In the News
![Riley Shultz ’24, Christian Cole ’24, and Parker Rice ’24 confer on debate strategy in the balcony overlooking the assembly at the Model Arab League.-Photo courtesy of Maj. Jason Schroepfer.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2022-23/armal_cadets_web-1-400x266.jpg)
Cadets participated in the annual three-day Appalachia Regional Model Arab League debate recently at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. MAL helps prepare students to be knowledgeable, well-trained, and effective citizens as well as civic and public affairs activists.
![Christopher M. Hulburt ’22, valedictorian of the Class of 2022 at Virginia Military Institute, speaking during commencement,.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/Commencement2022HLM186-1-400x266.jpg)
Christopher M. Hulburt ’22, valedictorian of the Class of 2022 at Virginia Military Institute, spoke during commencement, of what brought his fellow cadets and himself to VMI, and what kept them at VMI, and the importance of attributes like honor, duty, excellence, and integrity.
Christopher Hulburt ’22 researched contributions of 19th Century African-Americans at VMI in senior thesis “Unearthed Contributors: African-Americans at Virginia Military Institute, 1839-1851.”
![Christopher M. Hulburt ’22 defends his thesis of the significant contributions by enslaved African-Americans and free people of color.—VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/HonorsHurlburt2022KN04-400x266.jpg)
This year's Honors Week showcased research and scholarship across all disciplines by 34 cadets who presented their research to the wider VMI community. The annual event also saw a large number of cadets inducted into academic honor societies.
![Olmsted cadets and faculty pose during their adventures on the Olmsted trip during this year's spring furlough.—Photo courtesy of Col. Houston Johnson](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/Olmsted-Trip-3-2022-1-400x266.jpg)
Fourteen 1st Class cadets got a taste of life in southeast Europe as they traveled to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina over spring furlough. The trip was sponsored by the Olmsted Foundation, an organization that provides cultural immersion opportunities for cadets planning careers in the military.
![Photo of VMI cadets posing in front of conference at the 2021 SoCon Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/SURFers_Thumbnail-1-400x266.png)
Maj. Sarah Patterson and Maj. Blain Patterson from the Department of Applied Mathematics had the privilege of accompanying 11 cadets as they presented their research on a variety of topics, ranging from identifying glycans with neural networks to women in counterterrorism.
![Jack McCown '24 and family of alumni from Fall 2021](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/McKown-Alumni-1-400x266.jpg)
Every picture tells a story, and this picture from an alumni reunion this fall depicts the VMI legacy of the McCown family. Originally from Lexington, Virginia, members of the McCown family have attended VMI since the 1920s.
![Claire Lee '22](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/ClaireLee-1-400x267.jpg)
Her senior year of high school, Claire Lee '22 attended an open house to see what post was like, and as she put it, “The parade really got me. I fell in love with the whole system of VMI: the brotherhood, the discipline people are required to learn, the structure."
![Maj. Jonathan Jones, assistant professor of history receiving award.](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/Jones_Awards-1-400x266.jpg)
Maj. Jonathan Jones, assistant professor of history, recently received two awards for his dissertation, "Opium Slavery: Veterans and Addiction in the American Civil War Era.”
![Mitchell Masterson '21 and his mentor, Maj. Jochen S. Arndt](/media/content-assets/images/news/2021-22/Masterson-MARCUS2021-headline-400x266.jpg)
Mitchell Masterson '21 and his mentor, Maj. Jochen S. Arndt, travelled recently to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference for Undergraduate Scholarship, where Masterson presented his work on "Reporting on Civil War: How Newspapers Explained Township Violence in South Africa, 1990-1994."