VMI and W&L enrich Lexington community

By BOB STUART
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

Published: October 22, 2008

LEXINGTON - This quaint Shenandoah Valley community of 7,000 touts a quality of life that once earned it the tag as one of America’s most livable small communities.

An integral part of Lexington are its two colleges, Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University. Some of Virginia’s richest history is found on the two campuses.

VMI’s alumni include Gen. George C. Marshall, Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and North Pole explorer Adm. Richard E. Byrd.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was president of then Washington College after the Civil War, and Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. earned two degrees from W&L, one an undergraduate and one from its law school.

Lexington City Manager Jon Ellestad said the two schools, which include about 3,000 students, offer much more in assets than liabilities.

“We always have issues,’’ Ellestad said. “The student lifestyles sometimes conflict with the rest of the community. The partying is something we have to stay on top of. That’s the nature of a college community.”

But the presence of the institutions enriches Lexington, Ellestad said.

“It adds so much to the interestingness of the community,’’ Ellestad said. “There are arts and performances. Everything is open to the public. It adds to the livability.”

The regimented nature of 169-year-old VMI makes community involvement more of a challenge for its cadets.

A duty day at the military college begins at 7 in the morning and ends at 11 p.m.

Spokesman Stewart MacInnis said cadets show their community involvement in numerous ways.

One way is through cadet clubs that work with the local elementary schools by tutoring and mentoring students.

Cadets also work with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter on projects.

And although tight economic times may postpone it, MacInnis said, VMI is planning a combined aquatics and fieldhouse facility that would be used by the community as well as the college.

“A lot of this would require private funding and will take awhile to get together,’’ MacInnis said. “But it would include an Olympic swimming pool.”

Ellestad said the community’s volunteer fire and rescue squads also depend on students from both VMI and W&L.

“We rely heavily on students from both schools,” Ellestad said. “It hurts us during Christmas vacations and the summer months. It is far more difficult for those organizations.”

Empowered to grant degrees by the Virginia legislature as Liberty Hall Academy in 1782, Washington and Lee has enhanced its community involvement in recent years.

The Bonner Leaders Program involves 10 to 15 students who commit to 2,000 hours of community service.

That service commitment is a regular one that includes as much as 10 hours a week, said Jason Rodocker, director of W&L’s Elrod Commons and campus activities.

“It culminates with the students being certified as a Bonner leader,’’ Rodocker said.

Also picking up momentum is the college’s Shepherd Interdisciplinary Poverty Program.

Part of that program includes a campus kitchen project.

Campus Kitchen coordinator Robbie Turner said the 225 volunteers are mostly W&L students.

The campus kitchen serves more than 1,000 meals a month to Lexington-area locations such as Habitat for Humanity homes, group homes for developmentally disabled people and other locations.

“There’s a sense of community well beyond Washington and Lee,’’ Turner said. “The students stay and visit. Some actually stay and eat the meals.”

Turner said most of the food for the campus kitchen comes from what is left over from campus dining services. Private donations also are provided.

Ellestad brings a unique perspective as Lexington’s city manager.

While he has been city manager for 17 years, Lexington also marks the fourth university community he has worked in.

He calls the relationship between the city and the two schools exceptional.

“We’ve got a pretty good handle on it here,’’ he said.

Bob Stuart writes for The News Virginian in Waynesboro.