BLACKSBURG, Va., April 7, 2004 – Four Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets alumni who took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom will tell the corps about their experiences at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center auditorium.
The media are invited to attend.
The four will be on a “gunfighters” panel as part of the corps’ Leaders in Action lecture series. They also will give a short talk on their experiences in Iraq and how their corps of cadets experience prepared them for life after college.
The four alumni are Doug Clark '90, USMC; Mark Sherkey '95, USA; Tim Price '01, USA; and Jeremy Kerfoot '01, USA.
Sherkey’s experience is notable because in Iraq he headed up Operation Provide Classroom Comfort that refurbished several schools for 1,600 students. The project also was promoted by several stateside groups who sent school supplies to help improve educational opportunities for the students.
The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets has been producing military and corporate leaders since the university was founded in 1872. It is one of just two remaining military corps within a large, primarily civilian university. The corps holds its members to the highest standards of loyalty, honor, integrity, and self-discipline. In return, cadets achieve high academic success and a long-lasting camaraderie with fellow members.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.