The popular concept of a pre-college military academy is that of a disciplined environment where you might send a “difficult” youth. How does Culver fit into this perception?

Kehoe:We don’t fit into this description. We are primarily a high-end college prep boarding school. Our military program is designed to teach young men leadership, responsibility, accountability, attention to detail, how to take care of themselves, and other character traits and attributes that will help them be successful in life.

We understand that Culver had, at one point, a formal connection with the U.S. military. When did the school end this connection and why?

Kehoe: I don’t know all the background, but prior to WWII, Culver had an in-depth military program so graduates were eligible for commissions upon graduation. This was before the ROTC/JROTC programs as we know them today.  After WWII, we had a Junior ROTC program. The school severed ties with the Junior ROTC in the late 1980’s. As part of Junior ROTC, you are given a curriculum that you were expected to follow. We thought we could do better things to meet the specific needs of our students if we had our own curriculum. A couple of years ago, we were asked to reconsider affiliation, but we couldn’t see the benefit.

A big advantage of having an affiliation with Junior ROTC is the opportunity to make nominations for the service academies, an honor that, in part, we have been able to retain. The Navy has designated us an honor naval school. This enables Culver to make nominations to the Military, Naval, and Air Force Academies.

While all classes are coeducational, there are actually two institutions at the Culver Academies: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys and Culver Girls Academy (CGA) for girls. There is a Dean of Girls at CGA. Do you serve in an equivalent capacity at CMA for boys or is your role more comprehensive like that of Dean of Students?

Kehoe: We have no Dean of Students at Culver now. We have a Dean of Girls and my role as Commandant is basically that of Dean of Boys.

I also chair the Center for Leadership. The Center sponsors the leadership courses that are required of all students at Culver each year and ensures that the academic side supports what we’re doing on the residential/practical leadership side. We have a group that is a key governing body at Culver called the Common Council. The Common Council consists of leaders from both schools and handles issues that impact both the boys and girls. The Dean of Girls and I both head the Common Council.

Can you talk about your leadership program? Do girls participate in the Center for Leadership at Culver?

Kehoe: Our leadership curriculum is for all students, both boys and girls. The first leadership course serves as an orientation to Culver and is for all new students, whether one is an entering freshman or senior. At the sophomore level, Leadership Skills are examined which include emphasis on nine leadership traits we have identified as important for success at Culver and we also cover teenage survival skills. This is the only non-required leadership course, in that if a student comes to Culver after the sophomore year, he/she does not have to take this course. As juniors, students explore ethical decision-making in preparation for their most significant leadership experience during their final year at Culver. We emphasize the responsibility of leaders to navigate the difficult thought process when faced with an ethical dilemma. Two retired Army officers teach most sections of this course that is central to our academic leadership program. One of these officers has a PhD in British Literature. The senior requirement is about servant leadership. This incorporates a service learning experience and is intended to reinforce the concept that a good leader has to serve those that he/she leads.

For boys at Culver the leadership program is based on the military system. The English prefect system is the model for the girls’ leadership program here. Some think of the girls’ form of leadership as democratic and collaborative and the boys’ as hierarchical and that two very different styles are necessary for success in each system. I think that an effective leader in both systems has to be able to listen to and work with others and gain the respect of those that he or she leads. In the military, for example, you’re not going to get very far if you merely hold the most rank and try to dictate all that happens.

How much time do the male students at Culver spend performing drills or participating in other aspects of a military educational system?

Kehoe: The cost of the military system to each student initially is 8 to 10 hours a week, during which he practices drills and participates in the parade that takes place each Sunday afternoon. Additionally, students learn how to shine their shoes, make their beds tight enough so that you can bounce a quarter off them, and fold their clothes in a prescribed way. The time commitment goes down once these skills are learned until the junior and senior years when the students have greater responsibility and are responsible for the performance of others. Our great leaders are typically great students and great athletes and they are burning the candle on three ends and doing great things. They don’t have a lot of free time.

You graduated from and taught at the Naval Academy. What do you see as the major differences in purposes and goals between what Culver looks to achieve as an institution with military traditions vis-à-vis a service academy in terms of the development and education of young men and women?

Kehoe: In some ways, the goals are very similar in terms of character attributes that each school is trying to instill in its students. Service academies provide officers with the tools necessary to pursue a career in the military. One of the problems in high school comes from the fact there are a variety of reasons a student chooses to attend. We have a lot more challenges. Then again, it’s easier to make an impact on a high school age kid than on a college student. Maybe a student comes to Culver to play hockey, but he has to be a good student, and buy into what we’re doing here in the living units. Obviously, this is not a problem in the service academies.

What required the greatest adjustment for you when you shifted from a career naval officer to Commandant at Culver in terms of dealing with those who have been placed under your responsibility?

Kehoe: One thing I worried about when I left the service was what my colleagues would be like and I’m very happy and impressed with the people I work with here. I’ve had to deal with medical and emotional issues I never had to deal with in the service. Probably the biggest adjustment is having to learn about medications like Ritalin and about the adolescents who use them. But what I have found is that if you make expectations clear and hold the students accountable, you can guide them to do things that they never thought they were capable of. That’s pretty much the same in the service academies.

I’d like to share one more thing. A member of our Board of Trustees said to a graduating senior who had been a student leader, athlete and high performing student, “Give me the one good thing and the one bad thing about your 4 years at Culver”. The student said, “The one good thing is that I am confident that there is no challenge I will face that I won’t be able to work through and be successful at. The bad thing is that all the adults at Culver ask for just a little more effort in their area and the cumulative affect is a heavy burden.”