FDA travels to the University of Virginia

Students from Frederick Douglass Academy trekked South to spend three days in Charlottesville, VA to visit the University of Virginia, Virginia Lacrosse, UVA Health System, St. Anne's-Belfield School and the surrounding Central Virginia area.

After arriving, Harlem Lacrosse students met their host familes from the St. Anne's-Belfield (STAB) community. The following day, the boys toured STAB's campus and met with the college counseling office. They also participated in a playday with STAB and some local lacrosse clubs. 

At the UVA Medical Center, health executives and surgeons spoke about the medical profession and career opportunities, researchers demonstrated new technology and emergency medical technicians showed off their Pegasus critical care transport vehicles.

The boys received the thrill of a lifetime when they went to the Syracuse-UVA barnburner and got to scrimmage at halftime in front of ESPN's cameras. The following day, UVA coaches and players hosted Harlem Lacrosse student-athletes at their athletics facilities and even ran a clinic on their practice field. Virginia attackmen assisted FDA attackmen on behind-the-back goals and UVA defensemen shadowed FDA defensemen as they learned to play off-ball defense. 

A huge thank you to the host families and coordinating host Carter Schotta, Bo Perriello for organizing the STAB visit, Andrew Stanley and Kathy Morris for bringing other Virginia communities to the play day, and to Mike Marquardt, Peggy Pasternak, and Harlem Lacrosse Executive Board Member Evan Vosburgh for coordinating the UVA Health System visit. Virginia lacrosse coaches Dom Starsia and Marc Van Arsdale and the entire UVA lacrosse team generously opened their program's doors for the entire weekend.