The West Point Cadet Investment Club, and the Class of 2018 Cadet Treasurer, hosted nearly 30 financial professionals recently for the Academy's first annual Financial Education Day. Several members of the Financial Planning Association's Greater Hudson Valley Chapter volunteered to help make this event a tremendous success. Over 140 cadets attended classes given by industry experts on: passive vs. active investing, basic investment products, managing personal finances, retirement saving and the Thrift Savings Plan, home buying, understanding credit, and behavioral finance. Over 60 cadets also met with a Certified Financial Planner professional for a one on one session to learn more about their own personal financial situation. Economics faculty members will follow up with each member of the Class of 2018 in the coming weeks to provide an additional personal finance refresher as members of the Cow class sign for the optional career starter loan.

The Theatre Arts Guild enjoyed a performance by the “Blue Print Specials” which was preformed inside the Intrepid. It was a wonderful event where cadets enjoyed interacting with veterans from all services, as well as fellow theatre enthusiasts. The performance was the first time the "Blueprint Specials" has been performed in the US and first production since WWII. The shows were written for troops to perform at camps too remote for USO shows to reach. After the show cadets were called out during a Q&A Session. Veterans as well as Broadway producers were excited to learn that USMA has a theatre club, they did not know it existed.

Click the Cover to read the entire update.

Driving a car seems simple, and most times, it is. You hit the gas, steer and use the brake. However, there is always that lingering fear for many people when in front of the wheel – getting into an accident. Having no control over what is happening and the car, or sometimes worse, the people inside, can be seriously affected. That fear was all too real for Army West Point women's swimming and diving team member, Kelly Hamilton, in the fall of 2011. "It was the fall of my junior year of high school and I had woken up early for a morning swim practice," Hamilton said. "I went to a boarding school over 30 minutes away, so it was quite early in the morning." Read More

The Army West Point men's swimming and diving team recorded victories over American University, Boston University and George Mason University on Saturday, which was also senior day. Army defeated George Mason, 218-79, and was victorious over Boston University, 180-117. The Black Knights also beat American, 236-48. The 200-yard medley relay team of Josh Sembrano, Joseph Daniels, Jason Rodriguez and Evin Rude took home the top spot with a time of 1:31.82. Tom Ottman swam to a first-place finish in 1000-yard freestyle with a mark of 9:27.12. Jay Yang came in second with a time of 9:30.50. Read More

The Army West Point women's swimming and diving team recorded two combined victories against American University, Boston University and George Mason University on Saturday, which was also senior day. Army defeated George Mason, 187-106, and topped American, 241-55. The Black Knights fell, 159-140, to Boston University. Kelly Hamilton took home the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.05 seconds. Hamilton also went 1-2 respectively with Monica Sowinski in the 100-yard freestyle after posting corresponding times of 52.00 seconds and 52.12 seconds. Read More

The Army West Point wrestling team won another road match, this time with a 22-14 decision at Binghamton on Sunday from the West Gym. Army improved to 6-3 on the season and 4-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), while the Bearcats dropped to 5-4 on the season and 5-2 in EIWA matches. The Black Knights are now 8-2 all-time against the Bearcats. Army jumps to 5-0 on road the season, the most in a season since 2011-12. The Cadets have now won five-straight duals, matching the mark set in 2013-14 when Army defeated Harvard, American, Penn, Drexel and Bucknell in consecutive matches. Austin Harry, Russ Parsons, Andrew Mendel and Samson Imonode all went 2-0 on the weekend, while 141-pounders Logan Everett and Noah Hanau each went 1-0. Yearling 133-pounder Austin Harry documented his second technical fall of the weekend, his third of the season. The Harvey's Lake, PA native now has 20 victories and five tech. falls in his career. Read More

Army West Point Club Hockey (10-7-0) beat the 14th ranked Maryland Terrapins 2-1 in the Cadets' 2017 return to the ice - the team's first match since losing to Norwich on December 3. The season's remaining second half games include matchups with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Montclair State, Penn State, and the MACH league playoffs. Club Hockey carries a #13 ACHA Southeast Region ranking. Follow @ArmyClubHockey on Twitter for updates or for Periscope streaming video. Track Black Knights Club Hockey on and off the ice.

Major General Richard Clarke, former (74th) Commandant of Cadets, was the guest speaker at the Class of 2018’s 500th Night Banquet. He was thrilled to receive a framed football jersey from the winning Army/Navy game, which he will proudly display in his office at the Pentagon. Cadets and guests enjoyed music and dancing provided by the Benny Havens Band in historic Cullum Hall Ballroom following the Banquet. Guests were dressed in elegant formal attire and experienced “red carpet” receiving lines in Washington Hall. Professional complimentary photos were available to commemorate the event.

