Lebanon man named valedictorian of Virginia Military Institute’s Class of 2026

As the valedictorian at Virginia Military Institute, Lebanon resident Lukas Maurer framed his 10-minute speech around a metaphor. 

“The main meat and potatoes of the message was a metaphor about a forge and how you start from the very, very – day one – at VMI. It’s a very weird introduction to college,” said Maurer. “They call it Day Zero. You get marched in with a bunch of random people that you’ve never met before. They shave your head and then they scream at you for a week. It’s kind of crazy.”

Just like a piece of metal that is heated and forged into its final shape, so too were the approximately 300 former cadets who are members of VMI’s Class of 2026 during their four years there. 

“I wanted to explain that VMI is a forge. It’s very difficult. You kind of get heated up a lot, you get beaten down, you get pulled out of the fire, and then you get quenched, and then you get time to relax, and then you gotta go back to it,” said Maurer, who was co-valedictorian at New Covenant Christian School’s Class of 2022. “Over time, this methodical, but kind of relentless beating that occurs academically or mentally or responsibility-wise, all that burden is slowly grinding away the impurities that you have, the rough edges you have, the cockiness you might have, and you slowly become this refined product at the end.”

Maurer said attending VMI is unlike anything students at other colleges and universities experience during their four years of study.

“You’re not a freshman in college. You’re called a rat. And you basically go through training, little basic military training stuff, how to hold a rifle, how to do drills, how to do all that. And they teach you time management skills and everything. And it’s all with pseudo stress,” Maurer said. “So there’s people that are screaming at you. You do physical fitness stuff. So it’s meant to kind of challenge you in different ways.”

Maurer called VMI the hardest college experience in the country.

“Not academically, it’s not like Harvard or MIT, but it’s very isolated, it’s incredibly, incredibly difficult and the burden that is placed upon students there is hard to explain unless you’ve been through it,” he explained. “So I wanted to kind of paint that picture, give props to the whole class regardless of what race, what ethnicity, where you came from, who you are, if you’re on a sports team or not, it doesn’t matter.”

Maurer wished instead to focus his speech on their collective achieved goals. 

“We all did it together and that’s what really matters. And you’re prepped for whatever life has to throw at you,” he said. “That’s what my speech was about. And I think it was a hit. A lot of my buddies came up to me afterwards, said they loved it, said it was a great speech and they were happy. So I think I did my job and I felt good about it.”

Maurer said he was surprised when he learned he was at the top of his class. 

“I was not expecting that at all. That wasn’t even in my rearview mirror,” he said. “Our class president walked over to my room and he shook my hand. He’s like, ‘You made valedictorian.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa. Sweet. OK.’ And I was like, ‘That’s awesome.’ And then immediately I started to get nervous, saying, ‘Now I gotta write a speech’ and ‘Oh no, that’s gonna be a lot of people (over 1,000) at graduation to give them a speech.’”

Maurer said he leaves Lebanon on June 12 for additional army training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, that will last for a little over a month. From there, his next stop is Fort Rucker in Alabama for flight school training for up to 2 years. His total commitment to the military is for 12 years, he added. 

“I branched aviation, and then they’re training me to be a helicopter pilot. I don’t know which helicopter I get to fly yet,” said Maurer, who will enter the service as a second lieutenant based on prior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) training. “There’s a couple different kinds, but that’s the plan as of now.”

There was little doubt in Maurer’s mind that his career would focus on military service. 

“All my life this is something I’ve always kind of grown up with. I can’t really fully explain it. I believe it’s a calling by God because, as I said before, I’m a Christian and was kind of made for a certain purpose,” he said. “I think this purpose is to serve regardless of how long it is in the United States military.”

Part of that calling is also based on the past military experience – especially in combat – by other family members. One great-grandfather received the Purple Heart in World War II and another served in that war, too; a grandfather is a Vietnam War veteran, a cousin was a Marine who fought in Afghanistan, and an uncle is in naval intelligence.

“They’re strong Americans, you know, red-blooded men that I respect, look up to and I love. I want to honor them, make them proud as well as my immediate family who haven’t served (in the military) but who serve in their own way,” Maurer said. “Both my parents are serving at church and they’re serving in our community and they’re more like a suffering servant, silent servant, if that makes sense. I want to be able to honor them in any kind of public way that I’m able to, and I’d like to give them credit as well because they don’t get enough credit for all the stuff that they do.”

His parents, Robert and Tessa Maurer, are naturally proud of their son’s accomplishments so far in life.

“He has worked very hard. He is someone you would call a grinder. He really applies himself and he works very hard within a good balance,” Tessa said. “He has a good balance because he also knows how to have fun. He’s a very caring individual. He’s got a servant’s heart and he also knows when to lock it in, you know? It was a very serious decision to attend VMI because it’s a place like no other. So I’m just incredibly proud of him for all his hard work.”