June 2000

Dear Parents,

          Black history month in February brought a myriad of activities to campus, including an art exhibit, a discussion on race relations, an evening of jazz, and an address by U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn. In March, Maj. Gen. Celia Adolphi, the first woman to reach the rank of major general in the Army Reserve, spoke to cadets as part of women’s history month; the department of political science hosted the 12th Symposium on Southern Politics, which attracted some of the nation's most esteemed scholars in politics and contemporary Southern studies; and Corps Day Weekend marked the college’s 157th birthday with a special celebration: Senator Strom Thurmond was honored during parade, parents toured the open barracks, and the 2000 Summerall Guards transferred their rifles to the Bond Volunteers. In April, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor addressed the Corps, and on May 13, commencement exercises took place.

          S.C. Governor Jim Hodges delivered the commencement address. Three hundred thirty-five cadets received diplomas at the ceremony. Of those graduating, roughly a fourth received a commission in the armed forces: the Army commissioned 30 graduates; the Air Force, 30; and the Navy and Marines, 23. Cadet Kenny Bath received the John O. Willson Ring, an award annually voted on by the senior class for the cadet who is the finest, purest, and most courteous member of the class. Cadet Thomas Messervy was awarded the First Honor Graduate Scholarship Medal for his exemplary academic record while at The Citadel, and Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) student Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for his distinguished service to the Corps of Cadets and the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. Highlights of the week included Recognition Day, the Board of Visitors Parade, and the Graduation Parade. 

In academic life

          Cadets from biology, electrical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, and business administration competed in the second annual Krause Foundation Business Plan Competition, contending for a total of $30,000 in scholarship awards. The Krause Competition is a program designed to encourage cadets to become involved in launching new real-world business ventures. Cadets Scott Nixon, Joseph Rohe, and Jimmy Swartz won first place. Cadets Dustin Poplin, Steven Hicks, and Jimmy Foushee came in second. Cadets Justin Drach, Curt Gobely, Khaled Khatib, and Todd Morgan tied with Cadets David Anderson, Michael Davis, and I Mada Sudiana for third place.

          Cadets in Col. Steve Comer’s new course on multimedia design created an interactive multimedia project that they distributed via CD-ROM: Cadets Michael Faulkner and Joseph Renwick produced "Life in the 4^th Battalion"; Cadets Robert Harig, Mark Hiers, and Lee Miller produced "A Tour of The Citadel"; Cadets John Jones and David Myers produced "A Panoramic Tour of The Citadel"; and Cadets Yogi Nugroho and I Mada Sudiana produced "Visiting Bali."

          Col. Saul Adelman and Cadet Kyle Rayle co-authored a paper on the effective temperatures, surface gravities, and optical region fluxes of CP stars, which was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Students and faculty from the department of civil and environmental engineering began a project that involves testing space-age material which could potentially be used in a renovation project to strengthen a church damaged by Hurricane Hugo. And twenty-four cadets from Col. Mark Bebensee’s economics classes served in local elementary schools as volunteer teachers in Junior Achievement's elementary education program, teaching young students about a free enterprise society and how a market-driven economy works.

In the spotlight

Cadet Craig Wilson becomes regimental commander, the highest ranking cadet, for the 2000-2001 academic year.

          In April the college announced the top ranking cadets for the 2000-2001 academic year. Cadet Craig Wilson earned the rank of regimental commander, the highest ranking cadet position on campus. Cadet Mandy Garcia earned the rank of regimental executive officer. The four battalion commanders are respectively Cadet Kevin Spellacy, Cadet Brandon Peak, Cadet David Huffstetler, and Cadet Scott Shelley.

          Cadet Matt Locklair, who served an internship during the summer of 1999 at the Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County (S.C.), was commended by his supervisor for his dedication and, in particular, for the special interest he took in working with a troubled boy to the extent that he raised funds to help the boy attend summer camps at a local church and The Citadel. Cadets Frank Bruzzi and Everett Kelsey were praised in a letter by a woman for the kindness they showed her husband, not only by rescuing him from an automobile wreck, but also by checking on him later in the hospital intensive care unit.

