The Norwich Guidon

The Norwich Guidon, student newspaper of Norwich University, is published twice monthly and has won numerous awards for excellence in its class.

Reporters, editors, and managers for The Norwich Guidon are students at the university who work under the guidance of a Communications faculty advisor. Student editors learn electronic pagination using state of the art computer equipment.

If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.

One family's history at NU

Part 2

Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series looking at the impact of Norwich University on one family.

By Scott Craven
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

For Michael Kelley, continuing a family tradition of attending Norwich University was not a difficult decision to make.

His brother, Paul Kelley, who graduated in the Class of 1976, may have been the example to attend NU by already being a member of the Corps of Cadets, but after receiving his ROTC scholarship, Paul said he had several other schools calling him.

"I looked heavily at VMI and the Citadel, but something about Norwich just struck me," he said. "My father was enlisted in WWII, and raised me and my brother like we were his two little soldiers. We had gig lines when we were five, and we knew how to do square corners on the bed, and all of that stuff," Paul said.

"It's much different when you're just following that structure, though, verses when you have to try and instill it on somebody else. I wanted the structure, I wanted the military, but I also wanted more freedom. I really liked the structure and small class sizes that Norwich offered, and there were many other reasons for going there, as well."

According to Paul, benefit number one was that Norwich had a ski slope. "I loved to ski," he said. "I was also an avid hunter and fisherman, and what better place to do that than in Vermont?"

He also added the fact that Norwich had a Biology department and was minutes away from an all-girls' school. "What more could a guy want?" he said. "It was far enough away from home to give me the independence, but close enough that I could hitchhike my way there if I needed to."

Thinking he was going to get this all his freshman year, Paul said he was warned by his older brother Michael, but found out on his own that it was not the case.

When Paul entered as a rook, his older brother, Michael, was already a junior. To make matters worse, Michael was regimental command sergeant major at the time, and Paul would often catch a lot of grief for it from the other upperclassmen.

"Aside from my rook buddies bugging me, I had at least every upperclassman come up to me at some point in time and ask me who the regimental command sergeant major was, knowing quite well that he was my brother," he said. "Then, next year Michael was regimental commander, which didn't make things any better, but I was finally on my own my junior year."

While proud of his brother's accomplishments, Paul said that he didn't really feel independent until Michael graduated and he was finally on his own and didn't have to reflect off his brother.

"Junior year I was a freshman platoon leader for 'F-Troop' over in Wilson Hall, and my senior year I chose to be an upperclassman 'buck' platoon leader. According to Paul, a buck private at the time was an upperclassman cadet who didn't hold any rank.

"I had done freshman cadre for two years, and I wanted a platoon of bucks," he said. "I figured that position was a little more realistic for what I would be facing when I commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. I wanted guys that were going to challenge me." According to Paul, he definitely got the challenge that he was looking for with his platoon of bucks.

"My whole platoon was nothing but a bunch of jocks," he said. "I was constantly after them to keep their uniforms relatively squared away, and also spent much of my time chasing women out of their rooms. We had a good time, though; we had some really outlandish characters in the platoon, and I told them that I could protect them if they were stupid, but if they were totally ignorant I wasn't going to be fun to deal with," he said.

"It was unique. I got to try some of my own leadership techniques. Some worked well, and some failed miserably, but it was really a good way to grow. It was better that I made my mistakes there, than when I was with my Army platoon over in Germany. These are just valuable lessons that you can't learn anywhere else," said Paul.

One of the drawbacks that Paul noticed is that the civilians are now living in Dodge Hall, or "Dodge City" as he referred to it while he lived there his freshman year in Bravo Company.

"It hurts a lot," he said. "I really think the school lost something when they brought the civilians onto the UP."

Other than that, Paul said it was one of his best experiences. "I was in the Honor Infantry Platoon, Hilly Chilly, the yearbook, the Pegasus Players. I just enjoyed the hell out of being there," he said.

Michael's wife, JoAnne, who at the time went by the last name of Murphy, finished two years of school at Montpelier-based Vermont College in 1972 and came to Norwich when the schools merged.

"I was just very excited because I was completing my Bachelor's degree, and I didn't have to transfer," she said. "I stayed in the same dorm, the same surroundings, already knew of Norwich for two years, and was just thrilled that I could stay in the same geographical location and not have to move and start all over again somewhere else."

JoAnn received her associate's degree from Vermont College and got her Bachelor's degree in secondary education while she was at Norwich. She was also very active in the student body and one of the few women to continue her education at Norwich after the merge.

At the time, Vermont College was an all-girl school, and Norwich was all males.

JoAnn said she was fine with the Vermont College-NU merge. "I didn't mind it too much; my main reason for being there was to complete my Bachelor's degree."

This was true of most of the women attending Vermont College, she said.

According to JoAnn, many of the girls who graduated from Vermont College in 1971 came back to Norwich when they heard it was coed.

Much like the camaraderie exhibited in the Corps of Cadets, the women from Vermont College developed a great bond with each other, as well.

"There were about 25 to 30 of my classmates that continued at Norwich. Twelve of which remained there until graduation. We were like a sorority," explained JoAnn.

Although she was part of a small group of women, JoAnn found many ways to set herself apart. Along with being a dorm representative and a member of the Maroon & Gold Key, she also helped to start the Women's Grievance Committee which directed their goal towards the progression of women at Norwich.

"Our main goal was to get the women living on the Norwich campus," she said. "We took our classes there; we ate there, paid our bills there, and bought our books there, why shouldn't we live there?"

She admits, however, that the administration and everyone else involved were always supportive and really tried to address their concerns the best they could. "Norwich is very accommodating," she said. "They will try," which has been the founding motto of the school since it first started in 1819.

Although JoAnn can't remember much changing while she was there, her efforts could quite possibly be the reason the females at Norwich today have many of the things that Joanne didn't.

Sharing those benefits is JoAnn's daughter Meegan, who ironically had her interview the same weekend as her mother's almost 30 years prior.

"There was no pressure for Meegan to go [to Norwich]. My husband and I made sure that she was choosing Norwich because she wanted to choose Norwich, not because we chose it," JoAnn said.

Meegan is the middle child of four other siblings, two of which are already attending other schools.

"Norwich has always been a part of our family, but we made it a strong point that the kids could go wherever they wanted," said JoAnn.

Jennifer Kelley, 25, the oldest child, works part-time as an LPN while attending Community College, working toward her associate's degree.

Michelle, 22, is the second oldest in the family and is finishing up her Bachelor's degree at the State University of New York.

Meegan's younger sister, Margaret, 14, is a freshman in high school. According to her mother, she has been looking at the Norwich catalogue.

"She's excited to see that they offer history with a political science minor, but there's still lots of time before we can tell," said JoAnn. The same applies to their youngest, James, who is only ten.

"It's tough to get five kids through college these days," admits JoAnn. "I remember paying only $3,000 a year in tuition at Norwich, and that was three times the going rate of a state school."

According to JoAnn, she and her husband contribute half of what it would cost to go to a state school. "That's not that much, but it was just as hard for me to come up with the $3,000 then as it is for them to come up with the cost that it is today," she said. She also tells her kids that, "just because a school's expensive don't look at the price tag."