West Point United States Military Academy

Posted by Laurie (New Jersey, United States) on 14 April 2007 in Architecture.

Russell is now a Junior in High School and he has started to explore his options for college. He recently expressed an interest in attending West Point Military Academy. This came as a bit of a surprise to us since it had never come up in conversation before a few weeks ago when he received something in the mail from the academy.

On Friday we had a tour of West Point where we thought he could get a glimpse of what it would be like there as a Cadet. We, along with other candidates and parents sat through a couple of very frank speakers, both graduates/faculty and Cadets. They were very up front about the process, life at the academy as a Plebe, and through the years that follow. They also made very clear what to expect after graduation as an officer in the Army and the likelihood of deployments.

Russell was matched up with a Cadet to spend a few hours with touring the Academy, the Barracks, The Mess Hall and a class.

While Russell toured with his Cadet escort another Cadet escorted the parents on a tour of the Academy Grounds. He was a very engaging young man who is going to graduate this year. He gave us candid insight into what it's like there day to day, year to year. He even told us things we didn't expect to hear about some of the sillier things that go on, after all these are still "College kids" prone to do some of the silly things that college kids will do. He also talked about the repercussions of getting caught.

On our part of the tour we got to visit the enormous Mess Hall while the Cadets were having lunch. Before they have lunch they have to go to formation which is an impressive sight, although we only got to see it from afar. Once they finish formation they file into the Mess Hall for lunch which is quite a sight. Several thousand hungry young men and women in one place at the same time for a very quick, very organized, 20 minute lunch. If you have free time, no classes after lunch, then you can take longer.

While in the Mess Hall we spotted Russell across the room having lunch with his Cadet guide. It was pretty easy to spot him since he was the only one sitting there who wasn't in Camo. He was having a ball from the looks of it, smiling and laughing with the Cadets at the table.

One of the Cadets at the table spotted me with the camera and said "Hey look, she's taking our picture!" and started to wave at me. Unfortunately it was much too dark and they were much too far away for me to get the shot. Russell never let on that it was his mom behind the lens of that particular camera. There were several of us with cameras, only one other parent had a large one like mine though so we sort of stood out. Poor Russell told me later that he was worried that the Cadets would put 2 and 2 together and embarrass him. But they didn't. I should mention that Russell ate two huge sandwiches at lunch.

When we got back to the admissions building we were re-united with our kids and it was time for us to leave. We did not schedule Russell for an overnight visit at this juncture, although that was certainly an option.

On our way back to the car we asked Russell about it and what he thought of West Point. He told us about the Barracks and he had even gone to a class with the Cadet. It was an English class and they were studying a poem by Walt Whitman, one that Russell happened to be familiar with. The professor, a military officer, asked Russell what he thought of poetry to which Russell answered honestly "I'd prefer not to read it." Which yielded a chuckle from the professor and the class.

We asked Russell if he was still interested in West Point after the visit to which he surprised us somewhat by saying definitely yes he is interested. He knows that he has a lot of work to do if he has any hope of being accepted. We will see what happens and in the meantime he will continue to explore other Universities and colleges.

The fun has begun as the parents of yet another young man preparing for his future. Lots of surprises around every corner.

I wanted to take lots of pictures but the tour moved quickly and covered a lot of information. It was also very windy and cold so I was shivering badly. It was supposed to be sunny and in the 50's but it turned out very cloudy and bitter cold. We even had a couple of sprinkles/snow flurries/sleet. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

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