MacArthur, Cincinnati awards honor outstanding leadership

Cadet Lt. Col. Ryan A. Schieber and Cadet 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Tyo Fox are the 2012 recipients of The Citadel’s most prestigious awards recognizing cadet excellence and leadership.

Ryan Schieber

During the Feb. 17 military dress parade, Schieber will receive the Medal of the Society of the Cincinnati of South Carolina Award while Fox will receive the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation Award.

Schieber, a senior and criminal justice major from Ivyland, Pa., has held a variety of positions in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets. He is this year's Air Force ROTC Wing Staff LRS commander, a member of the Summerall Guards silent drill platoon, and is chairman of the Honor Committee. His name will be engraved on the Society of the Cincinnati memorial plaque in the lobby of Bond Hall. He will be commission in the Air Force in May. 

Fox is an Eagle Scout, cadet commander of the Army ROTC battalion, a member of the 2012 Summerall Guards silent drill plattoon, an academic officer in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets and co-captain of the men's soccer team. A resident of Rochester, N.Y., Fox is a senior majoring in business administration. He will be commissioned in the Army in May.

The Society of the Cincinnati Award is given annually to the senior cadet officer who best exemplifies the combined qualities of a good soldier and a good citizen – characteristics of the patriots who fought to obtain America’s freedom and which the Society pledges to perpetuate. These citizen-soldier characteristics are modeled after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer who became a successful general, and charter members of the Society of the Cincinnati, include George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Marquis de Lafayette. 

Michael Fox

The Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation presents its annual award to outstanding cadets of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States. Cadets are recognized for excelling in athletics, academics and leadership in the Corps of Cadets and excelling by the standards set by the AMCSUS. It is among the college’s most prestigious annual awards presentations. The objective is to encourage students to emulate and practice the qualities exemplified by Douglas MacArthur as a cadet at the West Texas Military Institute and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

According to Commandant of Cadets Col. Leo Mercado both cadets “embody the qualities of good citizens and soldiers and work tirelessly to lead the Corps with a focus on establishing a firm foundation for the future.”