[Duckett] has served as the co-director of a company in Charlottesville, Rise Together, a non-profit started by former Batten student Bryan Christ whose mission is to prepare young students in Albemarle County – many of whom will be the first in their families to attend college – for higher education.

“I want to empower high school students to feel like they can be change agents in their own community,” Duckett said. “My goal is getting them to see that when you recognize a problem, no matter what resources you may have, you just have to have the two Ps – a passion and a plan – and you can tackle any issue you want. That’s what I’ve tried to instill in them through the community engagement part of our curriculum.”

Last spring, through Madison House at UVA, Duckett volunteered for an organization called Creating Assets Saving and Hope, or CASH, which helps people file their taxes.

“That was by far one of my favorite memories of UVA,” Duckett said. “It’s something I think a lot of us take for granted.

“There were clients we had who were refugees from Afghanistan and didn’t speak English. Being able to help someone and seeing people’s faces when they got a refund was amazing… For a lot of people, an extra $1,000 may go toward a new TV, but for our clients $1,000 was more of a lifeline.”

After graduation, Duckett will work as a fixed-income research associate at AllianceBernstein, an asset management company in New York. “I want to use finance as a tool to do good,” he said, “but I think I need to start by having a fundamental understanding of being an investor and how to evaluate companies.”

Duckett smiles when he thinks back to that injury on the lacrosse field four years ago.

“I’m just glad I took advantage of that opportunity when I could have been down,” he said. “I can firmly say I would not be where I am if I hadn’t come to UVA and met the people I’ve met.”

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