The Army West Point hockey team continued its streak against the Royal Military College of Canada Saturday night with a 5-3 victory at Tate Rink in front of a sellout crowd. Dominic Franco led the Black Knights with two goals, while Cole Bruns made 28 saves. The Black Knights now lead the all-time series with RMC, 45-29-7, including a 29-12-1 advantage at Tate Rink. Army is on a six-game winning streak, and are on a 10-game unbeaten streak against the Paladins. Click here for the video recap: https://youtu.be/4NlTfVG9xqw. The Riley family is now responsible for 42 of the Black Knights' 45 wins against RMC. Army outshot RMC, 42-31, for the game and have yet to be shutout this season with 24 games under its belt. The Cadets are 2-1-1 in gold jerseys this season. Along with Franco, Nash Worden, Brendan McGuire and Ian Mansfield also tallied goals for the Black Knights. Bruns picked up his first start of the season and made 28 saves in the win. Read More

The Army West Point women's tennis team competed in its first competition in three months at the NJIT Invite this past Saturday. Army kicked off its final tournament of the season. The team of yearling Sera Martorelli and plebe Stella Fedele captured a 6-1 victory in the third flight of doubles play. First Flight Singles Allyson Hayley (0-2): L, 6-0, 6-1 vs. Rafaella Sampaio (NJIT) L, 6-1, 6-3 vs. Anna Fajnarova (Seton Hall) Second Flight Singles Danna Funaro (0-2): L, 6-0, 6-1 vs. Anna Fajnarova (Seton Hall) L, 7-5, 7-6 (6) vs. Estelle Wong (Fordham) Third Flight Singles Yuka Lin (0-1): L, 6-3, 7-5 vs. Mayu Sato (Fordham) Ari Spirtos (0-1): L, 1-6, 6-4, (10-6) vs. Alba Rosas (NJIT). Read More

Firstie linebacker Andrew King played in the East-West Shrine Game on January 21 with the West prevailing, 10-3, at Tropicana Field. King recorded one tackle as a middle linebacker for the East squad. He ended up wearing five different helmets during the contest with the help from Army equipment manager Nick Determan. The game was defensive struggle as reflective by the final score. Louisiana-Lafayette running back Eli McGuire was the lone player to reach the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown run for the West at the start of the fourth quarter, breaking a 3-3 stalemate. The all-star type contest started in 1925. Saturday was the 92nd game. It's the oldest college football all-star game played anywhere. Part of its purpose is to allow an extra chance for draft-eligible players to generate some more game film for NFL scouts, before the draft actually takes place. The main reason, however, is driven by the desire to support Shriners Hospitals for Children in its mission to help children in need of expert medical care. Read More

The Army West Point men's tennis team earned its first two wins of the season, with victories over Sacred Heart University and Marist College on Saturday January 21. The dual-matches were the first of 2017 for the Black Knights, as they recently competed at the ATP Challenger of Dallas Event last weekend. Army defeated Sacred Heart by a team score of 6-1. David Mitchell won, 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, in number one singles. Michael Sienko scored a 6-1, 6-2 victory out of the third single slot, while Sienko and Grant Riechmann recorded a 6-2 doubles win in the three slot. Gregory Shannon played his way to a victory out of the fourth singles spot, 6-1, 6-2. Shannon and Sam Lampman battled to a 6-4 doubles win out of the number one position. Read More

The Army West Point men's track and field team placed first at the Joe Donahue Games January 20 accumulating 134 points. Track Events Andre Vaughn placed third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.03 seconds. Nick Beavers placed second with a time of 8.23 seconds, while Ross Purity captured fifth in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.49 seconds. Tyrell Maddox stood atop the podium in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:03.93. The Black Knights had three in the top ten of the men's mile including a season best second place finish from Keagan Smith (4:11.70). Bradley Gibson placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.24s. In the men's 800 meter run Jackson Sullivan glided into second place with a time of 1:57.37. He was joined by Alex Combs in fifth (1:57.90). Jose Santana placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.42 seconds. He was joined by Andre Vaughn in eighth with a time of 22.91 seconds. Read More

The USMA Orienteering Team participated the annual Georgia Navigator’s Cup over MLK Jr. Weekend. Fresh off of their victory over Navy, the team spent the weeks leading up to the event maintaining their already high fitness level as the courses for the meet in the unforgiving Georgia woods were difficult to navigate and featured course lengths of over 10 kilometers. The team stayed in the Basic Combat Training barracks in the Sands Hills area of Ft. Benning. They dined at the nearby Dining Facility and watched trainees endure grueling basic training and Drill Sergeants. They also toured Ft. Benning led by the Orienteering OIC, COL Mark Read, seeing impressive sights such as the airborne towers and the Army Ranger monuments. Friday’s sprint course was an introductory level event, intended to familiarize competitors with the terrain they would face in the following races. The main events were on Saturday and Sunday and required competitors to navigate over, around, and through countless rivers, brambles, thickets, and hills. The teams also participated in an optional “Extreme-O” on Monday, which required teams to find a number of points with a twist beyond normal Orienteering. Participants faced tasks such as crossing over log bridges, canoeing to points on an island, crawling through tunnels, fishing for underwater points, and navigating through a maze. The team performed well, placing multiple runners in the top 3 of their respective course difficulty divisions. Sayles ’20 took 3rd on Day 3 for Intermediate Level. Saponari ’20 took 2nd on Day 3 for High Level. Team captain, Sitarz ’17 took 1st in the Day 1 Sprint and 3rd overall for Expert Level.

