“We have chosen a very different path for a high school career than others. We will need each other to navigate through the challenges of being at a military school. Have faith that the people around you want you to succeed.”
Battalion Commander, Sean Ross '23
Fishburne Military School holds First Formation for 2022-23 Corps of Cadets
By Ben Craft, News Virginian, August 24, 2022
Fishburne Military School held its first formation for the 2022-23 cadet corps on Wednesday afternoon to encourage the class as they begin the school year.
School leaders presented the cadets with leadership positions for the upcoming year in front of their family and friends. Col. Randal Brown, the president of Fishburne, presented an honorary sword to the cadet battalion commander, Sean Ross.
Ross, who will graduate with the class of 2023, encouraged his fellow cadets to work hard and stick by each other’s sides throughout their time at the school.
“We have chosen a very different path for a high school career than others,” Ross said in his address. “We will need each other to navigate through the challenges of being at a military school. Have faith that the people around you want you to succeed.”
Ross said he visited Fishburne for the first time when he was seven years old while his older brother attended the school. The cadets at Fishburne then treated Ross as one of their own, leaving an impression on Ross that started his journey to being the cadet battalion commander for the upcoming year.
“They showed leadership in everything they did and, more importantly, they were proud to be called Fishburne cadets,” Ross said.
Brown, who assumed the role of president in April, quoted the biblical book of John as he addressed the cadets, telling them “a man knows no greater love that he would lay down his life for his friends.” Brown discussed the types of relationships the cadets will form at the school and how they last longer than just the cadet’s time at the school.
“There is often a brotherhood of arms,” Brown said. “Men, women serving in combat, serving under arms; tight bonds form, and it very much becomes a brotherhood. Today at Fishburne Military School, nobody is going to be called into combat, but there is the brotherhood here. It has made quite an impression on me in my short time at Fishburne.”
