This morning was the first day of classes for the 2023-2024 school year. Our cadets started the morning with a healthy breakfast in the Estes Dining Hall and then they moved into Wicker Chapel where they were fed in a different way. A devotional service, led by our cadet leaders, opened this school year with prayer and scripture, just as it will open each class day this year. Cadets had their Bibles open to read God's Word and have it feed their spirits just as their bodies had been fed minutes earlier.

At the beginning of each school year, it has been my practice to meet with members of our senior staff and we pray for each cadet and faculty member by name, first name and last name, that the Lord will help us educate, develop, and inspire the young men placed in our care this year. Although I was away from campus today, our cadets and staff are never far from my heart and mind. My prayers are with each and every young man on our campus, and with every single adult who will touch their lives in some way this year.

We are beginning a new work today, just as in the book of Isaiah, when God speaks of "doing a new thing."

We are making a fresh start, renewed in strength to undertake this new work that we are beginning in this September of 2023. The work we do will have a lasting impact on the lives of the young men in our Corps of Cadets. We are prepared and ready to undertake this new work. Our strength is renewed, and we are eager for the mission that is in front of us. We will not tire in our effort, but will see it through to its positive conclusion.

We say to all—cadets, faculty, and all members of our FUMA family—welcome to this new school year, and...

Go FUMA!

In Christ,
Colonel David L. Coggins, USMC (Ret.)
President
Fork Union Military Academy