Thomas Jefferson wanted to make a school. A school for everyone. A school for people of any religion, so he decided to build the University of Virginia. The state of Virginia agreed to spend $15,000 to help build the school. The University of Virginia opened in 1825, with 123 students.

Thomas Jefferson was the architect of the school, gardens, and the grounds of the university. The university was called an “academic village.” It was designed so that everyone slept upstairs, and the classrooms were downstairs. The first students to come to the university were invited to dinner with the teachers. Those first professors were named Dunglison, Emmet, Bonnycastle, Long, Tucker, and Key.

On Sunday morning, October 27, 1895, a student of the university saw smoke coming out of the corner of a building. The university was on fire! Brave people put out the fire, and even saved a large statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Today at the University of Virginia there are over 20,000 students. When Thomas Jefferson was alive, there were about 200 people attending the university. The university now has its own hospital, and a football team that plays in the fall and winter. Here are some people who attended the school: my dad; writer Edgar Allan Poe; artist Georgia O'Keeffe; explorer Richard Byrd; baseball hall of famer Eppa Rixey; news anchor Katie Couric; singer Stephen Malkmus; and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas Jefferson chose his own words for his tombstone. His gravestone does not state he was presidnet of the United States, rather, it says he was the founder of the University of Virginia.

Davis, KC. Don't Know Much About Thomas Jefferson. New York: Harper Collins; 2005.
Ferris, JC. Thomas Jefferson: Father of Liberty. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books; 1998.
Jones, VB. Thomas Jefferson: Author of the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers; 2000.
Notable U.Va. Alumni. Available at http://publicaffairs.virginia.edu/notablealumni/. Accessed September 27, 2008.