This statement speaks to the founders’ goal of making the University of Virginia a focal point of education for the entire state of Virginia. The founders wanted schools all throughout Virginia to prepare students for the immersive learning experience they would encounter at the University of Virginia. Today, the university is not only a center of learning for Virginians, but also for students from the other 49 states and from around the world. UVa’s impact has grown to reach far beyond the state of Virginia, and UVa’s name represents excellence in higher education throughout the world. The University now attracts students from across the world to engage with its unique educational experience.

This statement shows the inherent white, ethnocentric attitude that dominated the minds of the founders. The academical village, built from slave labor, was erected to foster a community of learning for white people only. These white people were solely white men until 1970, when the university began to admit women. The dominance of white men in all aspects of American society during this time was only reinforced by the initial exclusivity of UVa. Contrasting the initial beliefs of the founders, the university is now home to an incredibly diverse community that prides itself on being a place of acceptance and celebration of different cultures.

This sentence speaks to the University's goal of not just educating people with external information, but truly building their personalities from within. The University strove to not only teach its students new knowledge, but also to develop their self-reflective and moral capabilities. Jefferson also wrote about "happiness" in the Declaration of Independence, yet here the "happiness" seems to be a more intimate, personal essence. As a student at UVa, I think it is my obligation to myself and to the university to create an environment where happiness is thriving.

It is fascinating that, from the University's founding, Hebrew was taught as one of the "antient" languages. As a current student in the Modern Hebrew program here at UVa, and as someone who has lived in Israel during a gap year, I have been exposed to contemporary Hebrew in a variety of settings. The ancient, Biblical Hebrew is much different than modern Hebrew, and undoubtably provides a unique perspective on the Jewish religion. Oddly enough though, the ancient Hebrew that the first students at UVa were studying was probably Aramaic, and not Hebrew, as that is the language seen in most Jewish ancient texts. Considering Hebrew as an ancient language places a historical and religious label on the language that is much different from the Hebrew spoken in Israel and across the world today.