Slavic Studies’ Stanley Stepanic Draws Closing Act at UVA’s ‘Double Take’ Event

When the University of Virginia held its sixth-annual "Double Take" storytelling event last month in the Dome Room of the Rotunda, it turned to a pair of College undergraduate students and a popular Arts & Sciences faculty member to share their unique tales of finding their communities and vocations on Grounds. 

Fourth-year Arts & Sciences student Rebecca Fitch was the second of seven invited storytellers, sharing her accidental journey to joining the military as a second year looking to fill her course schedule with a "Leadership and Decision Making" course that she didn't realize was an Army ROTC course. Fast forward two years, and Fitch now serves as the battalion commander for UVA's Army ROTC program. Here's her story of how she found "her people" in the last place she expected: 

Fellow A&S fourth year — and UVA rower — Skylar Dahl came up later in the program discussing the physical adversity she overcame. Dahl was born with "bilateral clubfoot," a condition that cut short her childhood dream of playing college basketball. Dahl told the rapt audience that she refused to let the condition be a lifelong barrier in her life — and she eventually discovered an outlet for her athletic gifts on the UVA women's rowing team. The rowing talent she developed led to a spot on the U.S. Paralympic team last summer. While sharing her story, she wore the silver medal that she won at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris:

When it came time to close the Nov. 19 event, Double Take turned the microphone over to Slavic Languages & Literatures assistant professor Stanley Stepanic to deliver the final story.

His popular undergraduate course on Dracula, which he has been teaching at UVA since 2007, always draws a waitlist. But on this night in the Dome Room of the Rotunda, Stepanic opted not to discuss vampires. As the audience members passed amongst each other a childhood photograph of Stepanic from a father/son Cub Scouts camping trip, he discussed his star turn during that trip’s bonfire skit show. Another parent helping them prepare encouraged Stepanic to tweak the punchline of a creaky, overused skit, helping him land huge laughs from the unsuspecting crowd of Cub Scouts and their fathers.

Stepanic recounted how he asked his father to take the photo of him the following morning, seated on the bench near where he delivered the unexpected punchline. And when he looks at that photo now, years later, Stepanic said he considers that the moment he discovered his passion for teaching. 

“I can remember that picture, and I'm thinking to myself there, 'Wow! I want to do something like that,' you know? How can you get up there and connect with people and teach them something in a moment with a word?”

The best advice he has to offer today to his students, Stepanic said, is to encourage them to dive into different experiences, especially those where they don’t feel comfortable at first.  

“Go out there and do a lot of stuff. Listen to music you might not like. Talk to people you don’t talk to normally. Just get out there and connect, and then eventually all that stuff just kind of comes together. Sometimes it’s in a way you don’t expect,” Stepanic said.