          Cadet Kevin Lewis was selected to serve as a panel chair at the Carolina Undergraduate Social Sciences Symposium at Lander University. Cadet Fred Marcinak was elected governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature. During Corps Day Weekend, Palmetto Medals for performance reflecting great credit upon The Citadel and the state of South Carolina were awarded to Chairman of the Board of Visitors Col. Francis P. Mood, Regimental Commander Kenny Bath, and Cadet Major Petra Lovetinska; Cadet Ryan Lister was presented the Brigadier Foundation President’s Award for his contribution to the athletic program and to the Corps of Cadets. At the North Charleston Convention Center, presidential hopeful Governor George W. Bush presented the South Carolina Young College Republican of the Year Award to Cadet Matt Hiers.

          Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, awarded Cadet Bradford Greer the national Gabriela Mistral Award for academic excellence in Spanish and exemplary dedication to the ideals of the society. In a first in the sixteen-year history of the award, two students were awarded the Engineering Scholarship Medal, which is given annually to the engineering senior with the highest academic average: College of Graduate and Professional Studies student William Bradshaw and Cadet Thomas Messervy, who both have a cumulative grade point average of 4.0, were awarded the medal. Cadet Messervy was also awarded a scholarship to attend MIT.

          Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society awarded Cadet James Brotherton a graduate fellowship worth approximately $7,000 which he will use to pursue a degree in international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Cadet Timothy Anderson will attend the Oxford Refugee Studies Center’s International Summer School, a prestigious 15-day summer program designed primarily for government officials and other personnel involved in the administration of assistance to refugees. Cadets Matthew Belcher, Sharon Hacker, Robert Graham, Ben Baroody, Thomas Estes, and Andrew St. Jean will study at the University of Cambridge this summer. Cadet Anastasiya Smertina is studying German at the Goethe Institute. A number of cadets have internships for the summer. Among them are Cadet Tom Eckles, who has an environmental engineering internship in Australia; Cadet Matt McMillan has an internship at the Medical University of South Carolina; Cadet Royce Frazee has an internship at the Pearson Peacekeeping Center; and Cadet Greg Atkins has an internship at the Washington Center.

In cadet activities and on campus

          The Citadel Reception 2000 on Capitol Hill honoring the South Carolina delegation to the U.S. Congress was a great success with more than 300 guests in attendance. Twenty-five cadets attended, including members of the Color Guard who gave a fine performance.

          Cadets Dena Abrash, James Allen, David Shuford, and MECEP student Sgt. Thomas Sikora attended the North American Model United Nations in Toronto, Canada, where Sgt. Skiora received the award for Best Delegate in the Disarmament and International Security Committee and Cadet Allen received Honorable Mention in the Special Political and Decolonization Committee.

          A team of eleven cadets from the department of health and physical education traveled to Orlando, Fla., for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance National Convention. Cadets Gabe Fleming, Nate Turner, Matt Phillips, and Chris Webb took first place in the national competition of all-stars while another team, consisting of Cadets Matt Phillips, Josh Porter, Gabe Fleming, and Theo Rivera, won the Hoops for Heart 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament. Cadets Dion Trahan and Courtney Walsh were named editorial assistants for the Pi Sigma Alpha Newsletter, the publication of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society. In May the newsletter editorship and an appointment to the society's national executive committee passed from Professor John Tierney at Boston College to Professor John Kuzenski of The Citadel department of political science.

          Nationally acclaimed historian Dr. Emory Thomas served as the Mark W. Clark Distinguished Visiting Professor of History for the spring semester. The Citadel chapter of the Arnold Air Society (AAS) won the Femoyer Trophy for the national outstanding AAS squadron of the year. Under the leadership of Cadet Lee Miller, the society recruited 63 new members, the largest new member class in AAS history.

Cadet Christ Houston plays the Easter Bunny at the Bulldog/Bullpup Easter Egg Hunt and Party. Bulldog/Bullpup is a mentoring program sponsored by Cadet Activities.

