
From Mystery to Mastery A chance encounter in the Science Center as a child set Alyssa Cirrincione ’25 on a path to pursue her curiosity at W&L.
“Coming here, I had my expectations set so high. But everything about this place, from the Honor System to the community I’ve encountered, was even more beautiful than I had imagined.”
~ Alyssa Cirrincione ’25
On a summer day more than a decade ago, a 10-year-old Alyssa Cirrincione wandered through the sun-dappled halls of the Science Center at Washington and Lee University. Cirrincione was on a family road trip with her mother, brother and stepfather, Brian Butcher ’93, who had taken the family on a detour to show them his alma mater’s campus. As he led them through the Science Center, Cirrincione noticed a table at the end of a hallway with a small sign that read “free books.”
As she sifted through the books, one caught her attention: a McGraw-Hill textbook on advanced chemistry, signed and dated on the inside front cover. That moment, preserved in a family photo, was the beginning of Cirrincione’s connection to Washington and Lee.
“I just wanted to get back to the car so I could keep reading,” Cirrincione says. “I started reading it in the car and brought it with me everywhere we went for the rest of the trip. I even took it with me apple picking.”
The book became a constant companion and a quiet promise throughout middle and high school. Cirrincione would return to the chemistry book again and again, doing her best to decode the material far beyond her years.
“Every time I studied for a test, I would remind myself that I needed to do well on the test so that I could have the grades to get into Washington and Lee,” she remembers.
She vividly remembers the day, as a sophomore chemistry major at W&L, when she opened the textbook yet again and, at last, its contents made sense.
“It was like finding a missing puzzle piece,” she says. “Finally feeling complete.”
When Cirrincione ’25 enrolled at Washington and Lee, she was facing a freshman year shaped by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and says she was nervous about whether W&L would meet the expectations she’d built up over many years of dreaming about her college experience. However, she says that her experience has not only met her expectations but exceeded them.
“Coming here, I had my expectations set so high,” she says. “But everything about this place, from the Honor System to the community I’ve encountered, was even more beautiful than I had imagined.”
Cirrincione says her educational trajectory was nourished by meaningful relationships with faculty members such as Bentley Professor of Chemistry Erich Uffelman, who was her professor and supervised her as part of his research team. Uffelman praises Cirrincione not only for her academic talent but also her integrity and warmth.
“She cares very much that things get done right,” he says. “She’s an outstanding worker and a great team player. And she’s a friend. I am confident that our friendship will continue long after graduation.”
Cirrincione’s research experience with Uffelman included work at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum and Mount Vernon, where she performed imaging analysis of paintings. Uffelman points out that the work directly parallels radiology, which connects directly to her interest in medical school.
“What we do is very similar to what happens in radiology,” Uffelman says. “You don’t want to extract samples from patients unnecessarily, and we don’t want to alter the paintings if we have the tools to gather the information in a less invasive way.”
In the classroom, she thrived under professors like Matt Tuchler, associate professor of chemistry and head of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, who guided her through physical chemistry and analytical chemistry, the very subject of the book that was her companion as a child.
“What I saw is that her drive came from a foundation of love and determination. She has this drive to really understand the material,” Tuchler recalls.
As Cirrincione has been preparing for a future that allows her to care deeply for others, she says her undergraduate years have also shaped her immeasurably outside the classroom. Her summers have been spent engaging in meaningful service work as a certified nurse assistant, working with pediatric patients and individuals in hospice care. And Cirrincione has poured her energy into building supportive, intentional communities through her leadership positions on campus. As vice president of membership development and former housing manager for Alpha Delta Pi, she’s fostered safe, inclusive spaces for her sorority sisters. Her role as operations assistant for the men’s lacrosse team combines creativity and commitment; Cirrincione says filming practice reels and running music for home games has been a source of joy and camaraderie.
“One of my goals when I came to W&L was that I wanted to learn to be a more outgoing person,” Cirrincione says, “to say hi to anybody on the street and spark a conversation. And I definitely did that. I talked to anybody and everybody, and it was such an amazing experience getting to know everybody. I would walk by people and just say hi, and friendships formed around that. It’s been so rewarding.”
Cirrincione has devoted considerable time to volunteer work with organizations like The Community Table, the Rockbridge Area SPCA and BluShues, a remote organization that distributes free Bibles. Her participation in academic clubs like Tri Beta, the Pre-Health Club and the Chemistry Club have helped her connect with peers who share her love of learning and ambitions for a future in health care. Her professors describe her above all as “someone who shows up” and say they will remember her work ethic and her friendliness.
“She would just come in and talk for an hour,” says Tuchler. “She’s one of those students who makes this job feel deeply worthwhile.”
“Every year I’ve come here, there’s been something new to see, to learn, to do,” Cirrincione says. “But the Science Center — that smell, that stairwell — always brings me back to being that little girl with the book. And I think about how far I’ve come.”
Cirrincione and her brother, Jacob Cirrincione ’23, recently recreated the photo they took in the Science Center that day on their road trip. He is now a student at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. For the photo op, he stands proudly beside Cirrincione as she once again clutches the same book, standing in the same hallway. But this time, the text no longer represents mystery, but mastery.
“It’s all a domino effect,” Cirrincione says. “One little moment can shape everything that comes after.”
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