Kate Taylor's journey at VMI was not without its challenges. Like many cadets, she initially found the structured environment intimidating. However, she quickly realized that this structure was beneficial in helping her to develop her own voice and sense of purpose. Through her involvement in the Cadets' Superintendent's Advisory Board, she explored new ideas and collaborated with other cadets on projects that positively impacted the VMI community.

Taylor's story is an inspiring reminder of the power of perseverance and the importance of finding your own path, even amid challenging circumstances. If you listen all the way to the end of this episode, you’ll hear about a ‘Corps moment’ from her rat year that inspired her to seek an Army commission. Be sure to subscribe to the VMI Leader Journey podcast and tune in to "Finding Abundance in Structure."

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

MAJ. CATHERINE ROY
Welcome to the VMI Leader Journey podcast, where we explore the leader development stories of our cadets, alumni, and VIP speakers who come to the post of Virginia Military Institute. I am your host, Major Catherine Roy, communications and marketing manager for the Center for Leadership and Ethics. With me today is my assistant, Broni King, and our guest, Kate Taylor, a member of the VMI class of 2024, VMI Swim and Dive Club.

And the Cadets Superintendents Advisory Board. Cadet Taylor's journey at VMI was not without its challenges. Like many cadets, she found the structured environment to be intimidating at first. However, she quickly realized that this structure was beneficial in helping her to develop her own voice and sense of purpose through her involvement in the Cadet Superintendents Advisory Board, or CSAB.

She was able to explore new ideas and collaborate with other cadets on projects that positively impacted the VMI community. Kate’s Story is an inspiring reminder of the power of perseverance and the importance of finding your own path, even amid challenging circumstances. If you listen all the way to the end of this episode, you'll hear a 'Corps ’ moment from her rat year that inspired her to seek an Army commission.

Be sure to subscribe to the VMI Leader Journey podcast as you tune in to today's episode, Finding Abundance in Structure.

Welcome, Cadet Taylor, to the VMI Leader Journey class of 2024. And we just like to get to know you and to hear about your VMI leader journey and some of the programs you're involved with here at the CLE. So, take it away and introduce us so that we can get to know who you are.

KATE TAYLOR, '24
Amazing. Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I love doing things like these. Any any chance like I can, I can have to to repay VMI in some way and to really put a put it in a positive light and continue a conversation in which VMI is championed as the positive institution that it is. And so in the CLE, I'm involved in, I've been a two-year member of the superintendent, Cadets’Superintendent’s Advisory Board, and a leadership conference facilitator.

And I've I've been involved in the conference for three years. But as a leader, in it for two. And so those, those two events have been exceedingly rewarding in terms of not only the cadets that I've worked on the advisory board with, but also just all of the positives that come out of the leadership conference has been such a productive and transformative experience for myself, speaking more broadly about my cadetship, I think my story is pretty unorthodox.

If you want me to dive in.

ROY
Yeah.

TAYLOR
So, I applied to 22 colleges, which is an insane number of schools, and I'm still paying my lovely parents back for that much money. And I had this idea in my head that I was going to go to a big football school, and I was ready to do the sorority thing and do all these things that I had set my mind on.

 was essentially ready not to be, to hallmark Card-esque, but I was ready to do ordinary and to. I was really excited to embrace what I thought my 18-year-old female self wanted to do.

ROY
Well, a traditional experience.

TAYLOR
At that point in my life, I was so excited to do what all my friends were doing and to, to dive into that world. And my parents told me they were very supportive. They said, you know, we'll support you where you want to go. It's your choice. This is your life. However, there was a nice little bit that they said, you know, we think you have all these goals for yourself.

And in order to really achieve them, we think you'll benefit from some structure.

ROY
What kind of goals were they?

TAYLOR
I wanted to be a civil engineering major in the eighth grade, so I knew I wanted to do civil engineering, and I knew I wanted to eventually go to grad school. And I'll note that military at this moment was not on my horizon. And so that comes back in later in my story in a very significant way. But my parents just knew that I had a lot of things I wanted to achieve, and I like to talk about them, but they worried that I may not have been backing them up with as much action as I could have been.

and so, they recommend VMI. And I begrudgingly applied, and I had all these opinions about how I thought they were wrong and all these things. And and I was Covid class. So, I had about a three month window to to sit and think right over what up until that point had been the hardest decision really of my life.

