Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 5, 1993 TAG: 9307050043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Gina Hilger has proven her mettle again.
Last month, Hilger became the second woman to graduate as valedictorian from the U.S. Air Force Academy. She's one of a handful to receive top honors at one of the major service academies since they first admitted women in 1976.
Four years ago, when the Lord Botetourt High School valedictorian, B'nai B'rith winner and four-sport athlete told her parents where she would be going to school, they wondered if their daughter may have finally met her match.
But Hilger harbored no such worries.
"I like challenge; I like stress," said Hilger, back home in Blue Ridge. "I demand a lot of myself."
First interested in the military because of the basic-training commercials she saw on television, Hilger selected the Air Force Academy because of the opportunity to play basketball.
Those that know her - parents, coaches, advisers, military superiors - call her modest but intense, a workaholic whose quiet manner may never reveal her pride, her drive to excel and her success.
She doesn't much like to talk about her accomplishments; it strikes her too much like bragging.
Others are not as reserved.
"She was head-and-shoulders above everybody else," said Elaine Robinson, who taught Hilger as a freshman at the Colorado Springs school. Later, as her adviser, she urged Hilger to shoot for the top.
"Gina took that to heart and off she went," Robinson said.
Compiling a 4.045 grade point average while double-majoring in political science and law, she minored in Spanish and general engineering. She won numerous academic awards, played guard for the Lady Falcons basketball team and second base in softball.
Her basketball coach, Marti Gasser, called Hilger a "great role model," a woman who matured from a quiet, introverted and shy freshman to a leader whom younger cadets constantly turned to for advice on and off the court.
Hilger was recruited to play for the NCAA Division II varsity team, but partly because of a lack of quickness, played on the junior varsity for her final three years.
The younger players - who voted Hilger captain - "had the utmost respect for her. She was almost like an assistant coach . . sort of took care of them," Gasser said.
"She was deeply concerned about her classmates," said Robinson. "She had a quality of empathy - she wasn't just indifferent or doing her own thing."
Training 10 cadets last summer how to march and memorize, among other things, she taught by example, said Maj. Virginia Tonneson.
"She could do more push-ups than just about anybody. I never saw her stop at any [particular] number," Tonneson remarked. And, "I always saw her in a smiling happy mood.
"I saw a young woman really develop into a leader," Gasser said. "Gina's put in any situation - she's going to take control."
It takes that kind of determination just to make it through the academy.
A cadet's life is pressure-packed, filled with four years of basic training, tough, broad academics and discipline. Privileges are few and off-base time is extremely limited. Rules governing conduct are strict and absolute.
Grueling schedules make study time a premium.
For Hilger, it never seemed a problem. She needed but five hours of sleep a night.
"She was embarrassed her freshman year to tell how much she liked it," said her mother, Mary Hilger, a lab analyst for Environmental Options.
Four years later, after a summer spent in Peru with that nation's air force, another summer at the Pentagon and 192 credit hours completed, she's ready to start school again elsewhere.
In August, she'll begin studies in political science at the University of Maryland on a two-year scholarship. She wants to work in military intelligence with the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Commissioned a second lieutenant June 3, Hilger's opinions on politically charged issues are defined, but she's careful how she phrases her views.
She didn't vote for Bill Clinton, but respects his leadership against Iraq. She believes women should be allowed to fly fighter jets, but on the grounds that they can meet the same physical requirements as their male counterparts. Gays shouldn't be asked their sexual orientation upon applying to the military, but if their presence hinders the unit's effectiveness for any reason, then they should be removed.
If she promotes her views likes she strives to succeed, her words will be heard. There's little she can't do.
Hilger won't ever be flying a jet, she said with perhaps some regret. Her eyesight isn't strong enough. Other than that . . . .
"She can't sing and she can't drive," her dad, Jerry, noted as deficiencies. Hilger admitted to getting lost in New Mexico trying to find Arizona, and to having no common sense, all the while laughing and nodding her head.
Her parents apologized for boasting about their daughter. Any mother or father would, Mary Hilger said. "We just have more proof of it."
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