      The Cadet Chorale and the Red Choir of Ashley Hall School presented their annual spring concert on April 13. The Regimental Band and Pipes made a number of appearances, including the Southern Conference Basketball Tournament, the Charleston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the CSS Hunley Reinterment Ceremony, the MCI Classic Golf Tournament in Hilton Head, and a formal concert in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Summerall Guards went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and performed in seven parades while they were there; they also performed at the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, N.C. The Gospel Choir flew to San Francisco for the annual spring tour where they sang with choirs from Stanford University and the University of Southern California. The choir sang in four different worship services in downtown Los Angeles churches and for a prayer luncheon at the Los Angeles Air Force Base.

In community service

          Cadets devoted 18,000 hours to community service activities during the whole year, including the Junior League Whale of a Sale, the Charleston Museum Gala, the Cub Scout banquet, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, the Military Order of World Wars ceremony, and the Keep America Beautiful Annual Clean City Sweep. Cadets from Palmetto Battery participated in a number of ceremonies that required color guards, including the Washington Light Infantry Memorial Ceremony, Hilton Head St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Charleston Hibernian Society Banquet, and the College of Charleston and The Citadel Vietnam Memorial Service.

          At the 2nd Annual Rivers Clean Sweep Challenge sponsored by the Rivers Foundation and the City of Charleston, 2800 college students, including 1200 cadets, combed the streets of Charleston, collecting 5000 bags of trash and 1130 pounds of recyclable material. Faculty, staff, and cadets donated almost 900 pints of blood to the American Red Cross over the course of the academic year while members of the Psi Chi Honor Society for Psychology held a food drive and served meals to the homeless at Crisis Ministries Homeless Shelter.

          In February The Citadel hosted the Special Olympics indoor games. Dozens of cadets, faculty, and staff members welcomed the athletes who came to compete in basketball, gymnastics, and other indoor sports. Cadets Brian Street, Shinji Kim, Mike McMahon, Richard Musto, Troy Jordan, and Michael Abdalla were among the volunteer coaches for the Mt. Pleasant recreation department's unified basketball, softball, and track and field programs this semester. The program, which combines young people with and without disabilities, has flourished thanks to a strong volunteer presence by cadets.

Athletics

          Cadets Anthony Brooker and Robby Bell finished in fourth place when The Citadel wrestling team traveled to Colorado Springs to compete in the All-Academy Championships hosted by the Air Force Academy. Cadet Mike Regner represented The Citadel at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis in March, competing in the 184-pound weight class.

Basketball players huddle together in the February 5 game against Davidson. The Citadel won 87-74.

          Cadet Travis Cantrell scored a career-high 33 points when the basketball team defeated Davidson, 87-74. Cadet Cantrell made 7 of 11 field goals, including 5 of 9 three-pointers, while sinking 14 of 16 free throws. With 113 career three-point field goals in 50 career games, Cadet Alan Puckett moved into sixth place on The Citadel's all-time three-point field goal chart.

          Cadet Eric McClary's third place finish in the high jump highlighted The Citadel's participation in the Sprint Invitational Indoor Track and Field Meet in Johnson City, Tenn. Cadet McClary also won both the Southern Conference indoor and outdoor high jump individual championships. Cadet Kris Kut established a new college record in the javelin with his toss of 194'7" at the Clemson relays on March 17, topping his own school standard of 190'0" set last year and went on to win his third Southern Conference javelin championship in the past four years.

          Citadel Baseball Coach Fred Jordan garnered his 300th victory in the Bulldogs' 16-3 win over Navy on March 15. On March 22, Jordan coached his 500th game since taking over the Bulldog diamond program prior to the 1992 season. The Southern Conference named Cadet Philip Hartig Baseball Player of the Week three times in 2000, and the baseball team earned the Southern Conference regular season co-championship.

          The rifle team took top team and top individual honors and won the final matches at the Southeastern Air Rifle Conference Championship in Atlanta. The Citadel men's track and field team posted a fourth place finish at the Southern Conference's Outdoor Championship meet—their best finish since 1986.

          The Citadel has a 70 percent graduation rate—one of the highest among all state colleges and universities in South Carolina—and yet from arguably the most difficult college from which a student can receive a degree considering the military training, the high academic standards, and the commitment to community service. As cadets of the Military College of South Carolina, your sons and daughters have made a bold statement about their character and their future. I know you are proud.

          Norwood joins me in wishing you and your family a wonderful summer.