Cadet-Alumni Networking Forum Showcases Cadet Opportunities

Just under 100 alumni representing an impressive span of career fields gathered on post Sept. 26–27, 2025, for the 16th annual Cadet-Alumni Career Networking Forum, an event designed to bolster cadet success in navigating the often uncertain path from higher education to the workforce. This year’s event attracted the highest number of alumni panelists ever, up from approximately 70 in 2024, representing the Classes of 1965–2024.

Fields represented included but were not limited to health and healthcare, IT/cybersecurity/tech, law enforcement, energy, law, sales and marketing, and transportation/logistics. In addition, there were alumni available to assist with resume review and post-graduate planning for fields such as law, medicine, and business.

The forum kicked off Friday, Sept. 26, with a dinner in Moody Hall attended by alumni, faculty, and cadets, followed by remarks from Charles W. “Charlie” Sachs ’79, Alumni Association Board of Directors member and Region X South director who is also chair of the board’s Career Networking Committee.

The next morning, the forum shifted into high gear, with members of the Rat Mass of 2026+3 gathering in Memorial Hall to hear remarks from two alums—retired U.S. Army Col. Jamie MacDonald ’83 and Elise Woodworth ’07—about the importance of getting the very most out of their 4 years at VMI.

MacDonald, whose Army career spanned more than three decades, currently works for the Department of the Army as a civilian, leading the Strategy and Initiatives Division supporting the Headquarters Department of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) on the U.S. Army Staff. In passing lessons learned along to cadets, MacDonald stressed that although he’d never seen VMI until the day before matriculation and knew little of what to expect, he quickly learned that success was only achieved by working alongside his brother rats.

“In the classroom and on the Parade Ground, I discovered we were a team,” MacDonald stated. “I needed my brother rats, and they needed me. If I failed them, I failed myself. That bond is the essence of VMI and the strength of the brother rat spirit. I didn’t fully appreciate this until I matured through my cadetship. Along with my brother rats, I learned humility and success, perseverance and hardship, and resilience and failure. These lessons made me a better person and prepared me for a life beyond the Institute.”

Woodworth, a U.S. Air Force veteran, entrepreneur, and VMI Foundation Board of Trustees member, spoke about facing the Institute’s challenges head-on through realizing that very often, relief isn’t as far away as it feels.

“You can do anything for 10 seconds,” she counseled, telling the rats that she’d picked up that piece of advice during her rat year from a 3rd Class cadet. “It is in those moments, my friends, where you have to push past the next 10 seconds to forge the weakness of thought into the strength of knowledge, knowledge that you can do anything you put your mind to. … You’ll meet alumni today like me who have walked this line, and we come back to post to offer snapshots of our journey, those turning points, the decisions we’ve made, and how they’ve shaped us.”

Much of the morning’s activity, though, took place in Cocke Hall, where cadets came to chat with alumni either in small groups or one on one and learn more about the various career fields represented.

Carla Feaster ’27, a computer and information science major, was attending the forum for the first time. “I’ve met amazing alumni, and they’re very talkative and very informative, too,” she said.

For Feaster, who plans to commission in the U.S. Army as either a cyber or an intelligence officer, the breadth of career fields represented was especially impressive. “You don’t have to stay inside a certain field or a certain major,” she noted. “You’re not limited to one thing.”

Like Feaster, Zachary Denton ’27 is planning on an Army commission, but he’s thinking of an educational delay so he could attend graduate school, and he’d been especially glad to speak with Sean Lanier ’94, a former member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors who, like Denton, was a track and field athlete as a cadet.

“He’s been a big help for me and a lot of my teammates,” said Denton. “He’s been very active and proactive in trying to help us find opportunities.”

Denton was also impressed with the generational span of alumni at the forum.

“I saw one alum who graduated last year, the year before, I believe, and I’ve seen people from the Class of ’71,” he noted. “They all bring such a unique perspective from so many fields. I think seeing all the generations who are so willing to come back and help us with this every single year—I think that’s just great.”

Alums, too, were enjoying the chance to network at the event and give back in grateful acknowledgment of all they’ve been given. Michaela Speas ’16, a civil engineer doing stormwater management for Roanoke County, found her current position through an alumni connection, and her current supervisor is Robert “Bob” Atkinson ’77. Speas credits the alumni network, plus the Institute’s strong track record of producing successful graduates, for opening doors for her over the years.

“The people that I interviewed with were not VMI alums, but they had my supervisor on their staff, and they knew about [VMI’s] values and the work ethic,” she explained. “[Atkinson] knew he was going to be getting somebody who was ready and willing to work. So it kind of comes with the territory. It comes with the name.”

Sachs, who is in his fourth year orchestrating the event, was more than pleased with alumni turnout and engagement. “This is our signature event,” he commented. “This is the most successful event we’ve had to date. …It’s about alumni talking with cadets and helping them make informed decisions. We all share a passion for doing this and giving back to the Institute.”

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