Fifty Norwich University cadets will march 50 miles to raise funds for the Veterans’ Place, Inc., a Northfield transition home and support center for homeless veterans.
The three-day march will take cadets from the Norwich, Vt., site of the original Norwich University campus, to its current home of Northfield through scenic Vermont villages and over many ridges.
En route cadets will honor university founder Captain Alden Partridge, an early proponent of experiential learning, and discuss engineering, public policy, history and other topics with faculty leaders.
Senior Cadet Jessica Gnacke, of Westland, Mich., is this year’s student leader. She said the sense of camaraderie, the mission to support veterans in need and meeting members of the community along the way have all inspired her to participate every year.
“You’re doing it not just to learn more about the school and to meet new people and to go on this adventure, but you’re raising money for a great cause,” she said.
The sixth annual Legacy March will begin in Norwich, Vt. on Thursday, Nov. 5. Marchers will fuel up with a send-off breakfast provided by the Norwich University Alumni Upper Valley Club at the Norwich Congregational Church. Students will arrive at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. after three days on Saturday, Nov. 7. There they will deliver the game ball to the referee for the final Norwich varsity home football game of the regular season and present a ceremonial check to representatives of the Veterans’ Place.
Marchers will receive educational instruction by Norwich faculty and staff pertaining to local and regional history, engineering and geology.
The march re-creates the historical movement in 1866 that brought the cadets from Norwich to Northfield after a disastrous fire on the original campus.
The march will kick off on the Norwich, Vt., village green with historical briefings from Norwich University’s historian, Dana Professor of History Gary Lord. Lord will discuss Partridge’s home and grave and early Norwich history. The cadets will detour to the Justin Smith Morrill Homestead in Strafford, Vt., to learn about the Land Grant College Act and its roots in Norwich founder Capt. Alden Partridge’s philosophy.
Students will stop at the U.S. Army Sergeant Carlton Clarke Memorial at the iron bridge in Sharon, Vt., where they will clean and prepare the memorial for the winter. Later, marchers will receive a lecture about the Norwich University cavalry by Sullivan Museum & History Center Director Sarah Henrich, who will join marching students while riding on horseback.
The march will also take participants past the floating bridge in Brookfield, Vt., where they will hear a presentation by Dana Professor of Civil Engineering Greg White. Marchers will also learn about Vermont State Parks at a break outside Allis State Park in Brookfield.