And so where was I going to? How was I going to change the needle on the trajectory of my life, excuse me, by making this choice? And so ultimately, I knew that the other schools would wait for me and that VMI was not going to wait for me. And so, it was an opportunity that I, I couldn't miss.

And once I truly embraced and accepted that, I never looked back. And I'm so incredibly blessed and grateful that I did take that leap. And I made it to VMI because it's truly changed who I am in more ways than one. And I don't say that lightly. If you had put that 18-year-old girl in front of me again, I think I'd, I'd recognize her, but I wouldn't really know her.

And so that's something that I take great pride in understanding. And an embracing is that my new identity is something that I value immensely. And it's because of VMI, but not only the higher VMI, but the smaller things like what we do here in the CLE and the rank organization and sports and everything that we do at VMI that the work that champion the students is, is a testimony to who I am today.

ROY
So talk about the decision-making process a little bit because of course being part of C SAB decision-making is something that Colonel Gray is big on. He's got all kinds of strategies and tools you could use. But as your 18-year-old self, what was maybe in your pro and con column that made VMI the standout location?

TAYLOR
So, I think it had to do with when you're when you're not given a set of instructions. So like the part of the Rat Line, I think that's so fascinating is that you're essentially told you're supported in a lot of ways, and there's a lot of structure that's given to you just in your day-to-day activity as a rat.

And I know that for myself, it was really a question of when I have nothing to do, can I devote that time to being most productive? And at VMI, when your time is very blocked out and you don't have as much autonomy over your schedule, that's become something where, you know, I have to do this now because I can't do it later.

And so, the eighteen year old self, I think I saw that structure as a negative and I, I, villainized. I think that idea of structure as, as taking something from me, when in reality it was granting me with something. And so, once I shift that perception of structure as such a positive gift that you get to utilize rather than something that was deterring me or hindering me anyway, once I embraced that, the decision became a lot easier.

ROY
Was that a conversation you had with your parents that they said, hey, the structure is going to be beneficial for you, our daughter, because we know you are right.

TAYLOR
They did, and I think I want to note that they did say it, but once they said it, it just they let it sit there. And then it really became my decision. And it was wholeheartedly something that I had to face. And I had to look in the mirror and realize that that structure was, was, in fact, something that I needed and that ultimately it was the decision, the decision-making came down to me thinking that that I think now that that structure created an abundance.

But in high school, I thought that structure was going to be taking something from me. And once I realized that, yeah, everything else became clear.

ROY
And have you carried that lesson forward then into your cadetship?

TAYLOR
It's such a strong thing to have in a leader is someone that can unequivocally dive into those hard questions like Colonel Gray does, and like the CSAB team does, is that when you can dive into those questions and go through the thick of it and, and have hard conversations and champion hard topics and, and find tact and personal interpersonal tact throughout all of that.

That was really, I think, what started to change my mind into thinking, you know, this is structure that I was so worried about or that I was that I had such a misconceived notion about and here it is, being shown in the entire opposite light as something that is so positive and so productive and so rewarding. And it's because of people, I think, like Colonel Gray and members and people that are on CSAB, and all these, these committees is that they're devoted to asking the hard questions, but then also instilling in you a a sense of identity and understanding; you know how to navigate them.

And I think that's something unique. VMI does specifically within the CLE and the Center for Leadership and Ethics, is that it gives you the tools to be someone comfortable and understanding. My toolbox has been filled with tools in which I know how to properly handle these conversations or these situations, not always perfectly, but that you have the confidence to know that you can at least try.

ROY
So, you mentioned that the conversations that you have are being held tactfully. One of the buzzwords around here or in today's business and leadership realm is about civility and of course, the importance of civility as we discuss these hard topics. Yes. What are your thoughts on that?

TAYLOR
I think I have a lot of opinions about civility, because I think I think it reminds us and it brings back these conversations to understand that they're happening at a very personal level. However, they are skill. To understand two things simultaneously is that you can disagree with an idea and a thought and not the person, but also at the end of the day, the end of the day, you are speaking to another person and while you can disagree with their ideas, you need to have that.

You need to be grounded in a mutual understanding of civility and humility. And I think servitude is also something that comes in really nicely, is that when you realize that you're acting in the VMI system, I love going back to that, that idea of servitude, and it's a selfless service to the Institute. And so, in that if you extrapolate it into things like CSAB was or when I'm sitting across the table from someone on a very charged issue, and if passions come into play and all that stuff, you lose,

I think, your productivity, once you've lost civility, is that that person can start to put walls up, or the idea can no longer be productive once civility, once it's abandoned. It does get hard is that when you you are so steadfast and understanding, like, this is my idea and I'm going to I'm going to die on this hill.

