Martina Bucheli ‘18

When Martina Bucheli ‘18, looks back at her days at Oakcrest, she remembers one class in particular – Ms. Nussio’s tenth grade History class. She says that the students focused on understanding the world around them and the ideas that shaped the world they see today. But beyond that, the class helped her see herself. 

“The best thing you can get out of a high school environment is to understand yourself and see what you’re passionate about,” Bucheli said. “High school is a very important time for that before you have to face the rest of the world.” 

In fact, Bucheli looked back at her time at Oakcrest when she began to discover her religious vocation while a student at the University of Virginia.

“One of the most interesting things I remember as I got more involved with the Dominicans and living the Dominican life, I noticed I became more myself,” she said. “Something I had lost when I started college. It reminded me most of when I was in tenth grade, in Ms. Nussio’s history class… I think seeing that in myself in high school and having that as a reference when I found myself to be happy and joyful was very important.”

A member of the UVA Class of 2022, Bucheli was a recipient of the Harrison Undergraduate Research Grant, which allowed her to study the work of Benedictine Abbot Suger, one of the key figures in Gothic architecture who oversaw the 12th-century renovation of Saint-Denis, a French abbey church. Her research was tied closely into her relationship with the Dominicans and the Thomistic Institute, in which she was heavily involved throughout college. She was particularly interested in the intersection of architecture with Thomistic Philosophy and Theology, influenced by a friend and mentor of hers, Dominican Fr. Irenaeus. 

“I saw the ways that the friars personified the life of St. Thomas, and I had a very clear idea that these people were extraordinary,” she said. Later this summer, Bucheli will enter the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee. She will join fellow Oakie Anne Whelan ‘17, who is a postulant with the Nashville Dominicans.

In thinking about what advice to share with current Oakcrest students, Bucheli said she encourages young women to “not think about what you’re called to be yet, but learn who you are now.” 

“Your decisions shouldn’t be about your image of yourself in the future, but what you know of yourself today,” Bucheli said. 

Read more about Bucheli’s grant project at UVA here.