VMI Grads Persevered ‘With Character’

Army Secretary Offers Message Of Hope

Editor’s note: The following story was written by Marianne Hause, media relations specialist for VMI Communications & Marketing.

A clear and warm morning set the tone for the elation and celebration in Cameron Hall as Virginia Military Institute held its commencement ceremony and conferred degrees on the class of 2024 last Thursday.

The Regimental Band played “Pomp and Circumstance” as nearly 350 cadets marched into the arena to the cheers and applause of thousands of family members, friends, and supporters.

Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins ’85, superintendent, welcomed the assembly, and noted that the great personal achievement of graduating from VMI is not reached alone, but with the help of family, friends, faculty, staff, and coaches who encouraged, guided, and sustained the cadets.

He reflected that because of the pandemic, members of the class may not have had a high school graduation ceremony, and when they arrived to VMI in August 2020, they were met with additional challenges and hardships than matriculants in previous years.

“You marched up the hill for the first time on a rainy afternoon with your VMI-issued masks on,” Wins said. “Everything that first semester was done deliberately and with caution under the guidance of the medical community. Our goal was to protect each other and those around us. By November the health experts advised we distance from each other for a season, so you finished your first semester online. Thankfully you were able to return in January.”

Wins shared that their first semester was also his first semester as interim superintendent.

“In many ways we have grown together,” he said. “There was turmoil about our culture that was imposed upon the entire corps of cadets when you started. Those challenges were never about you or your class. You were then and are now cadets of character who embody a code, that few, if any, colleges could live up to.”

Wins commended the class for what they have accomplished.

“You are one of the few classes at VMI to endure the full effects of the global pandemic,” he said. “I can say without a doubt, your class showed tremendous grit and resilience. You not only persevered to the end, but you did it with character. Remember this lesson because it will apply to many future challenges you will face. You have a foundation built on honor, resilience, dependability, and sacrifice. You know that leadership is not easy, but I challenge you to serve the people around you. Take these lessons and become leaders in your family, your community, the commonwealth, and the nation.”

Of Friendships

Wins then introduced Virginia G. Townsend, peerelected valedictorian of the class of 2024, who also cited the additional burdens placed upon her class their rat year because of the pandemic, but saw it as a blessing.

“It was those difficult times that allowed us to grow closer with each other,” she said. “The hallmark of any VMI class is the close bond forged between brother rats, but for our class it is even more so the case.”

Townsend shared with her audience that she thought she knew the definition of friendship in high school, but learned from her parents that a friend is someone who would lay down their life for you, someone who would drop everything to put your best interest above their own, and someone for whom you would do the same.

“It wasn’t until coming here that I realized how right they were,” she said. “Never before in my life have I had the privilege and the blessing to be surrounded by so many friends. We helped each other grow in maturity, grace, and confidence. We slowly but surely changed from a loosely connected group of individuals into the class of strong men and women.”

Townsend conceded that the future may be uncertain, but encouraged her peers to never lose faith, and shared a favorite story from Holocaust survivor and Christian writer, the late Corrie ten Boom, to illustrate her point. ten Boom used a small tapestry as an object lesson during public speaking appearances.

“‘Our lives are like watching a tapestry being made from the back side. You get occasional glimpses of what the front might look like, but mostly it just seems like a colorful mess of knots and tangled threads. It’s not until the weaver is finished that you can turn it over and look at the front to see the amazing and intricate pattern that was being made there all along,’” she quoted ten Bloom.

“As we step out into the world beyond, let us not lose sight of the lessons that VMI has taught us,” said Townsend. “Let us live each day with purpose and gratitude, for we never know if it may be our last. Let us bring a strong sense of morality and truth to those around us.” Townsend concluded her time with a blessing from the Bible passage, Numbers 6:24-26.

‘Look Up’

President of the class of 2024, Cole Cathcart, a graduate of Rockbridge County High School, shared farewell remarks to his brother rats by telling them to keep in mind the phrase, “look up.”

“When wrestling with life’s challenges, look up at the sky, the clouds, and the mountains,” he said. “God Almighty created the wonderful world around us, and his plans for us are so much larger than the trivial trials we experience. Look up to those who have helped you along the way: parents, professors, coaches, faculty, staff, roommates, and dykes. While we say goodbye to each other today, we have technology to keep us together. When an old roommate or someone you shared a class with crosses your mind in a few years, look them up, call them, or send them a text or email. Let them know you’re thinking about them.”

Offering Hope

Cathcart then introduced guest speaker, Ryan D. Mc-Carthy ’96, 24th secretary of the U.S. Army, who graduated from VMI with a degree in history.

McCarthy shared with his audience that despite his success in the military, government, and private sector, he was far from being a model cadet.

“I was undisciplined and did not like following the rules. As a result, I spent a lot of time marching alone in the courtyard, in endless confinement, even cleaning latrines. No one would have predicted I would ever graduate, much less lead Airborne Ranger platoons into combat, or serve at the highest levels of industry and government. It got so bad, that after two years I was invited to leave,” he confessed to gales of laughter.

After time spent at home in Chicago, and having a heartto- heart discussion with his parents, McCarthy was given permission to return to VMI, and improved his academic performance. When he received his diploma, he was the first member of his family to attain a college degree.

McCarthy encouraged the graduating class to listen to their mentors, and heed their wise words. He advised the cadets to cherish their friendships made at VMI, and named several of his own brother rats who went on to lead successful lives, including John Adams ’96, VMI board of visitors president for the upcoming year, and Mark Townsend ’96, an eminent cardiologist who sent all four of his children, including this year’s valedictorian, to VMI.

Sadly though, McCarthy also mentioned that a few of his classmates died prematurely.

Fighting back tears he shared, “It is important to note that for my class, the wins and achievements have been accompanied by struggling grief. Mental health issues claimed the lives of two of my classmates from suicide and alcohol abuse, a painful reminder to never stop looking out for one another for as long as you walk this earth.”

He further shared that another classmate was killed by a sniper in Iraq.

He concluded by telling the graduating class to consider what faces them around the world, particularly the emerging alliance of China and Russia.

“With abundance of natural resources, advanced technology, and above all, resentments against the West and America’s position as the world leading power, both are looking to recover what they lost in territory and treasure. One by force, the other by intimidation, coercion, and lost glory,” he said. “And while we cannot predict all the crises to arise, or the problems to solve, we know the leaders to solve them. They are in this auditorium.”

McCarthy currently serves on the board of directors of CACI International and is an advisor to the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation and is the vice chairman of the board of advisers of the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. In 2019, McCarthy was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.

Awards Presented

Three awards are traditionally given at VMI’s May commencement exercises. The First Jackson-Hope Medal for highest attainment in scholarship, accompanied by the Commander Harry Millard Mason Academic Proficiency Award, went to Jacob R. Kleinschuster, an economics and business major from Richmond.

Receiving the Second Jackson- Hope Medal, for second highest attainment in scholarship, accompanied by the Colonel Sterling Murray Heflin 1916 Academic Proficiency Award, was Joshua D. Cheung, from Brookfield, Conn., who double majored in biology and English.

Townsend received the Society of the Cincinnati Medal, for efficiency of service and excellence of character, accompanied by the Richard J. Marshall and Sumter L. Lowry awards.

Commencement concluded with a benediction offered by Col. John P. Casper ’04, chaplain, followed by Brian M. Pritchard ’25, the new regimental commander, relieving the class of 2024 of their duties as they cheered and tossed their gloves in the air.