VMI Selects Its First Woman for a Student Leadership Post

LEXINGTON, Va. — It took 158 years to get women admitted to the Virginia Military Institute but virtually no time at all for a female cadet to advance to a top leadership post.

Erin Nicole Claunch of Loudoun County, one of the women who broke VMI’s gender barrier in 1997, will become one of the college’s two battalion commanders this fall, leading half of the 1,200-member cadet corps during her senior year.

VMI officials said Claunch’s selection for the second-highest military post in the student body had nothing to do with her gender. The selection panel of VMI administrators and students thought she was the best-qualified candidate in terms of grades, leadership ability and physical fitness, school spokesman Mike Strickler said.

VMI Supt. Josiah Bunting III said he was surprised that a woman was able to scale the ranks at VMI so quickly, but not surprised that Claunch was the one to do it.

“She has really set the gold standard, not only for a female cadet but for any cadet at VMI,” Bunting said.

Claunch, 20, is a physics major who is preparing for a career with the Air Force.

She ranks 15th academically in a class of 298 students. She is on the cross-country team.

Cadets must do 60 sit-ups in two minutes, do five pull-ups and run 1 1/2 miles in under 12 minutes. Claunch beat the average score among all cadets. She did 84 sit-ups and 15 pull-ups and ran the 1 1/2 miles in 10 minutes and 43 seconds.