I am writing this in late February and the weather is slowly starting to get warmer here and there. Matt and I are heading down to the ’Burg (we are there almost once a month, it seems) for a weekend of games and will be cheering on Tribe Baseball, Tribe Women’s Soccer (spring season) and Tribe Basketball. We were down earlier in February for the W&M Gold Rush weekend, which is timed alongside Charter Day and W&M Athletics’ Lord Botetourt Affair. The Gold Rush game also serves as a reunion weekend for basketball alumni, who were honored at halftime of the men’s game. Some familiar faces in the crowds for the fun weekend were Dave Fiscella ’61 and Judy Trimm Fiscella ’62, Mark Batzel ’88, Emily Powell Boddy ’88 and Mark Boddy, Drew Gilfillan, Lee Norris Barnes and Billy Barnes ’82, Marsha Fishburne Lycan, Ken Tyler ’87, M.A.Ed. ’89, Julie Shackford Cunningham ’88 and David Bond.
Tim Carroll has been named to the Board of Trustees of the William & Mary Foundation. Having spent many years in the tech industry, he is currently with Microsoft Azure as the lead of their Weather & Climate portfolio. (The W&M Foundation raises private funds to help support students, faculty and other priorities of the university.) Tim is supportive of many aspects of W&M, including its Global Research Institute, Tribe Women’s Soccer and the Tribe’s Club Men’s Lacrosse program. You may remember that Tim was part of a talented group of freshmen that had been recruited to play men’s lacrosse at W&M, not knowing that the 1984 season would be the team’s final year as a Division I team. Despite that disappointment, they stayed at W&M and, alongside upperclassmen, transformed into a strong club team and forged lifelong friendships. Tim, Rigg Mohler and other former players were featured in an online exclusive article in the W&M Alumni Magazine last summer detailing their loyalty to the Tribe players in the program today, their recognition of Coach Bill Devine J.D. ’86, and their commitment to each other. Tim is a dad to twins and has also spent years coaching lacrosse in Maryland.
After more than 30 years as an educator, Matt Deluca ’87, M.S. ’96 continues to inspire and share his love for theater arts. Following several years after college acting and directing, Matt became an educator after earning a master’s degree in education. Initially teaching in an elementary school setting, he moved on to middle school, where he was a dean specializing in math and science education, but also was pivotal in reviving the theater and dramatic arts program. An article on the district’s website states that the theater arts program participants grew to almost five times its size. In the Mineola Union Free School District in New York, he manages and directs four major musical productions a year at the high school and middle school levels. He not only manages scores of students in the cast, but also the student-run crews, parent volunteers and community supporters. Matt has previously been nominated for the Tony Awards’ Excellence in Theatre Education Award which, according to its website, is an award that “recognizes a K-12 theatre educator in the U.S. who has demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.” He just directed his 52nd musical (“Seussical”), overseeing 195 cast and crew! (As a retired first grade teacher whose largest class was 29 children, I am exhausted just writing about this!) I was in touch with him in February as he was enjoying some well-earned R&R at the beach before his next show (“Young Frankenstein”) was to premiere in just five weeks. I have been lucky enough to see one of his productions a few years and it really felt like we were at a Broadway show.
I hope all of you are doing well. I look forward to seeing you at Homecoming Weekend 2024, which is Oct. 17-20.