, appearing in 24 games with four starts.
During his final season of eligibility in 2023, Jarrell captained the Tribe, starting all 11 games as a linebacker
and securing a spot on the All-CAA Third Team.
Jones and Remo joining the Tribe brought valuable experience from their time as high school coaches.
Jones served as head coach at Glen Allen High School in Glen Allen, Va. from 2019 to 2023. Last fall, he earned the team a spot in the Region 6A Playoffs. Before his coaching career, Jones played running back at Virginia, where he ranked fifth alltime in career receptions and ninth in all-purpose yards in Cavalier program history.
Remo spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons at St. Cloud High School in St. Cloud, Fla., where he worked as the linebackers coach.
Prior to his time with Tribe football, Wilson coached the defensive line and tight ends at Clarion. There, he also served as a graduate assistant for two years.
Alongside an accomplished coaching staff, the program boasts several distinguished athletes this season.
“There’s also guys that are back that have played in a lot of college football games for us, and so we’re relying on those guys because they’ve been game tested, game ready to step out and step up in a big way for us,” London said.
Senior running back Bronson Yoder, junior tight end Trey McDonald and senior offensive lineman Charles Grant earned places on the Preseason All-CAA Team. Senior running back Malachi Imoh, senior offensive
lineman Ryan McKenna and senior safety Marcus Barnes received honorable mentions.
As the conference’s No. 1 tackle in pass blocking proficiency last season, Grant also was selected to the 2025 Senior Bowl Watchlist, the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List and the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List.
Last season, Yoder captained the Green and Gold, starting the first four games and totaling 408 rushing yards on 77 carries with four touchdowns before suffering a severe upper-body injury that ended his red-shirt junior campaign.
“With him, it’ll be day by day, week to week,” London said following Yoder’s injury. “He’s one tough cookie, he’s a tough individual.”
As a junior, Imoh ranked fifth in the conference in rushing yards
per game and sixth nationally in yards per carry. Imoh also secured positions on the CAA’s 2023 honorable mentions list and the Virginia Sports Information Directors All-State Second Team. Finalized in February, Tribe football’s 2024 recruiting class includes 14 freshmen from Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. London feels confident about this season’s roster.
“We had a really good training camp,” London said. “A lot of guys had opportunities to get reps, and a lot of guys had opportunities to show what they could do.”
Thursday, Aug. 29, the Tribe will open its season against Virginia Military Institute at Walter J. Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Va.
RYAN GOODMAN / THE FLAT HAT
Knowles was drafted in the
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Graduate running back Bronson Yoder is back in Williamsburg after a season-ending injury in 2023.
RYAN GOODMAN/ THE FLAT HAT Delossantos, a Bronx native, was thrilled to join the Yankees.