Cadets move debris at New River Park in Newport.
Completing the Caldwell March is a rite of passage for first-year cadets.
The 26-mile hike conducted over two semesters celebrates the journey of Addison Caldwell who traversed miles of countryside to become the first student and cadet to enroll at Virginia Tech in 1872.
But on Oct. 2, senior cadet leaders canceled the fall half of Caldwell March just three days before the event in favor of helping neighboring communities with Hurricane Helene cleanup efforts on Saturday.
Leaders in the corps worked to find a way for those 506 cadets to instead help the community. A request for cleanup assistance was received from Giles County and cadets immediately began planning to support that effort. The regimental commander, Cadet Carson Manternach, a national security and foreign affairs major in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, informed cadets on Thursday afternoon.
“While Caldwell is a time-honored tradition, so is our basis of Ut Prosim, service, sacrifice, and leadership. It’s what we do, and this is our opportunity to live out those things that we talk about,” said Manternach.
First-year cadet Katelin Lock, an architecture major in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design and member of November Company, reflected on the news that Thursday afternoon.
“At first, I was disappointed about missing Caldwell March, but then we were told that a lot of people lost their homes and that our help was needed,” said Lock.
Ten sites in Giles County were identified, and by 7:15 a.m. Saturday, 40 percent of the cadet regiment had loaded buses and left campus to assist.
Once on site, cadets wasted no time. They moved supplies and collected debris and personal items washed away from homes. One group carried a covered porch back to its original location while others disassembled damaged pieces of buildings and sorted them to be carted away.
“It hits you a lot harder when you see it. When you’re picking up kids’ toys and clothes, you understand that they really lost everything,” said Lock.
By noon, cadets had completed work at a majority of the locations and shifted to the remaining sites with more widespread damage.
“This is better than doing Caldwell March because we are helping the community. I’m just glad we were able to do this today,” said Lock.
The community, still reeling from the damage, provided the cadets with boxed lunches, desserts and drinks, and that gesture resonated with cadets.
“You don’t have to be part of a big organization to make an impact. If you feel like you can’t do anything, you can. The people that made sandwiches for us today helped this entire effort. We are all a team,” Lock said.
Ashley Roberts for Virginia Tech