Cam Moody '25
Hey, sectionmate! Give me the fifteen-second spiel we’ve all given 100 times since orientation a few weeks ago: Where did you go to undergrad, and when did you graduate?
Hi, Ethan! I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in 2014, with a bachelor’s degree in Biology.
Amazing, we love a STEM icon. Tell me what you got up to in the eight years in between graduating from VCU and starting at UVA Law.
So, I graduated from VCU with the intention to work at a paper-packaging company that made six-packs for soda and paperboard. I also did forestry in high school and studied forest ecology in college, so I hoped to pursue something similar after graduating. But the paper company actually sold all their forestlands, which prompted a bit of existential panic on my end. So, in lieu of forestry work, I pivoted to their environmental auditing team, where I examined relevant statutes, regulations, and permits that each facility had to follow. Essentially, I got an excuse to do fun stuff, like climbing on equipment and looking in trash cans, as part of ensuring that each facility was properly complying with state law.
Sounds like you made the best of a pretty sudden change in plans! And my old workplace looks much less fun by comparison, because it was tragically devoid of furniture-climbing. What did you do after that position?
After working two years at the paper company, I worked at a large utility company for six years. I’d been in that role for a while when the pandemic started, and by that point, I felt some soul-searching was in order. I’m trans, and I increasingly had the sense that I needed to be in a place—a different place—where I would be comfortable being myself. I considered what I was good at, and pretty early on in the process of investigating other academic opportunities, I settled on applying to law school.
Hooray for career shifts, and hooray for coming somewhere you feel safer and happier being yourself. How are you adjusting to 1L?
I’m enjoying it! We’re only four weeks in, and I’m already excited to try so much during my time here. Like I said earlier, environmental work fell into my lap after VCU, so I’m eager to explore other things (perhaps opportunities where I can use my Patent Bar eligibility). I’m also very interested in joining Lambda and PILA.
What’s your favorite class so far?
Contracts with Professor Mitu Gulati! We’ve had some incredible guest speakers so far and the class is refreshingly conversational.
I agree, as a fellow Mitu stan. Getting outside the Law School, what are your favorite Charlottesville haunts so far?
I love Walnut Creek Park, which has a beautiful lake, and it’s only a twenty minute drive from Downtown. I also feel obligated to shout out Greenberry’s, both the Emmet Street and Law School locations. I’ve also enjoyed the farmer’s market and various other community events.
Finally, you’re in Section H, which won Dandelion this year with its rendition of “. . . Baby One More Time,” by the Princess of Pop herself, Britney Spears. I understand you have a special connection to her.
Yes—the song we performed at Dandelion was on the first CD I ever purchased for myself in 1999. I also bought an NSYNC album the same day. I don’t think I would have ever foreseen dancing to it at a professional school event twenty-three years later, but the world unfolds in mysterious ways.
How poetic. Thanks for joining us, Cam!
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Interviewed by Ethan Brown ‘25
zaw9fj@virginia.edu