Dr. Diane Richardson, of the German Section, was invited by the German Studies Department at Vassar College to give a guest lecture on her research, “Embracing Ambiguity in the Language Classroom and Curriculum.” She also led a lesson on “Linguistic Landscape in the Language Classroom” in Vassar’s course on “Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Theory and Practice.” It was an enriching opportunity to share insight with current and future language instructors and professors that can be applied to and enhance the development of language learners in multiple contexts.

The Opera Club visited the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center to view Giacomo Puccini's, and the world's, most popular opera: La Bohème. Twenty cadets, faculty, and guests spent the morning enjoying the city before attending the sold-out matinée. Following the performance, the cadets met with some of the lead performers in the Opera including Susanna Phillips, Lucas Meachem, and Matthew Rose in the Met's List Hall. The cadets and artists asked questions of one another and shared experiences, during that meeting. The conversation fostered a relationship between the cadets and the community of artists at Lincoln Center.

The Army West Point Equestrian Team was strong competition at their last IHSA horse show of the season. The Army Equestrian team traveled to Centenary University in Long Valley, NJ for the last IHSA competition of the season. They competed against ten highly competitive colleges in the Northeast region. Some of the most notable placings are as follows: Madyson Paul '21 placed second in her Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter Division and earned enough points to move up to the Novice Division next season. Jeremy Schnipke '19 won his Walk-Trot-Canter division. Cira Wolf '20 earned second place in her Walk-Trot Division and earned enough points to move up to the Walk-Trot-Canter Division next season. Lucy Harrill '21 and Matthew Golembeski '20 both earned third place in their respective Walk-Trot Divisions.

Additionally, an exceptional group of cadets qualified for IHSA Regionals coming up at Crosswinds Equestrian Center. They will represent the Army Team proudly across four divisions of competition. Team Captain Matilda Brady '19 will compete in both Novice Flat and Novice Fences, Madyson Paul will compete in Walk-Trot-Canter, and Cira Wolf '20 and Jeremy Schnipke '19 will both show in the Walk-Trot Division.

The Geospatial Information Science (GIS) Program of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, hosted a visit from Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas's 4th District. Congressman Westerman, author and sponsor of the Geospatial Data Act, spoke with cadets in the GIS Program about current geospatial initiatives. He also received an update on how the GIS faculty trains the nation's future leaders in the latest geospatial information science technologies. CPT Powell briefed Congressman Bruce Westerman on the program's technologies, specifically the use of the 3D Terrain Model and also the 3D visualization room using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data over Pointe du Hoc in France. Congressman Westerman also spoke with cadets in the Photogrammetry course, directed by Dr. O'Banion, about how legislation is being shaped in Congress by the proliferation of geospatial information into academic, business and government organizations.

The Department of Foreign Languages and the Chinese language section hosted the former Prime Minister of Australia, the Honorable Kevin Rudd. During his visit, Prime Minister Rudd interacted with cadets, faculty and leadership. Prime Minister Rudd conducted an evening lecture in which he demonstrated how deep regional expertise goes hand-in-hand with deep linguistic and cultural knowledge. Prime Minister Rudd also took the opportunity to delve into deeper analysis of China’s current regional and global geopolitical situation, along with its future ambitions.

Yearling Alex Wilkinson was named the Atlantic Hockey Association's Best Defenseman, announced at the league banquet on Thursday. "We are very proud of Wilky on being named Atlantic Hockey's Best Defenseman," said head coach Brian Riley. "From the first day he arrived at West Point, he has worked extremely hard to develop his game. To be recognized by the league and coaches is quite an honor. As outstanding a hockey player he is, Wilky is also a great cadet and represents our program and the Academy in a way that makes us all proud." Wilkinson, who hails from Raleigh, N.C., was the first Army player to receive this award since Associate Head Coach Zach McKelvie was honored in 2008. He led an Army defense that finished with the league's best penalty kill (.878) and the second-best scoring defense. Wilkinson ranked second in the league with 14 power play points including four goals on the man-advantage. Read More

