MEGAN SMITH
Monument, Colo.

Smith was no boatrocker at VMI, no insurrectionist.

But she displayed a quiet courage in daring to indulge her femininity in a culture that required its women to look decidedly like men.

Smith was one of VMI's first female cheerleaders, happily shucking her gray wool uniform and white gloves in favor of a short pleated skirt and pompoms -- even if it meant being pelted with peanuts by fellow cadets. The cheerleading squad has since disbanded, which Smith said was a disappointment.

She was also the first to take advantage of the one undeniably female piece of attire issued by the VMI quartermaster -- a skirt. "I was just tired of looking like a boy," Smith said. So one day she wore her skirt to class, drawing double takes and accusations of violating a uniform rule. She wasn't; she had studied the rules.

And Smith knows how to study. She earned academic stars for a minimum 3.5 grade-point average while winning degrees in electrical engineering and math.

Smith, the daughter of a schoolteacher and a diplomat, has lived in East Berlin and Ecuador, but she's not going far from Lexington after graduation. She's headed to graduate school at the University of Virginia.