“For the first time in its 175-year history, famed South Carolina military college the Citadel has named a woman as regimental commander — a title conferred upon the student considered to be the academy’s top cadet. Sarah Zorn, a 21-year-old junior, was awarded the position — and a gilt-handled sword to complement it — by the previous regimental commander during the Citadel’s formal graduation parade, which is also known as the Long Gray Line. And while school officials such as Citadel Commandant of Cadets Geno F. Paluso II have hailed Zorn for not emphasizing the glass-ceiling shattering reality of the honor, female students at the school said that they took the recognition of Zorn’s excellence as a positive sign for all women at the academy.

“It says we can,” observed 18-year-old freshman Catherine Hill. ‘It says we can be with the guys — that we can do this.’”