The National American Legion College Class of 2024 graduates in Indianapolis and says farewell to a dedicated leader.

Fifty-three students became the 2024 graduating class of National American Legion College (NALC) on Friday, Nov. 22.  The students representing 36 departments received their NALC diploma, challenge coin and pin after spending the past five days on the fourth floor and in their district caucuses at National Headquarters in Indianapolis writing, presenting and debating resolutions; developing institutional knowledge through national staff presentations; building effective leadership skills; taking quizzes and a final exam; and working together as a team.

“My department did an amazing job preparing me for this,” said Whitney Smith-McIntosh, adjutant of Post 682 in Altoona, Iowa. “It has been everything that they said it would be. But getting in the caucuses and spending time with my group has been really awesome and learning how to work as a team with other people that are highly competitive.”

“The purpose of me coming here was to learn, to be a better leader,” said Steven Butner, District 4 commander in the Department of Colorado. “I’ve learned a lot of here; I’m going to be taking a lot of experiences back from here and apply it to my district and to the rest of the state. I was down emotionally earlier this week, and my district caucus helped me rise up. This has been wonderful. I came here to be a leader in The American Legion. That was my goal.”

NALC Chancellor and Past National Commander David Rehbein learned something about the 2024 class that he shared in his remarks to the students during the graduation ceremony.

“You are the 25^th Legion College class so that means you’re joining something like 1,200 other graduates out there. That’s a group that’s going to see this American Legion into the future. You are going to lead us there. As you join that group, remember where you came from, remember this class. I want to thank you for being the class you are.”

American Legion National Commander James LaCoursiere Jr. was present to congratulate the NALC Class of 2024 and give a few remarks. “I sincerely want to say thank you, thank you for all that you do. Thank you for embracing The American Legion right here in your heart. You are here because your departments believe in you.

“I have a saying that I love to emphasize. It is my true commitment and compassion which is based on my love for The American Legion and for the great United States of America, and that is LUV – loyalty, unity and valor. When you think about that, that’s what The American Legion is all about. That’s what I see here in this room…a band of brothers and sisters who have come together this week to dedicate themselves to a purpose greater than any individual.”

LaCoursiere reminded the class to keep The American Legion’s mission of “changing lives and saving lives” at the forefront – Be the One.

“Be the one to save the life a veteran, or their child, their spouse, the stranger in you community. Continued to educate one another, continue to educate your neighbors, educate your communities and while we are educating them let’s educate them on who The American Legion is.”

In closing, LaCoursiere asked the students what their legacy will be. Department of Ohio 2^nd Vice Commander Gary Cox Jr. already knows.

Learning, networking and continuing a legacy is what brought Cox to National American Legion College. His late father was a district commander, Cox served two terms as a district commander, and his father took a photo with Rehbein when he was national commander in 2008. Cox recreated that picture with Rehbein at NALC.

“There’s a legacy there and that’s the big thing is there’s legacies in the Legion. We have these veterans coming up that are sons and daughters of veterans. We have younger members who question, ‘Can I do this?’ or ‘Can I be involved?’ All you have to do is get involved, get your experience, get your education, like National American Legion College, and that way you can show your department, show your district that you’re in this because you want to learn and continue this legacy that we have.”

Cox shared that his time at National American Legion College has “been an outstanding experience. You come in, and you network, and you learn, and you make friends. There’s your camaraderie which we lost when we got out of the service, and this is what we get back while we’re here. We are a complete diverse group and that’s what makes The American Legion, the military, so great. You take all of this, and you put it together and we make it work.”

Before the NALC graduation ceremony concluded, Rehbein shared that after 10 years as chancellor, this was his last class.

“It is time for me to retire, step down, bring in new leadership because new leadership brings new ideas and new ways of doing things,” he said. “And new leadership can improve something even though it’s already very good but still can be made better. As I step down, there is a very, very well qualified individual to take that spot.”

Rehbein announced that Past National Commander Daniel Seehafer of Wisconsin will be the new NALC chancellor starting with the 2025 class. Seehafer was present and Rehbein handed him the chancellor challenge coin to carry forward. And Mike Rohan, past American Legion Marketing Commission chairman and husband of Past National Commander Denise Rohan, will serve as dean of the NALC.