College Orientation Workship Inc. (COW), a four-week challenging educational enrichment and leadership development program held each summer at Virginia Military Institute, observed its 40th year of transforming the lives of promising, male, minority and at-risk high school students.
Eugene Williams, a 1974 graduate of VMI, recognized early in his cadetship that many high school aged males could benefit from the VMI style of training, even if they could not meet the requirements to become VMI cadets. So in 1985, with the support of others, Williams founded COW. In 1987, the first contingent of 12 students from Virginia, New York and New Jersey arrived to VMI.
This year, 30 students from nine states participated in the program that taught them to overcome obstacles through intense physical training and classroom instruction in mathematics, English, public speaking, financial literacy and career exploration. The students engaged in choral music, improved their swimming skills, completed an obstacle course as a team-building exercise, engaged in community service activities and learned firefighting and lifesaving skills with the Lexington fire and rescue team. They were challenged to overcome their fears by scaling both the indoor climbing wall in the Corps Physical Training Facility and the pamper pole, a 25foot tall wooden pole which participants attempt to climb, stand atop, then leap to grab a trapeze, on North Post; responding to powerful animals as they rode horseback; and learning the fundamentals of boxing. They also enjoyed kayaking, canoeing, camping and hiking House Mountain.
Williams, who currently serves as the executive director, stressed that COW is not a summer camp, but a transformational experience. “We take these young fellows who have promise, but have failed to achieve their potential, and coach them out of their comfort zone. Our philosophy is, ‘You can’t sharpen steel with cotton. You have to sharpen steel with steel,’” he said.
The students heard from many notable guest speakers who shared their life experiences and imparted knowledge of how they overcame adversity and life challenges to successfully attain their goals. Providentially, Frank Friedman, the recently deceased mayor of Lexington, spoke with the COW students about financial planning June 30. Later that night, Friedman suffered a medical emergency which led to his death. Williams shared how he broke the tragic news to the students, “I reminded them that they were the last group of people to have interacted with Frank before he started his journey down that long, ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death,’ and that I hoped they left an impression with him that would lift his spirit as he traveled to heaven.”
A celebratory 40th anniversary reunion picnic was held at Crockett Farm in Collierstown July 11. In attendance were COW students; staff; board of director members; supporters; friends; and alumni; including U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kendall Clarke, a COW student in 1989 and 1990; and Marvin Adames, assistant vice president for student retention and dean of students at Kean University in New Jersey.
Adames, a COW student in 1988, shared stories from his troubled youth and how the COW program provided hope. “I grew up in Newark, a tough place. When I was about 8, I saw a person die for the first time in my life. It was a violent death. … Later, I witnessed people stabbed and others who overdosed. I saw someone in a stolen car flip the car and die in front of me. I was their age,” he said, pointing to the COW students.
He told of the deprivations he went through growing up, but how his mother always told him that “through education, despite the poverty we were suffering, despite what I was seeing outside of my window, I could be anything in this country. So, I did my very best in school, but I still had to walk day after day through the drug dealers and the gun slingers.” Adames described how the COW program gave him a chance to experience something different. “I had the opportunity to actually believe and to dream about the possibilities. My mother believed in me, and now other people believed in me too. The words spoken and the actions displayed by Gene Williams really were definitive. They made a difference. I left the COW program and went back to my neighborhood, understanding where I was headed. It was because of individuals like Gene who gave me a chance to see something very, very different.”
Over the life of the program, approximately 75% of participants go on to attend college. From that percentage, 3% have attended VMI. The other 25% have attended trade schools, entered the military, or worked in other civilian pursuits.
Information on how to submit an application for participation in the program, or to make a donation, can be found at the website, cow4life.org.
Editor’s note: This editorial is from a story submitted to The News-Gazette by Marianne Hause of the VMI communications department.
