James Monroe Grad Looking to Become a Doctor

When James Monroe High School graduate Audrey Dyer heads to the University of Virginia, she's going to miss those Friday night football games when she and her friends walked up the concrete stairs at Maury Stadium with bodies and faces painted in school colors of orange and black to have a good time cheering on the team.

"Those Friday nights, they were all so fun," she said. "It's just like one big community and everyone has so much fun."

She'll be going to a school that has a much larger football stadium in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, where she wants to follow a pre-med track to become a doctor in a specialized field.

"I've always had an interest in medicine and health," she said.

She said she chose UVA over Wake Forest because she has friends at the Charlottesville university and it's not too close, or too far, from home in downtown Fredericksburg.

"Charlottesville is a great city and it will be a good environment for me," she said.

Dyer was a top tennis athlete for the school, winning numerous accolades for singles and doubles. She's played varsity tennis all four years of high school and won district championships all four years. The team went to states competition for the first time this year, and Dyer won individual district singles and doubles championships in her junior and sophomore years. She's played tennis since the age of 7.

The school system recommended Dyer for a graduation profile, saying: "Audrey’s scholastic achievements have yielded many honors and awards. She has been involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, and has demonstrated civic awareness as well."

She's a four-year James Monroe scholar, which means she has four mini pewter cups somewhere in her bedroom, she said. She earned numerous scholarships and won the Student Athlete Award this spring which is given to a great athlete who also performs well academically. She has finished eight AP college-level classes and two more at Germanna Community College. Her favorite classes were AP Statistics and AP U.S. History.

"It's more work but the material goes much more in depth," she said. "I just really liked AP classes."

Dyer is the daughter of Brian and Barbara Dyer.

Dyer's tennis accolades:

No. 1 Seed Singles Position (10, 12)

No. 2 Seed Singles Position (9, 11)

No. 1 Seed Doubles Position (9,10,11,12)

Team captain (12)

Team MVP (9,10,11,12)

Battlefield District Regular Season Singles Champion (individual) (10,12)

Battlefield District Regular Season Doubles Champion (individual) (9,10,11,12)

Battlefield District Regular Season Champion (team) (9,10,11,12)

State quarterfinalist (12)Free Lance Star All-Area Tennis Team (9,10,11,12)

Free Lance Star All-Area Player of the Year (10)

All-region honors (10,11)