By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

Most arrived in the midst of a global pandemic. They handled that along with other obstacles, and now comes their reward.

Of the more than 2,000 William & Mary students who will receive their diplomas this weekend, 137 doubled as varsity athletes. That includes 30 graduate students, 26 from the Mason School of Business.

From here, to paraphrase Shakespeare, the world is their oyster. Here are what 10 Tribe student-athletes have on the horizon.

Ethan Buenviaje, track & field
Degree: B.S., physics
Up next: Grad school, University of Virginia

Like many of us, Buenviaje was into Legos as a kid. That led to fixing his skateboard, bicycle, and whatever else.

"Then my high school in Chesapeake offered a Governor's STEM Academy, and I got into that," he said. "I've been taking engineering classes since ninth grade. I have a passion for it.

"I think about what fulfills me, and it's having an idea and then turning that into something real. On a base level, that's what engineering is."

Buenviaje will begin his Master's program in mechanical and aerospace engineering at U.Va. this fall.

"Mechanical is pretty broad, so I can use that in just about every industry," he said. "And aerospace, I can focus on propulsion and fluids and stuff that can be used for aerospace engineering and marine or ocean engineering."

And where does Buenviaje see himself in 10 years?

"I'd like to be managing a design team," he said. "Maybe for cars or boats or maybe prosthetics. Whatever I'm doing, I'd like to be managing a design team that's building stuff to better people's lives."

Kent Codding, swimming
Degree: B.S., biology
Up next: Grad school, Harvard

Reddit has a rep for occasionally spreading misinformation. But because Codding logged on one day, he has a full ride to Harvard.

It was there he learned about the SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. It would pay his grad school tuition, and in return Codding would work for the DoD for however long his Master's program took — in this case, a year and a half.

"So the Internet can be good for finding ways to pay for graduate school," Codding said with a laugh. "I highly recommend the (SMART) scholarship for anyone looking at similar Master's programs. It really was a win-win scenario."

After finishing his Master's work, Codding will report to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County. Although his agreement is for a year and a half, Codding can extend that if he chooses.

After this weekend, Codding plans to take "a brain break" before heading to Cambridge. That will include a 10-day trip with five teammates through Europe with stops in Copenhagen, Berlin and Amsterdam.

"I've never been across the Atlantic before, so I'm super excited," he said. "Other than that, it should be a pretty chill summer."

Marcus Crowell, football
Degree: Masters of Business Administration
Up next: Asset and Wealth Management Analyst, Goldman Sachs.

When it came time to choose a career path, Crowell didn't have far to look for inspiration.

"My mom was a real role model for me," he said of Sandra Crowell. "She worked in corporate treasury for 30 years at Comcast.

"So when I came to school, I wanted to work in finance. I worked with Joe Montgomery ('74) a couple of summers in his wealth management firm, and that taught me a lot."

This weekend, Crowell will pick up his M.B.A. He leaves with 22 career starts on the football field, 11 coming last fall, and is off to Goldman Sachs' Chicago office.

"I tell people all the time, this was definitely the best place for me to play competitive football and get a great education at the same time," said Crowell, who earned his B.A. in finance in 2022. "There's a reason why I stayed for six years.

"I love this place. I love the teammates I played with and my coaches and just the campus itself. Williamsburg has a special place in my heart and I'm definitely going to miss it."

Sofia Huang, gymnastics
Degree: MS in Business Analytics
Up next: Software engineer, BTI360

Huang was a dual enrollment student in high school, so she needed only three years at W&M to get her B.S. in data science. Yet in some ways, that was too quick. So she hung around for another year to earn Master's.

And soon, she'll begin her job at BTI360, a software development company in Herndon.

"After graduating in three years, I just knew I hadn't spent enough time here," Huang said. "So I wanted to take another year to still be here and still be on the team. I felt like it went by so fast."

Still, she's excited to start her career.

"What I like about what I'm doing is that it's never going to be stagnant," Huang said. "It will always be changing, always something new to learn and improve on."

Her gymnastics career is over, but Huang already has found a way to stay physically active.

"I've just started training for a triathlon," she said. "It's going to be in Jamestown in September. My team volunteers for it every year. And since I won't be on the team to volunteer, I decided to do it."

Makenzie Joiner, track & field
Degree: BASc, kinesiology.
Up next: Ophthalmic scribe, Retina Institute of Virginia.

Growing up, Joiner had several family members in the medical field. She came to understand the profession's importance, and she will soon be headed down that path.

Joiner's first job out of college will be with the Retina Institute of Virginia's Richmond office. Her job will be to assist the ophthalmologist by taking notes during exams, which enables the patient to receive the physician's complete attention.

"Basically, I'll be doing the eye tests and helping patients and really doing whatever I can to help the physician," Joiner said. "But for the most part, I'll be taking scribe notes and having clinical interactions with the patients."

As an athlete, Joiner has always been interested in how the body functions. Eventually, she hopes to get into the orthopedic field.

