Brothers at MMA

Marco Afane ’23 (left) and Fernando Afane ’21 from El Salvador

Twins Evan and Ethan Hicks ’24 joined the corps in the spring 2021 semester.

Blood Brothers

These cadets have made MMA a family affair.

Esprit de corps — a French phrase that literally means “spirit of the body” — is the essence of morale, “the brotherhood of a unit,” as MMA Commandant Rick Grabowski puts it. At Missouri Military Academy, the Brotherhood defines the MMA experience.

“This 132nd corps — especially the new boys — is starting to gel,” Grabowski says. “They’re starting to develop bonds among each other and they are collectively experiencing what they consider hardships as well as jubilant victories. It doesn’t happen overnight, but over a period of a year, two years, they start to become like brothers. That bonding is a unique thing to watch. We want them to bond and to have that brotherhood.”

For eight families who joined MMA in 2020-21, those bonds have come with blood ties, brothers attending MMA together: Fernando and Marco Afane from El Salvador; Pablo and Pedro Garduno from Mexico; Bruno Kuzwayezu and Bano Karameyezu from Rwanda; Brett and Ryan Miles from Dallas, Texas; Dylan and Kellan Mugisha from Rwanda; Phasakorn and Narathorn Cunningham from Conway, Arkansas; Evan and Ethan Hicks from Castle Rock,

“There is a lot of competition because one of us always wants to be better than the other.” — Bano Karameyezu ’23

“My brother and I wanted to join the MMA brotherhood, which in result strengthened ours.” — Bruno Kuzwayezu ’21

Colorado; and a trio from Milton, Georgia — Isaac, Simon and Samuel Way.

It wasn’t the original plan to send three of their five home-schooled children nearly 700 miles away from their Georgia home, says their mother Susan Way, but an unexpected opportunity to attend military school this year brought the Way brothers to MMA. Dad Brian Way was impressed with the structure MMA offers to help his boys develop personal discipline, “so that when they choose a goal they are able to make it happen,” he says.

Two years ago in El Salvador, Jose Afane was looking for a better education for his son Fernando. After deciding a military academy was the best option, he focused on Missouri, where he and his wife, Giannina, had lived in 1999. “I wanted an education that could expand their virtues and experience,” he says. “I chose MMA for the quality, facility, order and trajectory.” Marco followed Fernando to MMA this year so the two of them could share some time together before Fernando goes to college, Giannina adds.

The Afanes have seen growth in their sons during the time they have been at MMA. “They are more mature, motivated and secure,” says Giannina. “When I visited Fernando last year, I saw a gentleman with exquisite manners. I was thrilled to see so much accomplished in a very short time.”

MMA has altered the family dynamic at home, their parents say. For Jose Afane, there have been adjustments, his wife says. “He was used to doing a lot of things with them — biking, shooting, swimming — especially during the weekends. Now he is able to give more time to the girls, which has been very positive. Our two girls are happy not to have their bossy brothers around but I know they miss them, too, because we are a very close family.”

It is much quieter in the Way household, which has gone from five kids at home to one since the boys’ big sister also left for college this year. “The only constant in life,” says Brian Way, “is change.”

Sophomore Marco Afane arrived at MMA in August, two years after his brother, senior Fernando Afane. Although, Marco says, it’s hard to deal with the expectations of MMA, “it is easier when he helps me out and teaches me how to do things better.” Fernando says the routine of life at MMA may keep them more distant than at other schools, but “I can make sure he is not surrounded by bad influences and he does the right thing.”