This capstone project encompasses the design of a next generation combat vehicle that can withstand an underbody blast. In this capstone the cadets have designed and tested varying simple truss geometry configurations to analyze effectiveness when compared to the current industry standard. Models were developed for both experimental and analytical analysis. The experimental analysis utilizes additive manufacturing and the Army Research Lab (ARL) guidelines for blast simulation. To provide a source of comparison and expectation, a finite element model was developed in True Grid. Using the DoD High Performance Computing (HPC) facility, this model was used for a detailed finite-element blast test analysis. The available tools also provide the capability to adjust a variety of test parameters and allows the fine-tuning of experimental procedures based on the expected results.

Army West Point wrestlers Lucas Weiland, Ben Harvey and Rocco Caywood all advanced to the second day of the NCAA Championships after earning wins in the second session Thursday evening at Quicken Loans Arena. After a lackluster first session that saw all three wrestlers drop their opening bouts, the trio of Cadets closed out the first day of the national tournament with a combined 4-0 record. All three wrestlers earned their first-career victories at the NCAA Championships. This is the first time since 2012 that at-least three Black Knights documented wins at NCAAs. Weiland documented Army's first bonus point win at nationals in three years with a 9-1 major decision in his first consolation match. The most recent came when Brian Harvey recorded a 12-3 major decision over Oregon State's Garrett Drucker in 2015. Harvey became the first Army wrestler to win multiple matches at the NCAAs since his brother, Brian, did so in 2015. The New Palestine, Ind., native posted his 40th-career victory in the consolation pigtail match. He reached 20 wins for the second-straight season with his second win of the night. Read More

The Army Taekwondo team travelled to Princeton for their first ECTC (Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference) tournament of the semester, securing second-place overall in Division 1 Taekwondo. In the Women's Black Belt Division, cadets Taylor Reim, Nicole Nettles and Ashley Rivera won gold for sparring, defeating the Cornell A1 team. The Men's A1 sparring team consisting of cadets Matthew Galea, Ryan Castilla and Ziwei Peng fought to an exciting finals match with the Navy A1 team, placing 2nd overall in black belt sparring. The Men's A3 sparring team consisting of cadets Tae Young Kim, Jordan Nettles, and Eli Eichenberger placed 3rd in black belt sparring. Throughout the tournament, the team saw great performances from Matthew Galea, Taylor Reim, Ashley Rivera and Anthony Chargualaf for knocking out at least one of their opponents throughout the day. In the B Divisions, the Men's B1 sparring team of cadets Andy Vu, Travis Phelan and Benjamin Turner placed second after a close fight with the Duke B1 team.

Four members of the Army West Point Rifle team were awarded College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) scholastic honors. Nathan Brewer, Emiliano Concha-Toro, Ethan Cook, and Andrew Solomonides have all been named 2018 CRCA Scholastic All-Americans. Brewer, a cow from Walla Walla, Wash., is majoring in mechanical engineering. He shot a season high score of 579 in smallbore twice this year against Navy and Murray State. He also shot his season high in air rifle of 589 on two separate occasions, both times against Navy. Concha-Toro, a yearling from Sarasota, Fla., is a physics major. Concha-Toro shot a high score of 577 in smallbore this season. In air rifle, he achieved a score of 580 against GARC rivals Murray State. Cook is majoring in operations research. The firstie and Marshall, Mich., native achieved his season record of 570 in the smallbore discipline twice. In air rifle, he shot an impressive score of 581 against service-academy rival Navy. Solomindes is a nuclear engineering major from Gilsum, N.H. The cow shot a season high smallbore score of 562. He scored a season high 579 points in the air rifle discipline against Navy in the annual Army-Navy Star match.

Professor Rob McDonald discussed the life and times of Thomas Jefferson on the Presidents' Day episode of "The Rubin Report" (https://youtu.be/kVGXfgY9VFI). Interviewed by host Dave Rubin, a political commentator and stand-up comic, in addition to people who listened via the audio podcast (https://tinyurl.com/y8unzzvn), within five days the video of Rob's interview had been streamed by more than 75,000 viewers.

