Saturday’s football game between the Hokies and Syracuse offers a special opportunity for two cadets and the family who created an Emerging Leader Scholarship in memory of a fallen alumnus.

Cadets Christopher Moffatt, of Fairfax, Virginia, and John Shevlin, of Woodbridge, Virginia, will travel with the football team to Syracuse University to receive the flags from the Hokies players after they take the field.

Moffatt and Shevlin are both sophomores majoring in business information technology in the Pamplin College of Business and in Army ROTC.

They also will escort Jenna Bazdaric, a 2001 Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets alumnus who earned a degree in business information technology, onto the field to receive the game ball and be honored by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, an institute focused on the social, economic, education, and policy issues impacting veterans and their families post-service. She will be accompanied by her husband, Jamie, and their six children.

Both Bazdaric and her first husband, Jeffrey Kaylor, also a 2001 Corps of Cadets alumnus who earned a degree in management science and information technology, commissioned with the U.S. Army after graduation.

Kaylor was killed in the line of duty on April 7, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq. His name was added to the Ut Prosim Pylon. The Jeffrey Kaylor ‘01 Memorial Scholarship honors his memory.

“We are all ecstatic about the opportunity to meet in person and spend time together with our family this weekend. These cadets are a representation of Jeff's memory and they do a great job in honoring it,” Bazdaric said.  

The scholarship is supported in part by the sale of a distinctive car magnet — a stylized version of the letters "VT." A field of white stars on a blue background fills the "V," and the words "Ut Prosim" and a symbolic yellow ribbon are overlaid on the maroon "T."

The licensed Hokie product pays tribute to the legacies of and supports the scholarships honoring Kaylor and Army 1st Lt. Timothy Price, a 2001 corps alumnus who earned a degree in forestry and who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004.

The trip to Syracuse is part of the partnership between the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets and the Virginia Tech football team to highlight the colors during the pregame ceremony at every football game.

Three football players, chosen because of their performance in the last game or at practice, carry the American flag, the state flag, and the team’s spirit flag as they lead the team onto the field. They deliver them to cadets at the south end of the field. 

The cadets, also selected based on their performance during training, render honor to the flags and then carry them off the field. At home games, three first-year cadets are selected, and one or two upper-class cadets travel with the team and receive the flags at away games.  

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