A SKETCH OF THE '95 CLASS

	All of the approximately 4,300 University of Virginia
graduates-to-be have stories to tell--of days packed with courses,
tests and papers, of late nights devoted to study and of friendships
and good times.  Each story represents success--an individual's
victory over demanding day and night schedules.  Following are a few
stories of individual accomplishments.

	This year's undergraduates in the College of Arts and
Sciences range in age from 19 to 82.  Three 19-year-olds are earning
degrees--one in Spanish, one in environmental science and one in the
interdisciplinary cognitive science program.

**	The soon-to-be graduate of the cognitive science program is
Sarah Alice Butler, who entered U.Va. just as she was turning 16.
Accepted in the 10th grade in Mary Baldwin College's Program for the
Exceptionally Gifted, she skipped 11th and 12th grade and spent a
year taking biology, chemistry and zoology at the Staunton school.

	She chose U.Va. because of the reputation of its faculty and
entered the cognitive science program because she was attracted to
its emphasis on psychology and the use of computers to determine how
the brain processes knowledge.  Although she has enjoyed her U.Va.
experience, Butler is the first to admit she is not graduating with
a high GPA and believes her age has been a factor.

	"My age was an obstacle in the beginning.  There's a huge
difference between a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old.  Because I
didn't have the last two years of high school, I was not only at a
social disadvantage, but I lacked organization and study skills.  I
barely made it through first semester," she remembers.

	Butler attributes her ability to survive in part to faculty
who made her courses so interesting. She is now considering
enrolling in nursing school or entering the Air Force.  The daughter
of Capt. William Marshall Butler of VIRGINIA BEACH, VA., she can be
reached at (804) 296-5303.

**	Nineteen-year-old Jensen Retiz Montambault will be earning
her bachelor's the same weekend her mom, Jami Montambault, will be
earning a master's from U.Va.  

	Jensen Montambault has always been in a hurry, it seems,
when it comes to education.  She graduated from Albemarle High
School a year early after earning credits at Johns Hopkins Center
for the Advancement of Academically Talented Youth and completing
two years of correspondence courses in writing.  The day after her
high school graduation she went to U.Va.'s Mountain Lake Biological
Station where she completed two natural history courses.  At the time
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she entered U.Va. at the age of 16, she had 28 college credits. Each
summer while at U.Va., she has taken one or two courses.

	A double major in environmental science and English,
Montambault has participated in several independent study projects.
In one environmental course, for example, she designed a curriculum
on how rocks and minerals are used in everyday life that she taught
to ninth graders at Charlottesville and Louisa high schools.
Through a corresponding independent study project, she wrote about
her experiences in teaching.  

	"I didn't find high school academically satisfying, but I've
found college-level work fun.  I've been able to develop myself
spiritually and intellectually," said Montambault, who plans to
enter the Peace Corps after graduation.

	Her mother, who earned a bachelor's degree from the McIntire
School of Commerce in 1984, will be earning her master's degree in
management information systems this year.  Because their interests
are so different, mother and daughter saw little of each other on
Grounds, but graduation will be a joint family celebration.

	Residents of CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., the Montambaults can be
reached at (804) 973-6479.

**	Lawrason "Lawrie" Riggs Jr. is completing the undergraduate
degree he started at U.Va. in the fall of 1953.  The 12 credit hours
he took this spring in negotiation, leadership and strategic
management at the McIntire School of Commerce are skills that he has
been practicing in the workplace for more than 37 years.

	"I'm too old for a mid-life crisis, and exactly why I
returned to school is something of an open question," the
60-year-old admitted.  At the end of spring semester in 1957, Riggs
learned he would not graduate because his grade-point average was
below the minimum requirement for a diploma.  "I received my ROTC
commission, but not my degree," he recalled.

	Riggs built a series of careers for himself, first in
insurance, then in the fuel retail/wholesale business, then a fuel
oil distributorship and a wholesale/retail building supply company.
When he moved to his current home in NANTUCKET, MASS., he started a
new line of work, selling real estate.  

	Riggs didn't dwell on missing his degree until about two
years ago.  With the support of his wife, Jay, and his real estate
partner, he arranged to return to U.Va. full-time in January.  "I
wanted to go full-time.  I wanted the benefit of associating with
students and being in class.  That has turned out to be a wonderful
choice.  I feel really fortunate that the McIntire School is what it
is:  that the professors are very good teachers, not just lecturers,
that the classes are small, and that I've had the chance to interact
with other students."

	Riggs has returned not only to the classrooms, but to the
lacrosse fields as well.  An avid lacrosse player during his earlier
years at U.Va., he became a self-appointed assistant ball boy for
the current team.  The coach has allowed him to attend practices and
travel with the team.  "I like the feel of finishing what I started,
and I am thrilled to associate again with the lacrosse team," he
said.  

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	Riggs has so enjoyed his involvement with the team that he
probably won't even attend graduation.  He expects to be with the
team at the NCAA lacrosse finals in College Park, MD, on graduation
day.  For more information, Riggs can be reached at (508) 228-2522.

**	Eighty-two-year-old Ed Eitelberg has always had two goals:
(1) to be a college graduate and (2) to retire early and devote
himself to helping the Jewish survivors of World War II.  After
realizing the second goal, he's about to achieve his first.  He will
earn a bachelor's degree in art history this May from U.Va.

	Throughout much of Eitelberg's life, education had to take a
back seat to work.  He started working at 13 and dropped out of
school at 16 in 1929 to work full time.  With a lot of
determination, though, he finished his high school education by
attending classes at night.

	He first matriculated 66 years ago at City College of New
York, but money was tight during the Depression, and he could only
afford evening classes.  Eventually his job as a traveling salesman
in men's clothing forced him to drop out because he was missing too
many classes.  "It seemed like I was always in the middle of a
semester when I had to take a trip," he reflected.

	The New York native retired about 20 years ago and moved to
Charlottesville in 1978.  He started attending classes at Piedmont
Virginia Community College--mostly in winter.  "The reason was
simple:  I didn't want anything to interfere with my golf," he
remembers.

	Over a 10-year period, he accumulated enough credits to
graduate magna cum laude with an Associate in Applied Science degree
in marketing at the age of 73.

	During those years Eitelberg revived the inactive B'nai
B'rith's Thomas Jefferson Lodge, boosting membership and attendance
while serving as vice president and president.  He also headed the
local United Jewish Appeal from 1980 to 1990, increasing donations
tenfold.

	While pursuing a degree at U.Va., he and his wife of 54
years, Helen, have enjoyed entertaining international students, and
the two recently started the Foster Grandparents Program.  For more
information, Eitelberg can be reached at (804) 295-9983.


May 4, 1995