{"id":154542,"date":"2026-06-10T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/154542\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:27:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:27:49","slug":"lebanon-man-named-valedictorian-of-virginia-military-institutes-class-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/154542\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon man named valedictorian of Virginia Military Institute’s Class of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the valedictorian at Virginia Military Institute, Lebanon resident Lukas Maurer framed his 10-minute speech around a metaphor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main meat and potatoes of the message was a metaphor about a forge and how you start from the very, very \u2013 day one \u2013 at VMI. It\u2019s a very weird introduction to college,\u201d said Maurer. \u201cThey call it Day Zero. You get marched in with a bunch of random people that you\u2019ve never met before. They shave your head and then they scream at you for a week. It\u2019s kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Class of 2026 during their four years there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to explain that VMI is a forge. It\u2019s 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,\u201d said Maurer, who was co-valedictorian at New Covenant Christian School\u2019s Class of 2022. \u201cOver 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurer said attending VMI is unlike anything students at other colleges and universities experience during their four years of study.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not a freshman in college. You\u2019re 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\u2019s all with pseudo stress,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cSo there\u2019s people that are screaming at you. You do physical fitness stuff. So it\u2019s meant to kind of challenge you in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurer called VMI the hardest college experience in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot academically, it\u2019s not like Harvard or MIT, but it\u2019s very isolated, it\u2019s incredibly, incredibly difficult and the burden that is placed upon students there is hard to explain unless you\u2019ve been through it,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo 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\u2019re on a sports team or not, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tDuring his speech above and below, valedictorian Lukas Maurer uses a metaphor comparing the student body to raw material that is forged into its final, usable form. His speech was given to over 1,000 graduation attendees, family members, friends and faculty at the ceremony held in mid-May at Virginia Military Institute. (Provided photos)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Maurer wished instead to focus his speech on their collective achieved goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all did it together and that\u2019s what really matters. And you\u2019re prepped for whatever life has to throw at you,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurer said he was surprised when he learned he was at the top of his class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not expecting that at all. That wasn\u2019t even in my rearview mirror,\u201d he said. \u201cOur class president walked over to my room and he shook my hand. He\u2019s like, \u2018You made valedictorian.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Whoa. Sweet. OK.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018That\u2019s awesome.\u2019 And then immediately I started to get nervous, saying, \u2018Now I gotta write a speech\u2019 and \u2018Oh no, that\u2019s gonna be a lot of people (over 1,000) at graduation to give them a speech.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tLukas Maurer of Lebanon, third from the left, and fellow Class of 2026 members at Virginia Military Institute pause for a photo on graduation day in mid-May. (Provided photo)<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI branched aviation, and then they\u2019re training me to be a helicopter pilot. I don\u2019t know which helicopter I get to fly yet,\u201d said Maurer, who will enter the service as a second lieutenant based on prior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) training. \u201cThere\u2019s a couple different kinds, but that\u2019s the plan as of now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little doubt in Maurer\u2019s mind that his career would focus on military service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my life this is something I\u2019ve always kind of grown up with. I can\u2019t really fully explain it. I believe it\u2019s a calling by God because, as I said before, I\u2019m a Christian and was kind of made for a certain purpose,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this purpose is to serve regardless of how long it is in the United States military.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tA young Lukas Maurer has always desired to serve in the military. Here, in a photo provided by his mother, Maurer salutes the camera while wearing an Army helmet.<\/p>\n

Part of that calling is also based on the past military experience \u2013 especially in combat \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re 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\u2019t served (in the military) but who serve in their own way,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cBoth my parents are serving at church and they\u2019re serving in our community and they\u2019re 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\u2019m able to, and I\u2019d like to give them credit as well because they don\u2019t get enough credit for all the stuff that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

His parents, Robert and Tessa Maurer, are naturally proud of their son\u2019s accomplishments so far in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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,\u201d Tessa said. \u201cHe has a good balance because he also knows how to have fun. He\u2019s a very caring individual. He\u2019s got a servant\u2019s heart and he also knows when to lock it in, you know? It was a very serious decision to attend VMI because it\u2019s a place like no other. So I\u2019m just incredibly proud of him for all his hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tLukas Maurer\u2019s younger life includes time in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and he became an Eagle Scout by completing a project around 2021 for a local nonprofit organization. In this newspaper clipping provided by his family, he participated in a Memorial Day parade as a carrier of the American flag.<\/p>\n

Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we\u2019ll do our best to get back to you.<\/p>\n

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