More than 300 new members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets reported to the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg on Aug. 17 for New Cadet Training, one week before the rest of the campus.
For the second consecutive year the overall Corps of Cadets will number more than 1,000 cadets with the addition of the 331 members of the Class of 2017.
These new cadets will be taught by approximately 130 upper class cadets on how to march and perform military drill with precision, how to properly complete a military obstacle course safely, and how to rappel down a 40-foot tower. They will also compete in an athletic team-building competition along with many other experiences.
Fifty-nine percent of the new class is from Virginia with 10 cadets coming from outside the U.S. Many of the new cadets have family members that were in the Corps of Cadets. One of which is a third generation cadet, while another is following in the footsteps of four family members: his mother, father, aunt, and uncle.
The incoming Class of 2017 will join a long-standing tradition at Virginia Tech which began with 132 cadets in October 1872, when all students were cadets and Virginia Tech was known as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. In recognition of their completion of the challenging training, a parade marking the acceptance of the new cadets into the corps will be held on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 10 a.m. on the Drillfield.
During the parade, the Highty-Tighties, the regimental band, played and Skipper, the Corps of Cadets cannon, was fired when the cadets first entered the Drillfield, at the first note of the national anthem, and the first note of “Tech Triumph.”
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets has produced military, public, and corporate leaders since the university was founded in 1872. It is one of just two military corps within a large public university. The corps holds its members to the highest standards of loyalty, honor, integrity, and self-discipline. In return, cadets achieve high academic success and a long-lasting camaraderie with fellow members.