So, understanding that once you've lost the idea of selfless service, the civility goes out the door and you really are not working on a level playing ground because you can't get anywhere. Once you've removed that person from their identity as someone that you need to respect.

ROY
Do you think that there's a way of being passionate without being overly emotional?

TAYLOR
Yes. And that is something that is. I think my goal for 2024 is to understand that something that about myself personally, and more so in the leaders that I strive to emulate, and those that have really had a profound impact on my life, like people like Ryan Cooper, is that they know how to utilize their emotion as such a tool, and they utilize it and they harness it as something that's so impactful because I think that emotion is why people and subordinates, they feel seen.

And so when Ryan Cooper was my swim team captain, he always made me feel seen. And it was because I could, I could feel his emotion, but he channeled it in such a professional and a positive way that it was never a deterrent. And so then.

ROY
Yeah, because I think there's a big difference between having emotion and being emotional.

TAYLOR
100%.

ROY
Because everybody talks about the amygdala hijacking and you're not thinking. And I think that especially in a diverse cultural environment that we're expected to operate in, people can mistake people being passionate about something with being emotional. And so as soon as the volume gets more elevated or the ideas get more firm or the language gets more repetitive, I think that that can trigger some people to say, oh, you're being emotional, therefore you're not.

You're not rational. Therefore, I'm going to tune you out. And I think that's a big disservice. Yeah, I think it's great that you've got leaders around you who are bringing that conversation back around to productive conversation and not necessarily shutting down the emotion.

TAYLOR
A hundred percent. And yes, there's emotion and there’s being emotional, which is, I think, such an important line. I think it brings it helps even bring that civility back, because you understand you're operating on a human level in that they're their feelings and their ideals can be valid.

ROY
So, you talked about having consensus on ideas as you're going through the decision-making process. This year's leadership theme was adapting to complex situations. and of course, you were a facilitator at this year's leadership conference, maybe talk about this decision-making, because adaptive leadership is a people focused leadership style. You're talking about using leadership, influencing others onto a single mission focus, and then getting the expertise in.

So, as you all decide, because it's a problem-solving club, you're looking at how do we select a problem that we're going to solve. What's the research like? And then you're bringing not just your peers along for that journey, but you're also then communicating, these ideas to the executive leadership here at VMI. And so, you're having to learn how to manage up.

You're doing an executive briefing, but you to present the ideas, you've had to come to a consensus and work with various groups to say, who are the experts in this area? What do we know about this or that topic? And talk a little bit about the process for this year's problem solving?

TAYLOR
Sure. What was really exciting about this year was that we had a new batch of a lot of new faces, a lot of new people, and so having a lot of new ideas, I think was the first thing that new influx of personality and ideas so that we could reestablish our battle rhythm as a as a, committee was the first exciting part.

And I think with that, conversely, it also brought new challenges in terms of when people come in. And we did, our, our president or CIC. Mr. Riley Schultz, he did such a good job of of bringing on such a diversified portfolio of people is that it brought new voices and new identities from all different parts and organizations on post.

And I think what was really exciting was watching us all come to the understanding that it's... CSAB is supposed to be selfless. It's supposed to be the Cadets’ Superintendent’s Advisory [Board] committee. So we really are trying to represent that cadet body as a as a whole on the Corps. And that's that can be a pretty daunting task. So when we had all these identities coming to the table, returning back to the idea of selfless service was something really fascinating to watch because you had to go back to the idea of my identity is first rooted in my identity as a member of the Corps and my greater identity as a cadet, not just, you know, whatever

tribe I may fall in or whatever organization I'm in. But the first and foremost, I am a member of the VMI Corps of cadets. And so in the the decision-making and finding the topic that we were going to go with, once everyone started to realize that we were a collective working together for the Corps, and those identities started to maybe realign.

That was I think we're where most of our progress began. The CIC set sort of an expectations and defined what our goal as CSAB is and what past years have completed and all these things. And then we went into we dove into our our brainstorming phase before early in the semester when we're brainstorming any sort of really just trying to find a few domains in which problems may exist or, excuse me, issues may we may find somewhere to start.

