Interview with a Citadel Student
A Brief History of the Citadel
According to Post and Courier, the Citadel formed as a result of the suspected Denmark Vesey slave revolt in 1882. Surviving as an arsenal, the Citadel would become a military academy in 1842, continuing to supply soldiers for every subsequent war following its founding. Only known by The Citadel moniker since 1910, they continued to grow when they accepted their first black student, Charles Foster, in 1966 and admitted their first female student, Shannon Faulkner, in 1994. Benefitting from the sacrifices Faulkner made is Julia Williamson, a rising sophomore at the Citadel. We’ve known each other a few years, and I wanted to take a bit of time to document her experience thus far at South Carolina’s military academy. Read on soldiers.
- So the Citadel contains five schools — Business, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, and Mathematics as well as each service branch. Which school and branch are you enrolled in, and how do they interact? Are you planning on leading a civilian life?
I am enrolled in the school of science; the different schools do not really interact (that I know of) with the service branches in specific ways. I’m not enrolled in any of the service branches though, so maybe I’m not the best person to ask about that. I am planning on leading a civilian life.
2. What made you choose the Citadel?
I got recruited by the track and cross country coaches. My dad was in the military, so I could attend any South Carolina school for free, but since I wanted to run in college the Citadel ended up being the best fit.
3. What’s daily life like?
Daily life is mostly classes and core things (which I don’t participate in because I’m at practice during the core time normally). The core things tend to make up of classes with your company (grades are separated), and this is where the students learn how to be cadets and fill out important paperwork for the school. Another example would be parade practice from 12:30–1:15 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then on Fridays at 3 PM. They used to not be every week, but now they are because the city is very touristy, and it brings publicity to the school.
4. So, it’s a military school, but you don’t have to be in a cadet. Is daily life for the non-cadet students much different?
The daily life for a non-cadet student it very different because 99% of the time they have prior service experience, which means most of them are way older with children and live outside of the school.
5. The Citadel only began accepting women in 1994 with Shannon Faulkner. As a woman, do you feel like your presence is divisive? With female enrollment at 24% in 2024, do you feel like women are well integrated into the college now?
That’s a hard question because there are very few females at the school, it’s really just a huge frat house, but the young men that I live with are fantastic and they have been very welcoming. However, I do know that isn’t the case for all women because there are some things like the rape culture and men who think women shouldn’t be there at all.
6. What are some of your favorite Citadel traditions?
I don’t really think of anything of the Citadel traditions because it’s really just day to day life for us, but the Long Gray Line is great because it’s a cool way to send off our seniors.
7. The Citadel is in Charleston; do you like the city? Where are the best spots?
I like Charleston, but the city is a bit too much for me, so I mostly go over to my family’s condo to do homework or sleep on the weekends when I have free time away from school.
8. Your colors are blue and white, so why do alumni call themselves part of the Long Gray Line?
They all “join the long gray line” once they graduate; it’s just a ceremony at the end of the year where all the seniors line up in their dress grays and get saluted off.
9. Best story from freshman year?
Running a meet with the flu and a 102-degree fever. I had no idea where I was.
10. For prospective and admitted students, what advice do you proffer?
Get fit, know how to study, and get used to not getting a lot of sleep. Put college first and the core second because it doesn’t matter what you do there, but how you perform in your classes, for your future.
