Military Ball

Corps of Cadets Military Ball

Texas Military Institute Corps of Cadets Annual Military Ball

February 10, 2024

Celebrating a history of excellence

The Texas Military Institute Corps of Cadets celebrates history, excellence and military tradition with TMI’s annual Military Ball. Each year, a sold-out crowd of over 700 cadets, civilian students, parents and other members of the TMI community gather for a gala evening marked by time-honored military courtesies, such as a Saber Guard, Grand March and formal toasting.

Besides dinner and dancing, the Military Ball features a distinguished guest speaker. The Texas Military Institute Corps of Cadets is the award-winning Army JROTC program of TMI Episcopal and dates back to the school’s founding in 1893.


TMI social events: A brief history

Formal dances have been a part of TMI student life since the beginning. The second issue of the student magazine Bugle Notes, November 1899, reports that the school’s Dancing Club opened the social season earlier that year “with a most enjoyable hop….Good music and a not overcrowded floor made the 18 long dances and seven extras pass all too soon for the merry throng.” Cadets in those days learned their social graces at monthly tea dances with the students of Miss Mulholland’s School (alma mater of Mamie Doud Eisenhower, wife of President Dwight Eisenhower), with the two schools taking turns hosting the parties.

Later, TMI’s Cotillion Club was in charge of planning student social occasions. The 1932 Bluebonnet yearbook outlines a busy social season, including a Freshman Hop, Football Dance, Barn Dance, Junior Prom and Senior Prom. Only the proms and later, the Military Ball were held off campus; the St. Anthony Hotel downtown was their venue for many years.

While TMI was still an all-boys’ school, company sweethearts and the Queen of the Military Ball were chosen from among the dates of cadet officers. Now that the school and the Corps of Cadets are fully coeducational, female cadets fill these roles. Whenever possible, the Queen is crowned by her predecessor. She also wears a sash embroidered with her name and year, a tradition dating back to the late 1960s.
MISSION: TMI provides an exceptional education with values based on the teachings of Jesus Christ that challenge motivated students to develop their full potential in service and leadership.

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS
TMI Episcopal admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, sex, religion, and physical ability to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, sex, religion, and physical ability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and financial aid programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
TMI Episcopal
20955 W. Tejas Trail
San Antonio TX 78257
phone (210) 698-7171
fax (210) 698-0715