This is the time of year for list making. Whether scrawled on scraps of paper or digitized in an iPhone file, many of us have ongoing lists of errands to run, gifts to buy and groceries to get. I have those lists, too. But here at Christopher Newport University, the list that really matters is our list of thank yous.
We are coming to the close of a phenomenal calendar year at CNU. Enrollment is up, our remarkable Science and Engineering Research Center is about to open, and we have welcomed record crowds to shows at the Ferguson Center and exhibitions at the Torggler Fine Arts Center. Our campus has never looked more beautiful, or hummed with more activity that serves our students and our community. You bet we are thankful for all of that.
But I want to focus my thank yous today on an aspect of your hometown university that often flies under the radar: CNU is an absolute powerhouse in college sports with more than 600 student-athletes. We have the winningest college athletic program at any level in Virginia, we have won four recent national championships, and, in the just-concluded fall season, every one of our teams made the NCAA tournament. No other college like ours in America can say that.
This isn’t to brag, though. Well, maybe just a little bit. But let’s get to the thank yous.
Thank you to the citizens of Virginia who support public universities through their tax dollars. What we accomplish on the athletic fields and in the classrooms starts with you.
Thank you to the elected officials, whether local, state or federal, whose foresight and leadership built an extraordinary higher education system that serves students of all types and helps communities thrive.
Thank you to the small businesses, the hotels, museums and attractions that welcome and serve the thousands of proud parents and friends who come to cheer on our teams or support our opponents. Camps, high school events and visiting college teams and their fans combine to create an economic engine and it hums because our Peninsula businesses are so welcoming.
Thank you to the high school teachers and coaches who prepare our students to excel. They win on the field and in the classroom. Every year, well over 50% of our student athletes are named to our conference all-academic team. And did you know that CNU has the highest percentage of Virginia students of any four-year public university in the commonwealth? When our undefeated, conference-winning football team lined up to play in the NCAA tournament, every player on the roster was a Virginian.
We love it when local stars attend their local university. Hanna Heaton led our women’s soccer team in goals. She’s from Gloucester and four of her teammates were from Hampton Roads. Toa Hollenbeck leads our men’s basketball team in scoring. He’s from Chesapeake and five of his teammates are from Hampton Roads. We win a lot and it starts in the high schools and middle schools.
Finally, thank you to the Daily Press, The Virginian-Pilot and the other media outlets that tell the CNU sports story so well with comprehensive and even-handed coverage. At a time when the power conference universities and their fans battle it out in chat rooms and on social media platforms, there’s something special and worth sustaining about local fans learning about their hometown teams through local media.
In the weeks ahead, I hope you will have an opportunity to root, root, root for your home team. In this season of gifts and gratitude, your home team says thank you, thank you, thank you.
Retired Rear Adm. William G. Kelly is president of Christopher Newport University in Newport News. Email him at president@cnu.edu.
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/12/16/column-sending-holiday-thank-yous-from-christopher-newport/
