Abby Waterbury ’14: Why I VMI

“I just love VMI. Every event that I’m involved in fills my heart. It sounds so cheesy, but it’s so much fun to see people come back and enjoy their time at VMI.”

That’s how Abby (Dawson) Waterbury ’14 describes her commitment to the Institute—a commitment that began during her cadetship and was furthered immediately after graduation when she began getting involved with alumni chapter events. Now, less than 11 years out from graduation, Waterbury sees VMI as foundational to her personal and professional success—and a vital option in the changing landscape of American higher education.

The daughter of an alum, Ty Dawson ’84, Waterbury and her sister, Emily Dawson ’17, first became acquainted with the Institute through trips from their family’s Northern Virginia home to football games and reunions on post. As her senior year of high school neared, Waterbury considered several schools, but in the end, VMI’s alumni network and plethora of opportunities post-graduation convinced her the Institute would be her best fit.

As she encountered the Rat Line, Waterbury had moments of stress and frustration, but she held to her chosen path. “I had heard that it was going to be tough, and there are days that are long, but I had seen my dad and his roommates and friends’ interactions over the years and their stories that they would talk about VMI, and I knew that there was a light on the other side of the diploma,” she related.

Offering encouragement during Waterbury’s first year on post was Kathy Aldrich ’05, then a counselor with the VMI Office of Admissions. “She was working on post when I was a rat, and she told me to break it up into laundry days, just get to the next laundry day,” Waterbury recalled. “You really had these little milestones to look forward to, and then you just kind of ate away the elephant one milestone at a time.”

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, Waterbury began her career in biomedical research in Charlottesville, Virginia. Even in her first job, it didn’t take long for her to see the value of her VMI experience. “Being able to operate under pressure has helped me in my professional life,” she stated. “I work in a very timeline- and deadline-heavy industry, and you cannot sit on tasks. You have multiple competing tasks, and sometimes you have clients calling you. I think being able to operate under pressure is the biggest blessing in disguise that I learned at VMI.”

Waterbury noted that the ability to stay focused when others are beginning to panic is a trait she definitely attributes to VMI. “There’s definitely a gene that’s been added to our DNA [at VMI],” she said. “Being able to stay calm and zoom out, looking at the forest and not just through the trees, it can help get deliverables delivered on time. It helps make clients happy.”

One such client wasn’t shy about sharing just how pleased he was with Waterbury and her team’s can-do attitude.

“I didn’t understand the VMI difference until when in one of my first jobs out of college, recently after I had been hired, the hiring manager came up to me and said, ‘Do you know any more VMI grads that want to do this? Because we just need more of you.’”

The perspective the Institute forges—to stay on task and play the long game—is one that’s urgently needed today, Waterbury believes.

“VMI is important in higher education because it teaches everyone that walks through the door how to deal with the noise in society,” she stated. “Everybody’s looking for instant gratification. And VMI teaches its alums you don’t always want instant gratification—that sometimes we need to sit, and we need to wait. In the long term, gratification will come.”

For her part, Waterbury has been gratified by how rewarding it was to step into the alumni network immediately after graduation and start giving back. She attended her first rat send-off the summer she graduated, and soon, she’d gotten involved with her local alumni chapter—a pattern of engagement that’s continued as she and her husband, Ben Waterbury ’13, have moved from Virginia to North Carolina to their current home in Leavenworth, Kansas.

“People attend those events because they want to be there, and so it’s just a great atmosphere,” she commented. “You’re not only hearing stories about while we were at VMI but just hearing what various alums have done since graduation always amazes me. We do some pretty cool stuff as an alumni body, and I don’t think some people fully recognize that.”

Waterbury has also held two regional director positions, served as an Alumni Association Board of Directors member, and helped to coordinate the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Women that took place on post in fall 2022. Most recently, she served as a member of the Class of 2014 10th Reunion Committee.

“I love being involved in the Alumni Association,” she stated. “It’s friend-raising. It’s meeting new people that I’d never have met before. I had a great experience as a cadet … and I want current cadets and future cadets to have that experience, too, so when people graduate, they want to get involved and give back.”