On the evening of Saturday, April 22, 2023, a sizeable crowd of alumni, cadets, and other members of the VMI family gathered in Marshall Hall to recognize, acknowledge, and celebrate a unique group of people: The scholarship donors whose financial assistance makes it possible for so many cadets to attend VMI.
This year’s VMI Foundation Scholarship Banquet attracted approximately 100 fund representatives and their guests, 75 cadets, members of the Foundation Board of Trustees, and other friends of the Institute.
Welcoming the evening’s attendees was Tom Zarges ’70, VMI Alumni Agencies Board of Directors chairman and Foundation Board of Trustees president. In his remarks, Zarges noted the unique qualities of VMI cadets that enable them to succeed at a school where challenges are an intrinsic part of the cadet experience. “So, at VMI, to even be here as a cadet means that VMI noticed something out of the ordinary about you, your self-discipline, determination, and your purpose for being here,” Zarges stated. “Our admission criteria are aimed at attracting not the privileged but a broad cross-section of potential leaders, those leaders who have the grit to see it through.”
But admitting potential cadets who have the grit and resolve to stay the course at the Institute is but a first step; VMI’s commitment to cadet success, Zarges commented, is undergirded by the Institute’s faculty, including approximately 30 individuals who hold endowed chairs and professorships. Small class sizes, faculty who overwhelmingly hold terminal degrees in their fields, and ensuring cadets have access to undergraduate research are all hallmarks of a VMI education.
With those supports in place, cadets can flourish—even if their academic beginnings at the Institute have been less than stellar. “Over the years, we’ve witnessed amazing transformations in which rats initially stumbling academically went on to wear academic stars,” said Zarges. “As long as our cadets don’t give up on themselves, we don’t give up on them, either.”
But for many cadets, just being at VMI and open to the Institute’s possibilities requires financial support, given the extraordinary cost of higher education today, and Zarges thanked the donors for providing just that. “No matter what changes take place in the world, our graduates will continue to provide what our nation will always need: Honor, civility, integrity, nobility of character, and a sense of selfless sacrifice,” he said. “This would not happen without the generous donors represented in this room tonight.”
Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins ’85, superintendent, followed Zarges to the podium, where he shared his own story of having his life changed by being able to attend VMI, thanks to scholarship support. No one in Wins’ family had attended college, and his father had only been able to finish high school by earning a GED. “I know firsthand how financial support can change the trajectory of a young man or woman,” said Wins. “I was given the opportunity to pursue my dreams, both academically and athletically. There’s no doubt this helped set up my military career—everything that I would do in my life after I left the Institute.”
But the superintendent was quick to note that his story is not unique. Hundreds of cadets have had the same experience thanks to the generosity of those who came before them, and that pattern of generosity continues today.