LEXINGTON, Va, Oct. 16, 2025—The Building BRIDGES Club at Virginia Military Institute has been awarded a $10,000 grant designed to spark and expand service initiatives led by youth on campuses, empowering students to lead meaningful change in their communities.

Building BRIDGES is a service club formed in 2014 and has assisted organizations in the City of Lexington and Rockbridge County including Project Horizon, a nonprofit organization that works with survivors and victims of domestic and sexual violence; Rockbridge Area Habitat for Humanity; Rockbridge SPCA; Boxerwood Nature Center & Woodland Garden; Timber Framers; Meals on Wheels; the Rockbridge Area Prevention Coalition’s youth group; Rockbridge Area Community Services; and the “Be a Santa for a Senior” program, providing holiday cards to residents in assisted living facilities. According to Col. Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, the Nanette & Thomas Watjen 1976 Professor of Economics and Business and co-advisor of the club, Building BRIDGES has also sponsored events on post such as special guest speakers; a “Life, Culture, and Society” movie series; and Braver Angels debates and workshops in association with the College Debates and Discourse Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting civil discourse. “I am very proud of the Building BRIDGES Club and our cadet leaders. We have worked hard and are making meaningful connections across post and in the surrounding communities. Our work through the club is very rewarding,” she said. The club’s membership has nearly 50 participants. 

Two other co-advisors for Building BRIDGES are Col. Sara Whipple, professor in the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Sabrina Laroussi, professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. Whipple shared that she and Dimitrova-Grajzl applied for the grant last spring. “The application process included a proposal on how VMI would utilize the funds to increase cadet-led service activities. We will use the grant money for transportation to off-post events and to create awards recognizing cadets who engage in community service.”

Marianne Hause
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE