Alexis Gonzalez '25, a history major, is dedicated to helping others, a passion that led her to become an EMT and pursue a future in emergency management. Her resilience, teamwork, and service-oriented mindset have made her a standout cadet, earning the respect of her professors and classmates.

Ten cadets and three history professors visited Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas recently as part of a joint venture between the VMI chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society, the Department of History (DoH), and VMI's John A. Adams ’71 Center.

Robert G. Parkinson, Ph.D., award winning historian of the American Revolution and author of “Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier,” captivated his audience as he shared the narrative and adventures of the real-life characters in his book.

A group of VMI cadets recently journeyed to the China Folk House Retreat in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where they immersed themselves in traditional Chinese culture.

Community is something Patrick Kiernan ’25 values in his life. It’s one of the reasons he chose to go to Virginia Military Institute and also a big part as to why he’s on the cross country team.  

Guest speakers are Michael E. Woods, professor of history and director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson at the University of Tennessee, and Reeve Huston, associate professor of history at Duke University.

Impactful, challenging, and exposure to atrocities are not ordinary descriptives for a trip to Europe for college students, but cadets at Virginia Military Institute don’t do ordinary. Recently, 18 commissioning cadets and two staff members traveled to Poland for seven days.

With movements like Black Lives Matter and events of January 6, 2021, Michael “Bane” London ’25 had one question — what makes American’s gather like this to get their message across and how far back does it go? 

Jack Conley ’25, a history major is researching the hand-written letter, along with other ancient tablets, for his Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI) project titled, “The Vindolanda Tablets: Understanding the Roman Frontier in Northern Britain.”

Eight 1st Class commissioning cadets at Virginia Military Institute, along with their faculty leadership team toured the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during spring furlough as part of the Olmsted Foundation’s Undergraduate Program.