VMI Graduates ‘Overcame Distractions’

Governor Says School’s Mission Makes It Special

The sun shone brilliantly Sunday, May 17, as Virginia Military Institute held its commencement ceremony in Cameron Hall and conferred degrees on the class of 2026.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first female cadets graduating from the Institute in 2001. Appropriately, the commencement speaker was Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who herself graduated in 2001 from the University of Virginia, and is the first female governor of the commonwealth of Virginia.

The Regimental Band played “Pomp and Circumstance” as nearly 260 cadets marched into the arena with a commanding albeit joyful spring in their stride.

In his commencement address following his first academic year as VMI superintendent, Lt. Gen. David Furness ’87 reminded the graduates of the lessons and training they underwent at VMI, as well as the times they were the ones mentoring other cadets, including the class of 2029.

He commended them on leaving the Corps in good hands, and with heartfelt emotion said, “You will forever be my first class of graduates as superintendent. I could not have asked for a better group of young men and women to lead the Corps this year. There were many distractions, but you overcame those obstacles and stayed focused on maintaining your honor and integrity while pursuing your degrees. I am proud of you and what you have accomplished.”

Furness closed by noting that through the VMI Alumni Association’s Pass in Review program, the class of 1976 forged a meaningful relationship with the class of 2026 and gifted the graduates a commemorative coin designed collaboratively by both classes to serve as a proud symbol of their bond. He then introduced the peer-elected valedictorian, Lukas Maurer.

Maurer, a civil engineering major from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, used the metaphor of sword forging to describe the VMI cadet experience, and quoted from the valedictorian speech of Jonathan Daniels ’61, the alumnus Episcopal seminarian who sacrificed his own life to protect that of another: “We have been blasted by the fire in order to be tempered in mind and spirit.”

He concluded, “Today, my friends, you have made it! You are fully adorned VMIhardened blades prepared for duty in the military, academia, or in the civilian world. I am convinced you have made it through the most difficult college in the country. Regardless of the path we have chosen, we have all gone through the VMI forge together; symbolized by the numbers 2026 on our rings. Take pride in this brotherhood, and the fact that you have excelled through this forging process together.”

Maximus Ankrah, president of the class, also shared farewell remarks to his brother rats.

He pointed out that throughout their cadetship there have been two VMI superintendents, two commandants, two governors of Virginia, and two presidents of the United States.

“No matter who’s at the top, no matter who’s calling the shots, no matter the circumstance, we’re able to maintain our integrity and brotherhood as a class, bringing us closer and stronger together,” he said.

He talked of multiple events the class experienced over their four years together that created the strong bond of brotherhood, including the recent Virginia General Assembly action effecting VMI. “Toward the end of February, when legislative bills threatened our school, arguably one of the most unifying memories of our cadetship, it was the leaders of this class, and the support of this class, that changed the trajectory in a positive way.”

Ankrah reminded the graduates that through all the successes and challenges of being VMI cadets, they have truly mastered the system and are more than ready to graduate.

Ankrah then introduced Spanberger.

Paths to Achievements Spanberger thanked VMI for the honor of being the commencement speaker, and expressed gratitude to the cadets for participating in her inauguration parade in January. “You might remember me as the person expressively trying to tell you something as you marched by, keeping straight faces, as you realized that my microphone wasn’t working, as I was desperately trying to grant amnesty,” she quipped.

The governor read aloud VMI’s mission, ‘“Virginia Military Institute believes that the measure of a college lies in the quality and performance of its graduates and their contributions to society. Therefore, it is the mission of Virginia Military Institute to produce educated, honorable men and women prepared for the very work of civil life, imbued with love of learning, confident in the functions and attitudes of leadership, possessing a high sense of public service, advocates of the American Democracy and free enterprise system, and ready as citizen-soldiers to defend their country in times of national peril.’ That is what makes this place special. That is your charge, class of 2026, to set forth on a path wherein you will make contributions to our society.”

She described her own career path and admitted that it did not proceed exactly how she had planned. “No path is a straight line. Sometimes the windings of paths will get you exactly where you are supposed to be.”

She offered an example of successfully following a blind path during a training exercise she went through early in her career with the CIA. She and her colleagues were tasked to get from point A to point B alone, but all at once in the dark of night, in a wooded area, using only a compass. She set her compass bearing, not knowing where she was going, or what she would walk through. She found herself trudging through a swamp, but instead of turning back, she kept going and finally arrived at her destination.

“The point of that exercise wasn’t the destination, it was proving to ourselves that we could do hard, strange, sometimes confusing things, that when the path got genuinely difficult, we wouldn’t turn back. You all have many stories of perseverance to choose from, and on your hardest days, you will be able to draw on the memories of what you have achieved, survived, and been through.”

She acknowledged that the cadets are entering a world with significant challenges. “You’re the products of an academic institution that has been preparing leaders for more than 180 years. I have every confidence that you will leave Lexington, not just ready to adapt to the world as you find it, but ready to use your talents to do your part to make it better.”

She concluded enthusiastically with, “I do have one last order of business to attend to, and thankfully the microphone is working this time.”

She then granted amnesty to those cadets with unserved penalty tours and confinement, to which the Corps, mostly the 4th Class cadets in attendance, broke out in raucous cheers.