Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets to welcome back alumni for Corps Homecoming
Annually the largest alumni reunion event on campus, the Corps of Cadets alumni are returning to campus to celebrate the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Homecoming in conjunction with the Sept. 17 football game versus Arkansas State.
The weekend’s events will kick off with the first Corps of Cadets blood drive of the semester which will be held in Brodie Hall on Sept. 14 through Sept. 16. All, and most especially the visiting corps alumni, are invited to join the current cadets in donating. Appointments can be made online, sponsor code VTCC, and walk-ins are welcome.
The next event is the Fall 2011 Gunfighters Panel which will be held on Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in the Burruss Hall Auditorium. Four Corps of Cadets alumni, who have served a combat deployment, will share their combat deployment experiences, their lessons learned and leadership challenges, while also sharing how the corps experience prepared them for life after college. All are welcome to join the corps for this event and no tickets are required.
On Friday at 5 p.m. the regiment will hold a formal retreat ceremony to honor our returning alumni. The ceremony will be held at the flag pole on Upper Quad. The regiment will be formed between Lane, Brodie, and Rasche Halls. The Color Guard will lower the flag, Skipper, the corps cannon, will fire, and the Highty-Tighties, the regimental band, will play.
Friday night will continue with the cadet leadership dinner where cadet commanders speak to the alumni about their cadet experiences. On Saturday morning alumni who have endowed Corps of Cadets scholarships will attend the annual corps donor breakfast with the cadets who are the recipients of their generosity.
Prior to the game, the annual corps homecoming lunch will take place. At which, the Commandant of Cadets retired Maj. Gen. Randal Fullhart, U.S. Air Force, will be the keynote speaker.
Also, as part of corps homecoming weekend and to honor the special relationship between Virginia Tech and the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., cadets will be collecting for this cause at each of the entry gates to Lane Stadium. To date over $181,300 has been collected by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets for the National D-Day Memorial. The corps is the largest non-corporate sponsor of the memorial.
In addition, 285 cadet alumni will join the cadet regiment on the field for the pre-game march-on ceremony at the football game.
And finally, in honor of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Homecoming, the corps is coordinating with the U.S. Air Force to provide a flyover of a C-17 Globemaster III during the National Anthem prior to the football game. The flyover is expected barring weather and if operational tempo allows.
