University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

Fulbrights
cap fulfilling
UMW careers
| By Neva S. Trenis
Justin Simeone ’08 and Caitlin
Gembol ’08 followed different paths
to UMW, but they’re leaving with
the same ticket to graduate research –
Fulbright Scholarships. Only five Mary
Washington students have won the
coveted award, which provides funding for research and
study abroad. Simeone, 22, who majored in history and
political science, will study constitutional law, politics, and
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Fulbright Scholars Justin Simeone ’08 and Caitlin Gembol
’08 have different interests, but they both worked hard and
overcame obstacles to earn the prestigious award, which will
fund their graduate research abroad.
diplomacy in London. Gembol, 24, a biology major, will do
research in Quito, Ecuador, on how climate change affects
spiders, and ultimately humans.
Gembol and Simeone gleaned everything they could
from Mary Washington, sometimes to the alarm of their
professors. Simeone’s advisors warned he was spending too
much time on volunteer service; Gembol’s feared she was
spending too much time in the classroom.
And both scholars suffered setbacks that could have
led them off course for graduation. Though she grew up in
Reston, Va., Gembol didn’t transfer to UMW until junior
year, and she came with no biology prerequisites.
Late summer before Simeone’s sophomore year, he was
hospitalized after an auto accident broke his back and
fractured his jaw. The wires holding his mouth weren’t
removed until the morning he left his hometown, Tolland,
Mass., and arrived on campus – just in time for the start
of classes.
This May, Gembol graduated magna cum laude with a
slew of academic honors and as president of UMW’s chapter
Karen Pearlman