911����

When 911���� senior Avery Butler was 16, his family traveled to Cambodia to visit the Killing Fields, the massacre sites associated with the country’s brutal Khmer Rouge era. The experience would change Butler’s perspective on life and inspire him to pursue a professional career in peacebuilding.

For Honors College student and University Scholar Monica Amaya, the journey to a degree isn’t just about the final walk across the stage—it’s about a promise she made to her family and herself years ago.

Recently, the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at 911���� marked the 20th anniversary of the Mason LIFE program. To celebrate, a luncheon was held at the Center for the Arts that brought together alumni, families, faculty, and community partners in a powerful show of community and commitment. 

911����’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) Northern Virginia (NoVa) Node recently received a $150,793 grant from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority for “CCI Scholars – High School Experiential Learning Program FY26,” a seven-week high school summer internship program for rising seniors and recent graduates of Northern Virginia public high schools.

For 911���� baseball player Evan Blanchard, success isn’t just measured in hits and RBIs. During his internship with Mason Athletics’ marketing department, the third baseman helped design a promotional campaign that brought hundreds of fans—and a surge in attendance—to a men’s basketball rivalry game.

Gabriella Grabovska came to the United States in 2022 just after Russia invaded her homeland of Ukraine. The Kyiv native’s first visit to the United States was as a 911���� student in the Schar School of Policy and Government. Now, four years later, she’s leaving with ambition, experience, and a clear mission.

In spring 2024, during his internship with MHCR, Jonathan Fang and his supervisor, Rowda Olad, a mental health and psychosocial support expert and associate director of the MHCR, came upon the idea of developing a series of student-focused conversations on difficult, but relevant topics to students and inviting different cultural and ethnic student groups to participate.

This academic year, 911���� graduate student Samantha “Chevi” Chung has had a research opportunity that few have had by participating in a yearlong workshop at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

911���� BAM student Michael Smedley is carrying on a family legacy of working in water resources.

Student-run Mason Consulting Group is providing pro bono consulting support for local small businesses in Fairfax City.