"It brings me to a level of understanding because I know when I was injured, I wanted to get back on the field as immediately as possible," she said. "But I understand now you can't always do that, so I want to at least get people to that point faster so they can do what they love and do what they want to pursue."

Tara Kerr, lacrosse
Degree: B.S., interdisciplinary studies
Up next: Coral reef research at James Cook University

Tara Kerr and her twin brother, Jimmy, are graduating from college this month. He'll begin his career as an investment banker; she'll head to Australia on a Fulbright Scholarship to continue her work in marine conservation.

"My parents always say he's going to own the world," Tara said, "and I'm going to save it."

Tara's grant is open research, which means professors at James Cook had to accept her proposal. They did, and they will work together on coral restoration. She leaves for Townsville, located in Queensland, in January.

"I've always wanted to work in marine conservation and I've always been really passionate about coral reefs," she said. "As a diver, I feel really connected with them but to be able to do this at a university known for coral reef research is the best opportunity. I can't believe this is happening.

"The Great Barrier Reef is right where I'm going to be. My research will have a lot of diving and being on the water. I'll really get to experience what it's like to be living on the Great Barrier Reef, which I'm so excited about."

Mila Mejic, tennis
Degree: Master of Accounting
Up next: Auditor, Citrin Cooperman

The last few weeks have been an exciting time for Mila Mejic.

First, as April closed, she won the clinching match in William & Mary's 4-0 win over Delaware for the program's third consecutive CAA championship. This weekend, she will receive her degree from the Mason School of Business.

And this summer, she'll be off to Chicago for an auditing position with Citrin Cooperman.

"Winning the championship for the third year in a row was a big deal, so it was extremely exciting to play in that match and win and celebrate with the girls," said Mejic, who is from Serbia and received a B.S. in public policy analysis from Indiana in 2023. "I definitely had a lot of fun and enjoyed competing. I wanted to do something business related, and that was my idea coming here."

Mejic will be coming in as an auditor but also plans to get her CPA license.

News flash: Chicago is a tad bigger than Williamsburg. In fact, it has twice the population as Belgrade, Serbia's capital and largest city. Mejic is aware and excited.

"It has a really big Serbian community," she said. "That's probably what drove me to that city."

Ryan Poole, football
Degree: Master of Business Administration, Mason School of Business
Up next: Analyst, Ishara Investments

Ryan Poole's goal was and remains playing in the NFL. He just got back from San Francisco, where he worked out at the 49ers rookie minicamp.

The team did not pick up Poole, but he has a solid backup plan: Employment at Ishara Investments, a biotech-focused hedge fund in (coincidentally enough) San Francisco.

"I just accepted the offer yesterday," Poole said. "We're working out the details, but I expect to start probably late July or August."

Poole, who earned his B.S. in business analytics in 2022, has interned with Ishara by remote since September. He was offered a job at Goldman Sachs last year but turned it down so he could play his final season (and serve as team captain) for Tribe football.

He hasn't given up on the NFL.

"I'm on a list where if someone gets hurt, they give you a call," he said. "If you choose to stay in shape, you choose to stay in shape." Poole added his future boss "definitely understands that if the league calls and I want to take it, I should take it. He's been very understanding."

Kat Vanbourgondien, swimming
Degree: B.A., film and media studies
Up next: Grad school, Savanah College of Art & Design

Kat Vanbourgondien's passion for film began almost by accident.

"I never was a big movie goer until my friends said, 'You have to come see this with us,'" she said. "'Guardians of the Galaxy' was the first movie that got me going to the theaters a lot. And I've wanted to be a director since high school."

In three months, Vanbourgondien will leave for Savanah College of Art and Design's Atlanta location, where she'll take a big step on that path.

"The goal for the two years there is to make a thesis film to figure out what kind of director you want to be," said Vanbourgondien, who won bronze in the 100 backstroke at the CAA Championships. "I wasn't quite sure I would go to film school after college, but I realized there's a lot more I want to learn about film and directing.

"There aren't a lot of female directors. Only three have ever won an Academy Award. But my goal is to join women in film."

SCAD's Atlanta location could provide a boost. Netflix and Marvel have studios in Atlanta.

Boowa Zarcone, field hockey
Degree: B.A., classical studies
Up next: Grad school, University of St. Andrews

Another dual enrollment student as a high school senior, Boowa Zarcone needed only three years to earn their undergrad degree at William & Mary. Next stop: a 611-year-old university that educated, among many others, Prince William and Princess Kate.

Zarcone will be enrolled in the Master in Museum & Heritage Studies. That includes a semester of research. They also will play on St. Andrews' field hockey team.

"I studied abroad both summers when I was here — both times in Italy," Zarcone said. "I can't not be abroad, apparently."

Either way, they are excited about the opportunity.

"I think the background most people have coming into this is art history," Zarcone said. "I'm doing it in a different order where my specialization of classics is my undergrad (and) my broader job field is my Masters.

"And maybe one day I'll get a doctorate. We'll see."

After three seasons of field hockey at William & Mary, Zarcone will have one more at St. Andrews.