Pratt ’21: Whistling Rat

Cadet Emma Pratt ’21 is the Company C commander and a double major in international studies and Spanish from Floyd, Virginia. Her education is funded through several scholarships, including the John E. Woodward, Jr. 1942 scholarship. She often slips into J.M. Hall to play the piano.—Photo by Micalyn Miller, VMI Alumni Agencies.

Pratt ’21: From Whistling Rat to Company Commander

By Molly Rolon, Associate Editor

Cadet Emma Pratt ’21 became interested in VMI when she saw her older brother, Gram Pratt ’18, changing for the better at VMI. She knew the changes were “legitimate, because you can’t hide much from family.” She also saw that Gram’s relationship with his brother rats was “real.”

“In today’s times, it seems very difficult to find real things anymore,” she said.

Looking back on her first week as a rat, Pratt “remember[s] those [Matriculation Week] runs and how everybody’s just struggling,” she said. “No matter where you come from or how physically prepared you are, it still is kind of a gut check.”

What encourages Pratt to push through difficult times, like those early runs, is when she sees growth. “You don’t always see that until after those intense moments of stress, those intense moments where you’re questioning, ‘Why did I come here?’ Am I enough for this?’” she said. Pratt is thankful she chose VMI, and thankful she has stayed.

A double major in Spanish and international studies, Pratt was able to spend a semester overseas in Salamanca, Spain. Traveling to her semester abroad was the first time the Floyd, Virginia, native and self-described “very small-town girl” flew on an airplane.

She functioned almost 100% in Spanish. Her host mother spoke no English, and she attended classes and navigated public transportation in her second language. Some parts of her time abroad were familiar—her host mother reminded her of her own grandmother—and some, like the busy city of Madrid, were 180 degrees opposite of anything Pratt had experienced before.

“VMI did prepare me for the utter chaos and confusion that was going on there,” she said, talking about taking the metro in Madrid.

Back on post, music in a couple of forms—whistling and piano—provided support and escape to Pratt.

Her brother was part of her dykes’ class, but she “tried to stay away from him ... I never wanted anyone to think that I was having an easier time because my brother was there,” she said. “His room was on first stoop. To get to my room, I would walk past it often.” When Gram’s door was open, she’d whistle a little tune and receive a cheerful, “Hey, Em!” in reply from her brother as she walked by.

Piano has been an outlet through her cadetship. When she’s looking for a quiet moment, Pratt (who plays by ear) slips into J.M. Hall and starts playing. As a rat, “to de-stress, I would go into J.M. and play piano a lot, in the dark. It’s a beautifully solemn place, where so many memories hang in the air. I found that time a great moment to take a step back and recharge and think about what I was doing, and that it was all worth it.”

As her years in barracks passed, she’s found it helpful to take those quiet moments in J.M. Hall and consider the big picture. For Pratt, piano is a form of self-care—necessary, in whatever form it may take, for any leader.

Last spring, Pratt was selected as the Company C commander. She went through a lot of reflection before applying for the post. She’s not perfect, she said, but she strives to be above reproach. “If you want to effectively lead people the way you want to, they have to trust you,” she said. “VMI is such a small community, and you get to know people very well over four years. Likewise, they get to know you. Having a reputation of loose principles and poor character leaves you very little ground to stand on when you’re trying to lead your peers.”

Two of Pratt’s roommates are also company commanders, which is “wonderful,” she said. Together, they can bounce around ideas and provide support. Having roommates in the same position also gives Pratt a unique window into how other leaders accomplish the same tasks.

The Institute is hard to explain and “impossible to quantify,” Pratt said, but a constant is that it remains “able to create an environment that produces capable and confident leaders.” She receives a variety of academic scholarships, which give her the freedom to look for a fulfilling job instead of focusing solely on income. “Someone else sees the value in the school and sees that it’s still working and that it still is such a great benefit and resource to people such as myself,” she said. She’s written a few thank you letters but hopes to one day meet her benefactor, shake their hand, look them in the eye (without a mask on), and say, “Thank you for my education. It means so very much to me.”