LEXINGTON, Va. – When Hannah Dickinson ’15 walked across the stage at Cameron Hall on May 16, she was part of the one of the largest graduating classes ever at VMI. And it was, quite possibly, the first time she had stopped running since arriving on post way back in 2011.
To say Dickinson has been busy would be an understatement. In addition to the academic responsibilities that came with her biology major with minors in chemistry and psychology, Dickinson was also a member of the VMI cross country and track teams. That certainly is enough to keep any cadet hopping, but add to that Dickinson’s volunteer work, which included membership in Keydets Without Borders, and one can understand why she might want to slow down. For a little while at least.
“To not have to wear a uniform anymore, to not have anyone telling me when I have to wake up, I’m very excited,” Dickinson said a couple of days before commencement exercises.
While Dickinson, like most graduating cadets, expressed that sense of relief, she also said there is another emotion that comes with graduating from VMI.
“I definitely think there’s a sense of pride to say I did this,” Dickinson explained. “I can say that I put myself through the ‘uncommon choice.’”
And VMI reciprocates that feeling. Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62 may not have been talking directly to Dickinson when he delivered his opening remarks to the 317 graduating cadets, but what he said certainly applies to her. He spoke of the individual accomplishments of the Class of 2015.
“These accomplishments add to the luster of your class and the reputation of the Institute,” he said. “This is what I think makes the Class of 2015 unique: individual actions of young men and women that describe, [that] define the character of your class. I think you set an example for other classes to follow.”
Dickinson is one of those cadets whose exploits will be difficult to match.
She was named a Distinguished Graduate with Institute Honors and recently won an Air Force Health Professional Scholarship, which will help her as she attends Eastern Virginia Medical School in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor.
For the last two years, she served as captain of the VMI cross country and track teams. The highlight of her career probably was her top-eight finish in the 3,000-meter run during the indoor season of her 2nd Class year, though this season she completed the Southern Conference Cross Country Championships with a time of 18 minutes, 27.98 seconds, topping her personal-best time by 30 seconds. At the end of the track seasons, Dickinson was awarded the conference’s Mike Wood Graduate Scholarship.
While Dicksinson says she will cherish those memories, along with time spent with her roommates, it is her work with Keydets Without Borders that she’ll remember as among her most meaningful experiences.
After joining the organization as a 3rd Class cadet, she stuck with the program, serving as its president this past year. The last two summers she traveled with the group to Bolivia to help install water lines and VMI-developed eco-latrines in a tiny village. She also took the opportunity to do preliminary research on the health-care opportunities in that village and used her findings as the basis of her Institute Honors thesis.
“My experiences with KWB are the defining moments,” Dickinson said of her time at VMI. “I wanted something to help people; that’s what I feel like I’m called to do. I want to continue what I’ve been doing in Bolivia, helping people who don’t have access to good health care.”
She will get that chance. When she completes medical school, Dickinson will serve a stint in the United States Air Force, like her father before her, where she might pursue pediatrics and will surely get another opportunity to help the less fortunate overseas.
And she will never forget it started at VMI.
“[The Institute] really did so much for me,” Dickinson said. “I think I have definitely grown in confidence the last four years. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life.
“I’m thankful I came here,” she continued. “I would do it again.”
Two other outstanding cadets were honored during the graduation ceremony.
Robert Hardy Hendren, a biology major with minors in Arabic and French and a Distinguished Graduate with Institute Honors, was awarded the First Jackson-Hope Medal, given for highest attainment in scholarship, and the accompanying Commander Harry Millard Mason Academic Proficiency Award. He also received the Society of Cincinnati Medal, for efficiency of service and excellence of character, and the Richard J. Marshall and Sumter L. Lowry Awards that go along with that prize.
Wesley Cade Jacobs of North Carolina was the recipient of the Second Jackson-Hope Medal and the Col. Sterling Murray Heflin ’16 Academic Proficiency Award. An economics and business major, Jacobs was named a Distinguished Graduate with Institute Honors.
A total of 19 cadets were tapped as Distinguished Graduates with Institute Honors, and 43 more earned Distinguished Graduate recognition.
And valedictorian Henry W. Meredith counseled his classmates to preserve their friendships as they move forward in their lives, remarking, “You are strong and full of love and more than ready to overcome any failure.”
– Chris Floyd