The Vanguard — Nat Lavender ’26

The Vanguard series highlights cadets of Virginia Military Institute who exemplify promise, perseverance, and the true spirit of leadership. While they may not be the top-ranking students or those in prestigious positions, these individuals’ dedication, resilience, and growth embody the essence of being a VMI cadet. By sharing their stories, including the challenges they’ve faced and overcome, we shine a spotlight on the diverse paths to success at the Institute, proving that leadership and excellence come in many forms.   

Nat Lavender ’26 was sitting in class one day on her sixth page of notes when her hand started to cramp. She only had one thought — she was miserable as an economics and business major.  

“I thought to myself, I could do this, but do I really want to be miserable for the next three years?” she questioned. “I switched my major, and I went to English. It was always my favorite subject and I’d missed it my rat year since I tested out.” 

The switch created a fire in her. She became so passionate about her major and studies.

“I’m very humanities brained. The creativity and the complexity of connotations and literature and how words shape reality is so fascinating to me, especially because words are such a reflection of ourselves,” she said. “You read someone’s writing, you’re sharing their mind for a few minutes. I think it’s fascinating and beautiful. I think books are by far the most versatile form of entertainment of learning, because you could read the same book five different ways, depending on the layers of symbolism, you can’t do that with anything else.” 

The way Lavender speaks about writing and reading, anyone can see her dedication and desire for it. She explained that the ability to read a book in a completely different way than the person sitting next to her, just due to personal experience, is so intriguing to her.  

“We’re all just sharing and having a silent conversation,” she stated.  

Although Lavender doesn’t hold rank, she’s held a bevy of different jobs on post. For two years she worked as a history group study session facilitator. Most recently, she’s been working as the cadet in charge for the Daniel’s Library. She also works at the Writing Center, where she serves as a consultant for her peers.  

“I love that job,” she said of the Writing Center gig. “I’m not a very extroverted person, but I like to pick a couple things I’m passionate about and really commit.” 

In addition to being an exceptional student, she has also been an outstanding athlete, competing on VMI’s NCAA Division 1 Cross-Country and Track teams, lettering in all seven seasons. 

A self-proclaimed nerd, she finds solace in studying. 

“I enjoy locking myself away and reading and studying. Nobody’s really with me on that, which is understandable,” she said.  

She’s currently working on her thesis, which focuses on post-World War I Avant-garde art movements of Dadaism and Surrealism in their modern context and conversations and seeing if she can recreate that — if possible. Lavender’s goal is to see if the arts can be limited to a time period in its historical context or not.  

Col. Catharine Ingersoll, professor in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies, said Lavender is a bright student who is disciplined and intensely curious.  

“If I have a stack of tests or papers to grade, I save hers to do last — like a dessert — because she always does such an excellent job on assignments,” she admitted. 

Ingersoll has seen this in the cadet’s work on her honors thesis and explained her project shows great promise and combines her enthusiasm for art history and studio art. Ingersoll went on to say that Lavender comes in for their meetings with innovative ideas that reveal how thoroughly she’s been thinking of how to convey the theme of her thesis. 

“Cadet Lavender always manages to fulfill her responsibilities to a high level of finish, even when she is feeling stressed or when she has a lot on her plate  — and even during times when she, herself, seems unconvinced that she can get everything done,” Ingersoll said. “She never lets things get away from her, even in the midst of the chaos of day-to-day life at VMI.” 

Lavender had not always been so committed to school, she admits. 

“I was not a good student in high school at all. I showed up 30 minutes late to class and sat in the back,” she said. “I mean, I did decent on my work, but I’d help my friends with their essays and turn mine in two days late. I was never that worried about it. It was kind of a shock coming here. 

She said being diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 18 helped her realize the gaps in how she was able to study and figured out how her brain operated.  

Coming to VMI has allowed her to grow and discover herself.  

“I really thought I knew who I was in high school. I think most people do, and college is a place to grow from the bubble you’ve grown up in,” Lavender explained. “Here it’s just the absolute lack of anything that precedes your actual actions, words, and personality. It forces you to know who you are without the clothes or the car and those kinds of materialistic things. Without the materials, you have to look in the mirror. I’d say I’m much more aware and much better for it. I think the stress of this place really illuminates your flaws, and you’ve got to be like, okay, I can’t ignore this anymore.” 

At times she has found VMI to be lonely, but with being on the track team and the friendships she’s made with her roommates and through her major, she’s been able to surround herself with a close group. 

“I think my roommates are such a blessing. I love them so much. I’ve made so many connections here. I think the biggest thing is just knowing that even when you’re feeling lonely, it doesn’t mean you’re alone,” she said. 

She’s set to graduate early this December with Institute Honors; a B.A. in English; a minor in French; and concentrations in literary studies, philosophy, rhetoric and writing, and art history and visual culture. The need to be constantly moving pushed her to add extra classes to her schedule with the intent to drop them. Except, she never dropped them. She’s currently applying to graduate programs — most notably to be a Rhodes Scholar.  

Col. Emily Miller, professor of English and head of the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies, describes Lavender as an outstanding student with a broad range of academic interests.  

“She has a remarkable amount of intellectual curiosity, which is evident in all of her endeavors,” Miller said. “For example, last November she presented a paper that she wrote in my honors seminar on Shakespeare at a professional conference (the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference), and she revised it multiple times, thoughtfully working over each sentence until it captured her exact meaning. She did a superb job of presenting the paper and answering questions from the audience. Similarly, in class she always offered meaningful observations and questions about Shakespeare’s plays.” 

Miller said Lavender’s work ethic seems to arise very naturally from intellectual curiosity.  

“She is humble, thoughtful, and generous, always ready to help her fellow cadets however she can. With her excellent performance in all of the areas I have mentioned, she is a very strong candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship.”