Scholarships help student discover route to success.
English is her first major, but Beth Devine ’21 fell in love with the UMW geography department after taking an Intro to GIS course with Dr. Stephen Hanna and a Weather and Climate course with Dr. Jackie Gallagher. After seeing the passion and the tight-knit community within the Geography department, Beth declared Geography as a second major.
She was grateful for the help of three separate scholarships during her time at Mary Washington. Beth is the current recipient of the Geography Alumni Scholarship, and she previously received the Marguerite J. Helbush Scholarship in English, and the Susan J. Hanna Endowed Scholarship in English.
Outside the classroom, Beth has been awarded numerous opportunities to work in geography with professors and other students. In the summer of 2019, she assisted Dr. Marco Millones in editing and preparing labs for an introductory GIS course for Spanish speakers.
In 2020, Beth had the opportunity to work on Dr. Hanna’s plantation research team, which visited presidential plantations and observed how these museums presented the lives of enslaved people who once lived there. Beth was also invited to join Dr. Hanna’s cartography practicum, where she and two other students created a campus accessibility map for UMW’s Office of Disability series of hiking trail maps for an official hiking guide of Hocking Hills, Ohio.
In addition to Geography and GIS, Beth also works as a department aide for the Geography department. Beth helped restructure the Geography Club, and she currently serves as its president. Last summer, Beth also served as a Cartography intern with the Federal Government.
After graduating from UMW, Beth plans to pursue a master’s in Geography, Cartography, or International Relations. “Geography has become a special part of my UMW experience, and I owe a lot of my success to the Department’s constant support.” says Beth.
Written by Darlene Mugisha ’21