Cadets Le and Dear, along with PaNE faculty members Dr. Pfenning and Dr. Fekete, attended a three-day conference for undergraduate women in physics at Princeton University. The conference showcased research done by and career opportunities available to women in physics and related fields. Conference events attended included lab tours, a variety of workshops and “Hot Topics” presentations, a poster session for undergraduates, as well as plenary talks and a keynote address. Participants had the opportunity to network and interact with over 200 fellow undergraduate women physicists as well as a variety of industrial and academic leaders. Cadet Le described her experience at the conference in the following way: “It was an interesting experience to be able to interact with other like-minded women and be able to contribute to the never-ending growth of the Physics community.” Upon returning to USMA, Cadet Dear stated: “CUWiP was a great way to connect with female physicists because we are such a small community and the support all the women at different points in their career offered each other was inspiring.” The keynote address, given by Dr. Nergis Mavalvala, related to one of the major physics discoveries of 2016, namely the successful detection of gravitational waves. Dr. Mavalvala’s early research, devising an automatic alignment system for an extremely precise, although extremely large, instrument (the interferometer mirrors are 40 kilograms each and separated by 4 kilometers) contributed to the design of the instrument credited with proving Einstein’s general theory of relativity by detecting gravitational waves for the first time.

The Army West Point Fencing Team travelled to New York City as part of their outreach effort to support the CUNY Hunter College Homecoming where all sports are represented in one evening of competition. The team is the only Fencing Team invited annually to this event. Several Cadets sang the National Anthem for the event, it is an honor for the team to be chosen to do so. Afterwards, Hunter College provides a stack of pizzas for the Cadets to enjoy as thanks. In the Fencing Dual Meet portion, this is the first time in 10 years that the Army West Point Fencing Team defeated both the Hunter College Men’s and Women’s Fencing Teams by scores of 14-13 for the men and 15-12 for the women, both teams were undefeated at the event. Highlights for the Women’s Team: CDT Sharpsten at 2-1 in Women’s Sabre; CDT Yang at 3-0 and CDT Weigel at 3-0 in Women’s Epee; CDT Sun at 3-0 and CDT Yi at 2-1 in Women’s Foil. Highlights for the Men’s Team: CDT Griffin at 2-1, CDT Kurtzahn at 3-0 and CDT Knapp at 2-1 in Men’s Foil; CDT Johnson at 3-0 in Men’s Epee; CDT Papa at 2-1 in Men’s Sabre.

Yearling 133-pounder Austin Harry of the Army West Point wrestling team was named the Army Athletic Association's Athlete of the Week following a 2-0 performance against Hofstra and Binghamton. Harry was an integral part of the Black Knights continuing their five-match winning streak as the Harvey's Lake, PA native posted a team-high 39 points in two matches, thanks to a pair of technical falls. Click here for the video: https://youtu.be/rMT32t8d12k. He defeated Hofstra's Vinny Vespa 22-4, before taking down Ian Lupole of Binghamton, 17-1. The 10 team points was also the largest contribution of the weekend for the Cadets. On the season, Harry is 11-11 overall with five bonus-point wins on three tech. falls and two major decisions. Read More

The Army West Point Cycling Team finished an outstanding 4th in team omnium in its second Cyclocross National Championships. Four riders were competing in the male collegiate division CDTs Manderfeld, Gengler, Okazaki, and Allen. Competing in the women’s collegiate division was CDT Ho. Manderfeld finished in 18th position, and Gengler finishing in 26th out of over 60 competitors. The other riders rode a very tough race and competed with some of the best collegiate cyclists. Ho made her first appearance at Nationals and rode very well rising to the occasion and pushing herself. Rider Manderfeld also raced in the U23 Pro Men Race and raced with a lot of intensity against the best riders the nation has to offer. Looking back on the season the team accomplished a lot including a dominant win of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Title, multiple overall season podiums in all categories, and topped it off with a fourth place finish at nationals as a team. The team has grown a lot and is looking to come back even stronger next season.

110 PANE Cadets and Faculty participated in the annual Research Symposium which provides our Cadets the opportunity to learn about the wide range of research topics available to them. This year we held the symposium in the Bartlett Hall Science Center (BHSC). The symposium began in the state-of-the-art Kendrick Auditorium where COL Naessens provided motivational words about the importance of research in their STEM education, the modern facilities and equipment available in recently renovated BHSC, the amazing AIADs available, and the incredible support we receive from our research centers (Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center (NSERC), Photonics Research Center (PRC), and the Space and Missile Defense Command Research and Analysis Center (SMDC-RAC)). Following the introduction, the Cadets visited the various research areas in the BHSC to include the Pelletron Particle Accelerator, the Observatory, the High Energy Laser and Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Labs, and the Subcritical Assembly. The event was a great success and the number of Cadets that participate in independent research continues to grow.