Cadet Brooks Freeman ’25 always knew about VMI—in his family, it was almost impossible not to, as his grandfather is James Freeman ’66, and his father is U.S. Army Col. Lee Freeman ’96.

It wasn’t long ago that Brooks Freeman was on a life path shared by many members of his generation: a college dropout working in a manual labor job with little room for advancement, unsure of where life would take him next.

Growing up in Newton, Massachusetts, a small town near Boston, Cadet Kate Taylor ’24 never thought of herself as the kind of student who’d attend a military school. When the time came to apply to colleges, she sent applications far and wide, aiming mostly at what she calls the “big football schools.

Cadet Colin Butler ’23 explains his cadetship — four years of purposeful effort that have resulted in wearing academic stars as a civil engineering major, serving as drum major of Band Company, playing as a member of the Brass Quintet, and preparing to commission in the U.S. Army.