We are proud to announce and celebrate our 2025-2026 scholarship recipients! The Board will be headed to Grounds on April 24 to engage with our scholarship winners in person.
Visit our Scholarships & Awards page to learn more about our scholarships.
First Year Scholar
Tomás Garcia (Col class of ’29) comes to UVA from Arlington, Virginia, with roots in Armenia, Colombia, where his extended family resides. During summers spent there, he has volunteered as an English teacher, and alongside his older brother, he organized and distributed 250 pounds of soccer equipment to underprivileged school children. In Arlington, he has dedicated his time to tutoring, translating, and mentoring students through the Aspire After School Learning program. At UVA, Tomás plans to pursue a double major in Business and Spanish, aiming to make a meaningful impact on a global scale.
Undergraduate Scholars
Camila Ramirez Herrera (Col class of ’27) is a third-year student at UVA majoring in neuroscience with a minor in general business on the pre-med track. She works as a medical assistant in UVA’s Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic and is an undergraduate researcher focused on improving healthcare access for caregivers of children with complex medical needs. She serves as professional development co-chair for LMSA+, volunteers as a Spanish interpreter at the Charlottesville Free Clinic, and is a student ambassador with the Alzheimer’s Association. Grounded in her lived experiences as a first-generation Latina, Camila hopes to become a physician who serves as a compassionate bridge for individuals and families who feel unseen within the healthcare system.
Chris Popovics (Col class of ’26) was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. He is a fourth-year Echols Scholar pursuing majors in chemistry and biology with a minor in general business on a pre-medical track. At UVA, he co-chairs professional development for LMSA+, has been a VISAS language consultant, a mentor in the Latinx Peer Mentoring Program, and a member of the Latinx Leadership Institute. Professionally, he has volunteered as a Spanish medical interpreter for a pro bono clinic in D.C., worked as a certified pharmacy technician for six years, and served as a pre-health advising peer and research assistant.
Graduate Scholars
Jeronimo Lau Alberdi (Law class of ’27) teaches constitutional law and comparative constitutional law at Universidad Austral in Argentina and is working toward a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) at UVA School of Law. His research focuses on how and why judges in Latin America use foreign law in constitutional cases. He has practiced constitutional and administrative law in Buenos Aires, argued cases before Argentina’s Supreme Court, and served as president of the Legal Research Forum at UVA Law from 2023 to 2025.
Krystal Rubio Repak (Nurs class of ’27) is a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Nurse Leader program at UVA School of Nursing. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, she earned her B.A. in Spanish from UVA in 2023. She studied abroad through UVA in Valencia, and has devoted her volunteer work to the Charlottesville Free Clinic’s Spanish-language “ClĂnica Gratuita” nights. She continues to serve through the UVA Latino Health Initiative, providing free cardiovascular health screenings and contributing to public health education. She is committed to reducing language barriers and increasing healthcare access for the community.