Behind the Balance: Natalia Dias ’28 — Keydet Cross Country

Virginia Military Institute’s cadet-athletes have to juggle cadet life, heavy academic course loads, and their NCAA Division I sport. Committed to both academic and athletic pursuits, balancing their rigorous schedule in both sports and school requires a certain level of commitment and discipline. Behind the Balance is a series that focuses on those cadet-athletes and how they handle the hurdles of the day-to-day. 

Natalia Dias ’28 wanted to be set up success, and that meant finding a way to pay for college or leave her with minimal debt. She had three clear goals in school: an engineering program, U.S. Army ROTC, and cross country and track. 

Although she made the switch to economics and business, she found that Virginia Military Institute could offer her what she was looking for. 

“I always knew that I wanted a college that would take me further in my career, and VMI does that in every aspect,” she said. 

Thanks to an Army scholarship, she’s able to afford tuition, and will be commissioning into the Army upon graduation.  

The 3rd Class cadet is currently enrolled in 18 credit hours, which takes a lot of planning.  

Cadet-athletes at VMI not only have their responsibilities with their selected sport but cadet duties on top of that. Cadets are also required to take physical fitness classes twice a week, participate in ROTC all four years, prepare for room and uniform inspections, practice for parade, guard duty, and more. 

How does she handle it? Carefully. 

“I think my whole day is planned out in my planner,” she admits.  

Yes, a real physical planner. Inside is a carefully written schedule that soon becomes overloaded with extra sticky notes and highlights.  

“There are some days I have morning practice, and I don’t stop moving until dinner that evening,” she explains. “Then I go straight to the library, and get my homework done. If it’s an early night, I get excited because I get to go to bed.” 

Her days start sometimes as early as 5:30 a.m. and continue straight through until past 10 p.m. Then, it starts all over again.  

She also holds rank — as a corporal in the Old Corps, which means she’s in charge of upperclassmen and to make sure they’re there for formation and do things like rifle checks. She says she dedicates about an hour or two a day to that role.  

“I wanted a role more than what I already was responsible for,” she explained. “Because as a rat you don’t really have any choices. I wanted to be in charge of something.” 

She said since she wasn’t chosen for cadre, the Old Corps allows her to balance that role with her responsibilities with athletics, academics, and other cadet duties.  

“It doesn’t take up as much of my time, which is probably a good thing,” she said. “This is a good introduction to holding rank. It’s really important because these men and women that are in my squad depend on me to make sure they don’t get in trouble, every single day.” 

As for running — it’s her escape. She’s been running track and cross country since middle school. 

“I love my team,” she stated “It’s one of my favorite parts of my day to go down to even just practice. It’s a good escape. It’s away from the Institute, in a way, and makes me feel a little more normal, but it’s very freeing. It’s my time where all I have to do is run. All I have to do is workout. All I have to do is lift and that feels good sometimes, because a lot of things get overwhelming here. It’s just like a freedom where I don’t have to worry about anything else.” 

Dias describes herself as a big planner with a very Type A personality. 

“I write down the things I can control, and I try not to worry about the things I can’t, because there’s a lot of things you can’t control,” she said. “We have really good resources here. We have the Cadet Counseling Center and everything. If I ever need some help, I can go there, or I can talk to my teammates, my coaches, or my classmates. There’s a lot of great support systems here with how the school is set up.” 

Although her family was a little skeptical of her attending VMI, Dias knows she made the right decision. It was confirmed after an overnight visit where she learned how many opportunities there were for people — especially female cadets. She could feel how close-knit everyone was.  

“To me, it’s not just to further my life, but it’s to experience all of this with my classmates, to get the military experience, to be able to pursue my dreams,” she said.