Outstanding Seniors leave marks on Hart School and beyond

The famous quote, “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,” by English author A.A. Milne is often used by those who are closing a chapter of their lives that they have come to love, but know they must in order to continue growing and developing as individuals.

For the pair of 2025 Hart School Outstanding Seniors, Skylar Feucht (‘25), a Hospitality Management (HM) major, and Gaby Keppel (’25), a Sport and Recreation Management (SRM) major, it’s a phrase that encapsulates their departure from the place they have called home for the last four years.

“Being named as an Outstanding Senior honestly felt great,” Feucht said. “I truly have made a home here. Everything I do and have done has revolved around the Hart School and it felt really great to be recognized for all of my hard work.”

Feucht, who hails from Chicago, discovered the program and JMU’s Hart School using the most useful of research methods—a google search.

“In the beginning of my college search, anywhere east of Chicago was on my list,” Feucht recalled. “I knew I wanted to go away to school, but I wasn’t going to go as an undecided major, so my mom and I scoured the internet to find something that would interest me. I had no idea what I wanted to study at the time.”

Feucht explains, “We eventually came across a hospitality and tourism major and found that there aren’t a ton of schools in the midwest that even have a hospitality program. I applied to four different schools in four states and toured all of them. JMU just felt like home.”

The same could ultimately be said for Feucht’s outstanding senior counterpart, Keppel. Hailing from just outside of Philadelphia, JMU was not her first choice, but one that came down to three simple metrics: out-of-state, Sport and Recreation Management program, Division I Football.

“If I’m being honest I wasn’t fully sold on coming here,” Keppel said. “But, I didn’t want to stay in-state for school because I wanted a fresh start when I went to college and had heard a lot of great things about JMU. Ultimately, when I was choosing where to apply, JMU checked all of my boxes and really the rest is history.”

Keppel explained that throughout her time at JMU, she was constantly striving to be the best version of herself, hoping her hard work would pay off.  “Being selected as an Outstanding Senior solidified my belief that I did everything that I was supposed to do here to prove to myself and the faculty and staff that I do truly want to pursue this path,” she said.

Both Feucht and Keppel set out to do one thing at JMU—try everything.

“I figured that I could enjoy everything under the hospitality umbrella, so I made it my goal to try everything I could,” Feucht said. “I was in a position where I could work somewhere for a semester or a summer and not go back to it, so I tried absolutely everything.”

“I was involved with the SRM professional fraternity, Sigma Rho Mu, and ran for an executive position during my sophomore year and got it, was placed in the public relations role with the Women in Sport and Recreation Management club before being elected president and then became an a Hart School ambassador heading into my sophomore year as well,” Keppel said.

After crossing the stage at graduation, Feucht will begin a full-time manager-in-training program at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, while Keppel will start an internship with OFS Wealth, the financial services arm of Octagon—one of the top sports agencies in the world—in Northern Virginia.

Both are leaping into the next stages of their lives prepped and ready, taking with them the same common thread—their Hart School experiences.

“I’m really excited to start my career, but I can’t believe that I have to leave,” Keppel said. “I’ve found my family and home here and can’t wait to see what all of us do and accomplish in this industry.”

Sharing similar sentiments, Feucht said, “I am very ready to graduate, but it is incredibly bittersweet to leave this place. Being so far away from my family, this place has become my home and probably always will be.”