And so, once we broke down those umbrellas in those larger domains, then we can delve in further into what each one of those may hold in which one could ultimately be our problem statement. And, in that I think what peer to peer, we would often break into small groups on the committee. And I think watching those small group interactions, it was the heart of our creative process.

So, there wasn't, you know, deadlines, there wasn't any pressures yet. There wasn't deliverables needed that it allowed us to truly just focus on building the battle rhythm and being the most creative and productive as we could have been. And in that, listening to the to, the first thing I noticed was how much passion was in the room. And I think that's when I knew I knew something good was going to come out of this year, because we had so many people that were really excited and ready to work and understood it's.

ROY
Enhancing cadet life.

TAYLOR
100 Percent. The fact that we have a system like the Cadet Superintendent Advisory Board that exists is, is a signal to the fact that our institution in our system is so focused on enhancing that cadet life. And we have such a care for the system that we want to improve it for posterity, we want to improve it for the next generation of cadets.

And I think that the fact that this space even exists for something like she said, this is such a wonderful thing.

MS. BRONI KING
Right from the beginning, you talked about civil engineering that you knew in eighth grade. How did you know in eighth grade that that was your major, your direction?

TAYLOR
Sure. that's a a good question. And I, I think it goes back to even just to relate it back to the Cadets’Superintendent’s Advisory Board, is that from a very young age, I loved the idea of all these wonderful minds, creative minds, coming together to accomplish a task or to accomplish something really productive. And so I thought about, if you can take that idea of a think tank and take something very productive like that.

And as a child, I love doing all these, I loved doing Legos. And that was like my thing. And that was the scope of your think tank as a child is really that Lego box, right? And so, I just knew that I liked fixing things, and I love problem solving. I love building things. And I was always a kid kind of asking or not asking why, but it was always I was always doing something.

I was always very involved and inquisitive. I think as a young child, and in that I had similar to I do here, is that I had mentors that saw that and, and championed me to, to funnel that, that energy into something positive. And so, I think it was my eighth grade science teacher that really challenged me that, okay, you have all these things like, let's try, let's try this.

And so as soon as she recommended me for this program in eighth grade, I kind of took off with that. And I realized that I just really liked being faced with a problem. And and apparently it stuck because I continue to seek things like CSAB, where in a closer to an adult in real world capacity is that I'm still trying to solve those problems.

And that's I think that's how I knew it, that I tried to channel that childhood that loved Legos into something very productive. And that's how I found my way to VMI. Ultimately.

KING
Can you share a memorable or intense experience from your cadetship that has had a significant impact on you?

TAYLOR
It was my third-class year. My swimming coach at the time stepped down, and it was, an imperfect situation, and he stepped down. and that's totally was his prerogative and everything in that sort. However, it left us in a sticky situation. And so, Colonel Tom Timmes is thankfully through, you know, God's grace. He stood up and he was the only reason that we had a season that year was was Colonel Timmes agreed to be our coach and interim coach.

And in that season, that was that whole year was was a very transformative year for me. I was a third. So I had I had broken out and I was trying to find my voice, I think in the VMI system as a third class is such an interesting year.

ROY
It's kind of we call it a marinating period.

TAYLOR
It really is because you have no horizons. So firsts’horizon is graduation. And seconds have that ring coming and thirds that horizon just seems really distant. And as a third, not only was I in this kind of really marinating season in my cadetship, but that I had I had no, no, you know, I was, I was I definitely was in the moment in my cadetship where I needed that structure and I found myself in a moment without it.

And so, our, our male’s team, men's team captain Ryan Cooper, he really stood up. And he helped me navigate a lot of those interpersonal issues I was having was that I had finally, you know, was a third. And I was trying to see how I fit in the system. And I and I saw all this almost adversity, but almost injustice where I felt not betrayed, but I felt neglected.

And I felt like, almost like my team had been wronged and I was I was so full of I was so passionate for this issue. And it was coming out of such a good place, but I didn't know how to channel it.

ROY
That where Cadet Cooper came into the picture.

TAYLOR
He did, but he helped both as a faith mentor. You. He understood where I was coming from because he was living it too. He knew he saw through all of my, I guess, my emotion in some moments in my passion and some others. And he saw it through it and he helped me channel it into something that was productive.

I channeled it into my school, my academics, and I had I AC [short for academic] stars the next year. He helped me channel it into my sport and I, I won the best time that I'd ever gone, and he helped me champion it and my friendships. And I think just having those people in that in your corner and those voices that help you again, see you.

