President Richard V. Geraci poses for a photo after encouraging a group of new cadets during the 2019 Fall Crucible.
H O W TO TA K E C O M M A N D
Teaching Them to Take Command of Their Lives
THE VALUE OF MILITARY SCHOOL IN DEVELOPING TODAY’S YOUNG MEN INTO CONFIDENT AND HONORABLE ADULTS By Brigadier General Richard V. Geraci, USA (Ret), MMA President I’ve recently seen several stories in the media about higher education offering classes and workshops on “adulting” across the United States, at schools such as University of CaliforniaBerkeley, Wichita State University, University of Nebraska-Kearney and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Young people are actively seeking these classes on how to be an adult. Outside of their parents’ protective homes, they’ve found that their education to this point has focused on academics, but they don’t know how to navigate their lives with basic, everyday life skills. In these adulting classes and workshops, they find practical help, such as how to change a tire or prepare their own taxes; as a parent, grandparent, teacher and president of a military school, I believe what they are really seeking is less tangible than those practical skills — and far more important. They seek the confidence that they can manage their own lives. Somehow they got this far without many critical life skills necessary to truly succeed. 16
The Eagle
“[Educators] are trying to build sturdier adults in the context of what they describe as a mental health crisis,” reports Stephan Bisaha with the Kansas News Service, as shared by NPR last November. Bisaha adds that “mental health advocates hope the workshops can also temper the stress caused by academic pressure and a lack of know-how about living beyond the reach of hovering parents.” We can’t prepare our young people for every scenario, but we can teach them to handle — with confidence — the challenges, disappointments and opportunities they encounter. We can teach them how to take command of their personal lives and futures. This is what we do at Missouri Military Academy. Military boarding school is not for every young man, even though I firmly believe that all could benefit from the principles we teach and the values we instill. We have and maintain high expectations for cadets. As a military college preparatory school, MMA takes pride in our structured and disciplined environment with emphasis on accountability — MMA is for
families committed to support their sons in reaching their full potential. Families may arrive here with a son who is fully ready to enroll, one who craves the structure and discipline, has goals and immediately thrives in our environment of scholarship, leadership and camaraderie among brothers. Or they may arrive with a young man who is drifting in his current school situation and has really not thought about his future. These are the cadets who later are often our biggest alumni advocates, who have come to realize that Missouri Military Academy provided the foundation and guidance they were missing, and the experience that catapulted them forward in life. We do not let cadets sit on the sidelines. At times, this experience is uncomfortable for them, but it never fails to be life-changing. We facilitate and guide their learning and growth with support from their peers, so they can take command of their future with a high degree of confidence. We take cadets beyond academic success. Cadet involvement in every aspect of the Academy’s 360° Education requires hard work, perseverance
