Matriculating with the Class of 2024, Gen. Mike D. Groshon (G3 for short) has filled the paw prints of recently deceased G2. The new bulldog descends from an impressive line of Generals and Boos. His diet consists of knobs as well as Paladins and Kangaroos.* At 15 months, G3 fails the cadet height and weight requirements at a whopping 65 pounds carried by his broad shoulders and stumpy legs.

The arrival of G3 with his uninhibited drool boosted the masked Corps’ excitement about returning to campus for the new semester.

*Mascots of Citadel rivals, Furman University and Virginia Military Institute.

The Class of 2024 reported to campus on Saturday, August 8. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the new freshmen joined more than 600 cadets who were already on campus for a phased schedule that began athletic training and preparations to train the new class.

The Matriculation Day process, which is usually completed in about two hours, was stretched to 12 this year to ensure social distancing and to limit the number of people on campus.

“We’ve been working on this and preparing for this day for months,” said retired U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, ’90, vice president for Communications and Marketing. “The final pieces have been put in place to make sure that we can have everybody back and protect everyone’s health and safety.”

Members of the Class of 2024 arrived on campus, said their goodbyes to their family and had their temperatures checked before they began processing.

After an initial stop in the barracks where they received their room assignments and physical training uniforms, the cadet-recruits traveled in small groups to Mark Clark Hall, where they got haircuts and mailbox keys. Afterward they visited the cadet store.

Throughout the process, the cadet-recruits began to receive their military instruction from cadre, the group of upperclassmen tasked with their training. Issued through masks that are now part of the official uniform, there was at least one new cadre command—“Keep six feet apart.”

The next step in the schedule was Challenge Week, when cadets were introduced to the fourth-class system and received rapid military training—learning how to wear their uniforms, drill, and clean their rooms and barracks.

“When you’re a member of the Corps of Cadets, you develop camaraderie with your classmates that’s unlike anything you’d see any other institution,” said Dorrian. “You go through hard times together, you overcome challenges together, you learn teamwork together, and those profound impacts will follow you the rest of your life.

The remainder of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets returned to campus August 16.

Cadet Trey Stevens had planned to spend part of his summer in a study abroad program in Japan and the other part working with The Citadel STEM Center, but that was before the COVID interruption, and Stevens found himself scrambling to come up with alternative arrangements.  Fortunately, the Virtual Student Federal Service program was not one of the programs canceled this summer. In fact, the program was sponsoring an internship with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Stevens’ skills were in demand to help track COVID cases.

Stevens’ resume is impressive.  Before this summer, he was double majoring in computer science and intelligence and security studies with minors in fine arts and cybersecurity.  With the addition of cyber operations to the curriculum this fall, Stevens has added a third major.  He is the recipient of an academic scholarship and, during the academic year, he volunteers at Cane Bay Middle School where he helps students prepare for cyber competitions.  He is actively involved with the Cyber Team and the Cyber Club at The Citadel as well as the Gospel Choir.  He also has a post-graduation job lined up with the Naval Information Warfare Center where his work will focus on cyber security and cyber operations.

Not surprisingly, Stevens’ schedule is full, and with classes this summer, interviewers for the HHS internship wanted to know how he would manage the competing demands on his time.  “I told them that whenever you have moments like that, you need to take a pause and actually realize the work that you’re doing and the impact of that work,” he said, “and that there’s always motivation for you to keep on doing what you’re doing.”

Stevens was one of 13 students from across the country working on the HHS project.  

“Because of the intricacies and how important the work was, the position was actually expedited, and a small handful of people and I started working on the state data quality and resolution enhancement team.”

The South Carolina team consisted of Stevens and a graduate student from the University of California at Los Angeles.  Together they analyzed and tracked COVID data in South Carolina by zip code.  As July gave way to August, Stevens and his colleague from UCLA relinquished their responsibilities to another team that will continue their work.  Along the way, they uncovered many findings about how data is reported in different states and how often, and they recognized some states have different levels to their data than others.

“It was a great experience during an unfortunate time,” said Stevens.  “The pandemic has put everyone into unique circumstances, and I was one of the lucky people to have this opportunity to assist HHS in understanding COVID-19 trends.”

The Citadel campus looked a little different in the late spring and summer months, but not just because campus closed for cadets and students due to the pandemic. Instead of cadets being issued gear on the red-and-white-checkered quads, it was Marine recruits, called poolees, who occupied the barracks.

On May 4, the U.S. Marine Corps began bringing its Eastern Region recruits to The Citadel campus for two weeks of observation before transporting them to the recruit depot at Parris Island where they would begin Marine Corps boot camp.

Medical screenings with systematic temperature checks were used to monitor for COVID-19 to assist in keeping the virus from spreading at Parris Island. About 300 poolees arrived and departed every two weeks for 12 weeks, with approximately 300 Marine personnel also on campus to facilitate the operation.

The Marine Corps Times reported that The Citadel was chosen for staging because it is “uniquely postured to support the type of supervision and training we were looking to conduct based on the layout of their barracks and proximity to the Depot and major airports.” In a letter written to The Citadel and retired U.S. Marine Corps General Glenn M. Walters, ’79, after the Marine Corps mission concluded in July, Brig. Gen. Julie L. Nethercot wrote, “Our support agreement allowed the Marine Corps to provide critically important safety measures for incoming Marine recruits in order to continue our mission of transforming the finest young Americans into Marines. The agreement we formed and executed over these past several months in the fight

When Sarah Imam, M.D., discovered that the Medical University of South Carolina was within days of running out of personal protective equipment, she made a decision to become part of the solution.  Teaming up with James Bezjian, Ph.D., and Daniel Hawkins, Imam began to manufacture N95 medical masks using 3D printers in The Citadel Makerspace, an innovative lab in the Daniel Library.

Together, the three colleagues have expertise in 3D scanning, 3D printing and medicine. Bezjian is a professor of entrepreneurship and the director of the Innovation Lab in the Baker School of Business. Hawkins is an academic technology librarian who also serves as the faculty advisor for the student Makerspace Club, and Imam is a professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance.  Imam is also responsible for the establishment of The Citadel’s globally recognized healthcare study abroad program that takes place in Lithuania.

“At a time when there were so many people on the front line risking their lives and there was panic about the unknown, it was gratifying to be able to do something to help,” said Imam.

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The Citadel team began printing the MUSC-designed masks, which are made out of a firm plastic material, at the end of March and continued through the first week of August.  In the four-month period, and with the help of a couple of cadets and some volunteers, the trio produced 1,000 masks.  The parts for each mask took nine hours to print, but what was really labor intensive, according to Imam, was the assembly, which included putting together a filtration cartridge and attaching a rubber tubing seal and a piece of elastic. And that’s where a team of volunteers from the Rotary Club of Charleston and the Corps of Cadets were able to help out.

“There was a lot of momentum, and it spread like wildfire,” said Imam.  “We had people volunteering to help us from all over.  Even kids were mailing in parts that they manufactured from home on their own 3D printers.”

In addition to the masks made for the Medical University, other communities in Charlotte, Chicago and New York followed The Citadel’s lead and began producing masks for local use. 

Funds raised by The Citadel Foundation in a COVID-19 Relief Fund (foundation.citadel.edu/masks) were used to help pay for the materials used in the manufacture of the masks as well as a grant from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.