For as you present yourself in front of them, not something on your schedule, not an inconvenience, but someone that as I was appearing in front of him, he saw me at face value, and he took time to hear me and to to mentor me into something so that I could grow productively. I was I was kind of being held hostage by a lot of my feelings.

And so he helped me see another avenue to take that made sense.

ROY
So would it be fair to say that what he showed you was things that you could control, and things that you had to let go of?

TAYLOR
100%. And I, people asked me, what did the Rat Line teach you? And I love this question because it's it's hard because the Rat Line really is the best by design. It's supposed to teach you so many things, and but it taught me to be patient. And people always taken aback when I say, how do how did the Rat Line teach you to be patient?

I'm like, well, when you're in the Rat Line, you're sent a schedule every week. You’re sent all these things where you have to be, what you have to wear, all these things. And VMI takes everything out of your control. But what you control through it, through and through is how you approach a situation and how you face it. It's how you respond, how you act, your emotions, your feelings that is entirely always in your your control and in your court.

And so once I realized that I controlled how I faced the situation, what I brought to a situation because of of people like Ryan Cooper, I realized it almost helps you gain your autonomy. And it gained some of that armor back is realizing, you know, I'm not I haven't lost his battle because I still get to control how I face and how I even start it.

And so, 100%, that idea of, patience and channeling it into something like that was was huge for me, too.

ROY
Well, in the VMI leader journey publication, that goal, that institutional goal of the or objective for the freshman year is leading self right. And so by removing all of like you say, the decisions and a lot of things, the illusion is that you have no control. But the reality is you have a lot of self control, right? That you're going to learn to exercise.

And that is a maturing process. And here at VMI, everyone lives on post all four years. And so getting along with others, managing yourself, these are simple things but powerful life lessons that it's great that you can learn it here and now. And not later, because you're going to have to become part of an organization of some kind.

If you're going to work at all with anyone, or you either have clients and customers or you have supervisors, vendors, etc., etc.. So, I also hear you saying that basically that third class year, it sounds like it was an opportunity for you to develop regular habits, regular habits that you saw the rewards of in grades and performance.

What are your thoughts on that?

TAYLOR
I think, and I'm definitely a creature of habit, and I really like having my schedule and it helps once you have. And I think a lot of VMI goes back to ownership. And so, once you have ownership and identity, you feel like you're in control. And I think having that self-control and realizing you're in control is is really our power here is that once we realize it's our system, it's our school, it's our cadetship, it's it's us.

And I think that's the that's our power is that it lies in the fact that we have ownership over the things we do here and over our identity as a cadet. And I think in that is understanding something as trivial as doing your homework at the same time every day, going to practice. It's like all these things that are the seemingly more trivial, it goes back into the greater base of I'm in control of what my day looks like in these ways.

And when you have when you feel like you have more control over something, inherently you feel like you have ownership in it and I think as cadets, that's really our first calling, is to have ownership in our system. And once you've crafted a schedule or crafted these habits that can accompany in helping that, I really think that's so powerful.

And Ryan Cooper definitely helped me. And in finding positive ways to bring that control back to center. And once I felt center, and I think you mentioned in that third class year and even in rat year, you realize that you're learning all these things and I think it's important to note that it's not obviously the there's several aspects of the Rat Line that aren't easy, but the internal conflicts that you go through as you're being broken down as an individual, metaphorically speaking, and and learning how to live.

I had a room of five girls when I was a rat, and so it was just like, you're learning all these lessons without even realizing it. And I think in that, that there's some, grace, I think to realize that you're learning all these things and, and that grace is important at that moment, but also to lean into the to the discomfort and to lean into the lessons you're learning and to lean into the I'm going to sound I'm going to age myself now talking like some First Classman that's, you know, that's that's not all I like wise now that I've gone through it.

But I would really think to to lean into those situations because VMI is a golden ticket and that a lot of us, I feel very blessed to be here because, I was on swimming scholarship and I had said no to them, so I almost didn't come to VMI. [music]

The pool is now the Mr. Richard Goodall pool. And so, he was a man. The money. I told the coach no, I'm sorry, I can afford it. He he came back with the dollar amount I needed to afford the school. And the man that funded my cadetship, I swim in his pool now. So every time I flip turn, I see his name on the wall.

