Leeann Jones, Virginia Tech senior and a cadet second lieutenant and Eric Chomicki, a VT junior and cadet staff sergeant at the Blacksburg Town and Gown meeting. Both are working to increase the positive relationships between cadets and the town.
Liz Kirchner
communitynews@ourvalley.org
Following the autumn town and gown meeting in the paneling and wainscoting of the Alexander Black House, Cadet Second Lieutenant Leanne Jones and Cadet Staff Sergeant Eric Chomicki, in impeccable cadet uniforms and epaulets talked about the corps’ plans to create and strengthen relationships between the cadets on the Virginia Tech campus and Blacksburg businesses and institutions like the Alexander Black House.
Jones, 21, the community liaison officer overseeing a staff of roughly a dozen cadets is spearheading this effort.
The corps has just recently created a liaison between the cadets and the community, Blacksburg and any organizations that might need help.
The Corps of Cadets’ mission of fostering moral and ethical leaders employs community service. During the 2017-2018 academic year, cadets tallied 12,000 hours of community service.
“We already have a liaison with the university, and the corps works with organizations on campus, but the intent of the community liaison is to go beyond that. Obviously, these types of meetings are right where we belong. Between the community and the campus,” Jones said.
She sees a strong relationship between the corps and the town as an historical imperative.
“The corps has called Blacksburg our home since the 1800s. Tech’s been here, we just want to give back to that and create those long-lasting relationships and make that more of a functioning connection, because we volunteer a lot, but it’s usually just individuals reaching out, and we want to reach out as the corps,” she said.
These are early days, and the group is working on the concept.
“What we’re trying to do is find our old relationships and build and foster upon those, and then find new relationships grow new relationships,” Chomicki said.
Well-known for their participation in the annual springtime clean up and do-gooding day, The Big Event, and for their community service throughout the year, Jones and Chomicki say those efforts will continue and they’re excited to identify new ventures for the corps as a whole.
“This is our first attack into town,” Chomicki said. “We definitely want to continue our community service. That’s something we take seriously. Community service is part of our core values. But we also want to start working more with local businesses.”
The cadets have forged long-standing relationships with local businesses like barbershops and running stores.
“Those businesses give discounts to cadets, for example. We want to talk to them to build relationships to see how we can create some mutually beneficial relationships,” Jones said.
Jones, a native of Newport News says she’s looking to go into the public relations field and sees “cadets as protectors of the history, not only of VT, but of the Blacksburg community” while, Chomicki, 21, also expressed a dedication to the community noting that, he’s from Bristow, in northern Virginia, but that Blacksburg has become home.
