Cadets reunite at Norval |
09/24/2026
Four decades after attending UCC, former Cadet Corps members gathered at the Norval Outdoor School to celebrate lasting friendships, shared memories, and the very special place that played a defining role during their time at the College.
The idea for the reunion was prompted by the deaths of a few men who had been part of the cadet program, including Civilian Training Officer Jim Lutz and Greg Godbeer ’81. “We spent most of our happy time at Norval,” says event organizer Fed Sanchez ’85, who had help from Phil Benson ’85, Brendan Caldwell ’87, Raoul Graham ’85, Dan O’Dwyer ’88 and Greg Pun ’82.
In the 1980s, the cadets program was a club called the UCC Rifles, and many participants directed all their co-curricular efforts towards it.
With a focus on outdoor adventure, leadership development and hands-on activity, cadets learned navigation and field operations, among other skills, and most of their training took place at Norval, where they gathered about six times a year. Back on the Deer Park campus, the cadets could be found in their converted supply rooms, near the squash courts.
The reunion brought together alumni cadets and training officers from several different graduating years, reflecting the crossover friendships that developed. On August 9, the Old Boys — both in person and with three joining over Zoom — participated in a remembrance ceremony for the members they’d lost. The ceremony was followed by a number of planned and spontaneous speeches, most of which spoke to the cadet experience with its “emphasis on leadership, responsibility, and thinking about the group rather than yourself,” recalls Sanchez.
Also on the agenda was a search for the time capsule that a group of cadets had buried on a property ridge in 1987, the last year of the program. The searchers were guided by their memories, with support from a handful of metal detectors. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to locate the repurposed ammo box, which contains UCC Rifles memorabilia.
Norval instructor Mike Bradford — a former air cadet — was on site for the reunion. “[The cadets] were really interested in being outdoors, and they had a passion for leadership, and it bonded them in a unique way,” he says. “That bond really showed when they came to Norval this summer.”
Fed also speaks to the deep connection among them: “It’s a really special relationship.”