So. So I think about getting off topic here, but I think about how giving our grace in those moments allows a little bit more gratitude to seep in.

ROY
I had asked you kind of at the beginning, as we were chit-chatting, what advice would you give your your 18-year-old self as you were making school decisions/year right after matriculation, what advice would you give to her as a first?

TAYLOR
Sure. Sure. And I think I, I touched a little bit there on the last thing I said, but I love the idea and the imagery of of leaning in to challenge and to embracing it. And I think about how in my head, how everything has an ending. And for the most part, everything has a finite amount of time. So, my, my time as a rat had a finite start and end date. My time as a cadet had a start and end date. My time as an athlete.

A VMI swim and dive athlete. That had a start, an end date. And so now that I am approaching those end dates, I'm really reflective on all the start dates and I just urge I would have urged my my rat self and I urge everyone else to, as they're on that side that's closer to the start date, is to value that time because that time is is so it's so valuable.

It's the golden ticket that some don't have and so fleeting. It is fleeting and it's so fleeting. And I'm, I'm, I'm sounding like some washed up first classman. But the fact if I could tell myself and I you know, you always wish for the like the discomfort to end and for x, y, z and into something else to come to fruition and all those things.

And so I urge anybody, in their cadet ship to, to slow down, metaphorically speaking, not literally, but but to understand that there's going to come a time, I think, where every you start to speak and everything is, oh, remember when and and when you've reached that moment, I think just hone in on and lean in on the privilege you have.

Even the hard days are a privilege. So, own them because you're here, you're doing them. You're making it through with really great people next to you. And if you can have that grace and gratitude, it's going to it's going to help you prevail throughout your entire cadetship.

ROY
It's changing the narrative from something that's negative to something that's positive. 100%. And it's and I like to talk about it's just a season, and it's a season. You can make it a season of learning, or you can make it a season of misery. And the gratitude, I think, helps to make it into a season of learning. I like how you emphasize the role of mentors, the ability to talk in safe spaces 100%, creating space, grace, and gratitude.

I think those are all great key words to home in on to help make the most of your cadetship here and hopefully, get some of those lessons learned that experiential learning here at the Center.

TAYLOR
Right. And I think so. And so, I think, everyone that's helped me thus far in my journey and I, I really I just hope to champion anybody that hears this, whatever season of whatever season they're in, whatever start or end date they may be near in terms of their journeys to, to take, take inventory of the posture of their heart.

Take inventory of what, how you're speaking and and what I think that the posture of your heart sometimes can be going a little too quickly is you just want to get on to the next thing and you're missing what's right in front of you. And and when you're so busy looking at tomorrow, you miss the abundance that's in front of you today.

So I. I urge everyone to take inventory of the abundance that's in front of them right now and to never to never wish too hard for tomorrow. Because today is right in front of you. And that's a gift, especially at VMI.

ROY
So well, those are great parting words for our audience. And Broni, do you have any final thoughts or a little wrap up question that you may have?

KING
What's next?

TAYLOR
Great question. So, I came in not wanting to commission, and then I was training on the fourth soup the day General Peay gave his farewell address to the Corps. Very emotional. Yes, it was. I was straining fourth stoop as a rat. I remember where it was, just like it was yesterday. And, you know, we had no idea as rats, really, the severity of what was happening.

But the, you could, it was palpable in barracks. So, you knew even as a rat, we knew something was happening. We didn't fully understand it, but we knew. And so, I'm straining on fourth stoop and this esteemed general is walking in, and he has tears in his eyes, and he salutes the Corps. And I'm in. In that moment I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I knew I had to commission. I was like that. There is something in barracks right now that's alive and that's only, I think is intrinsically tied to military. And so, in that moment, I knew and so from a rat to second classman, I fought for two years to get medically qualified. And I contracted in the Army my second-class year, and I just branched Army aviation.

So, I'm very excited.

ROY
Well, excellent. Very good. Thank you. I appreciate that.

TAYLOR
Yeah.

ROY
All right. Well, thank you so much.

TAYLOR
Thank you for having me.

ROY
Cadet Taylor, for being with us. This was a great conversation. I hope you will share it with others and that we can get some great engagement on the podcast episode.

TAYLOR
Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

ROY
This has been a strategic outreach program of the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. We educate, engage, and inspire the leadership journey of our VMI community and the nation. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to follow along as we release new episodes. Follow the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. To learn more about our programs and events or visit our website at VMI.

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