The Culver Cannon

Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Lathrop ’98 told a standing-room-only crowd at the Gold Star Ceremony that the meaning of Memorial Day changed for him after a Culver Military Academy classmate died while serving in Iraq in 2004.

Culver Girls Academy alumna Sofia Dolan ’22 SG’19 was awarded $10,000 in the McCloskey New Venture Competition for envisioning a self-defense kit for bicyclists. Dolan, a freshman at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, won the EquiCorp Award for the “Best Undergraduate Venture.”

Culver Academies students recommended that a local pizzeria use GPS software that would allow customers to track their orders through a mobile app so they would know precisely when their food will arrive. The suggestion came from students in two Corporate Challenge classes taught by Ed Kelley, a master instructor in The Ron Rubin School for the Entrepreneur.

A friend congratulated Caren Standfast when she was selected to be the next dean of Culver Girls Academy, telling her: “You will have an opportunity to leave your legacy at CGA and I think that is one of the most unique opportunities one can be gifted.”

Standfast said she is grateful for the legacy Mary Frances England, who served as dean of the school from its founding in 1971 until 1984, and M. Lynn Rasch ’76, who started working at Culver in 1980 and has served as dean since 2014, have left as a strong foundation for CGA to build on.

“Dean England built the ship. Dean Rasch has since filled it with a great crew that has built a wonderful program. It's a big legacy to be built, and Dean Rasch has given me pointers on how to steer the ship,” she said.

 Standfast succeeds Rasch as dean on June 5.

Culver Military Academy roommates who proposed creating a business that would reward homeowners for keeping their houses well-maintained by lowering insurance costs won the Miclot Family Business Plan Competition.

John Afari-Aikins ’24 (Carmel, Indiana) and Britton Crockett ’25 (Johnson City, Tennessee), creators of Healthy Homes, won the $5,000 first prize provided through an endowment by Andy and Sharlene Miclot, who had two children graduate from Culver Academies. The competition is part of The Ron Rubin School for the Entrepreneur.

Eighteen individuals or teams entered the contest, which is open to all Culver Academies students. Each entry was required to provide an executive summary of a business idea. Faculty in The Ron Rubin School narrowed the entries to five who presented their ideas.

Eleven Culver Academies students presented the colors before more than 100,000 people and national TV audiences at the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby horse races, continuing the legacy of the Black Horse Troop and Equestriennes riding in premier events.