According to Thomas Madrecki, when he came to the University of Virginia in 2006, he didn’t know what to do with his time. It wasn’t long, however, before he started calling the offices of The Cavalier Daily his home.
After being recruited to the news team his first year, Madrecki stayed on staff and cycled through roles, from writer to news associate to news editor, finally landing the managing editor role. He said it is hard to begin naming the best parts of his involvement with the paper.
“Where do you even begin?” Madrecki said. “It’s like trying to name your favorite part of college – because let’s be honest, The Cavalier Daily was my college.”
Not only did Madrecki make “friends for life” in his four years at the paper, he also considers the skills he acquired in his time with the Cav Daily beneficial for his career path. Madrecki currently serves as a public relations official for UPS; he previously was the Press Manager for Smart Growth America, a “smart growth” federal advocacy organization.
These skills included “even something as simple as working frequently with Carol Wood and then-University President John Casteen,” which taught Madrecki how to “get things done.” He went on to list numerous skills grown at the paper, such as “how to develop professional relationships,” “how to kill a story,” and “how to run a business.”
Particularly memorable to Madrecki was a series of investigative articles he worked on while abroad on Semester at Sea. The articles themselves looked into honor cases. Madrecki said that he would like to think that they were “beneficial to the cause of improving student self-governance.”
This series of articles went on to win a second place award from the Virginia Press Association in their Investigative and In-Depth Reporting category in 2008.
Though Madrecki graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2010, he still keeps a close eye on the paper and its creative and financial decision-making. In particular, he is interested in the digital future of the paper and the leadership of the future.
“We need to demonstrate that The Cavalier Daily…provides unparalleled leadership opportunities and a unique ability to enact change,” Madrecki says. “There’s nowhere else on Grounds with that kind of real-world application or chance to build your resume.”