Four cadets on the Bridge Protection Device multi-disciplinary capstone project visited the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS. They met with Larry Winkleman from PM Bridging at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and with ERDC scientists to discuss projects in support of the Army's Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB). The cadets presented their work to date on the bridge protection device, a cable and boom system that will be installed upstream of the bridge to protect the IRB from natural and man-made floating debris. The ERDC scientists briefed their progress on related progress and gave the cadets a tour of the physical testing of the IRB components currently underway. The meeting generated discussions of how to continue to leverage ongoing research at ERDC and identified collaboration areas for this project and beyond. After the meetings at ERDC, the team visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) headquarters for the Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) and Mississippi River Commission (MRC).

The Army West Point Nordic Ski Team attended the Eastern Collegiate Skiing Conference (ECSC) Regional Championship at the Gore Mountain Ski Bowl in North Creek, NY. The race was the final event of the ECSC season. Five cadets participated in the two-day competition which consisted of a 1.5km sprint tournament on Saturday and a 7.5km skate event on Sunday, CDTs Peter Elmlinger '19, Tina Le '19, Tyler Stansbury '19, John Erskine '20 and Daniel Berardino '20 were the only team to have every skier start and finish every race. Cadet Berardino, was the highest placed cadet on both days. Despite being his first race of the year he qualified fourth in his quarter-final heat in the spring, and broke the 30-minute mark in the 7.5km skate.

The Writing Program hosted Dr. Zachery Koppelman (Director of the Writing Center, Wabash College) and two students for a range of events focused on the study of writing across the curriculum and writing centers. Dr. Koppelmann spoke with several senior faculty in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (CME) on the importance of effective written communication in engineering. Dr. Koppelmann's presentation, "Bridges, Substations, and Communication: Engineers Writing Well," built on his experience leading the establishment of a writing curriculum in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University as well as additional resources he developed to support technical and professional communication at Purdue and Wabash College. His discussions with CME faculty touched on a range of concerns, from real-world case studies to the planning of faculty development seminars, designing and responding to assignments, and the imperative of enlisting discipline-specific vocabulary to understand writing values.

During his stay at the Academy, Dr. Koppelmann also conferenced with senior leaders in the Center for Enhanced Performance and discussed, with Writing Program leaders, concerns relating to design, assessment, and development in writing-across-the-curriculum initiatives and writing centers. He further coordinated with two of his Wabash students—accomplished undergraduates who shadowed and interacted with Cadet Writing Fellows throughout their two-day stay—to guest lecture in the two seminars currently offered by the Writing Fellows Program (Writing Process & Pedagogy and Advanced Writing Pedagogy).

The Army West Point Men's Fencing Team traveled down to Lafayette College in Easton, PA to compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Conference Championships, only 15 teams qualified to compete. Army Fencing had many wins, the most satisfying was beating Navy in head to head competition by a score of 6-3 eliminating them from the finals. First Place in Club Division were cadets Cody West (Foil), Dan Kurtzahn (Foil), Vaughn Johnson (Epee), Noah Kambili (Sabre), Chris Papa (Sabre) and Phil White (Sabre). The Men's Team was awarded the MAAC Sportsmanship Trophy as voted on by teams as the one team conveying the highest degree of sportsmanship throughout the entire season.

Photo: CDT Vaughn Johnson defeating handedly his opponent from the University of Maryland, an athlete with a wealth of years above Vaughn, in a match that was won by Vaughn with a score with a wide margin of 15-3

The Army West Point Women's Fencing team hosted the 90th National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) Conference Fencing Championships, the oldest organized sports conference for women in the USA, and came away with a memorable day of results, only 10 teams qualified to compete. The team had a session with the retiring Olympians who have been running the conference for 45 years, and gained wonderful insights. First Place in Club Division were cadets Claudia Sun (Foil) and Amy Yang (Epee), both qualified for NIWFA All-Conference Awards and Yang received the NIWFA All-Academic Award.

The Investment Club hosted Mr. Keenan Beasley '05. Mr. Beasley is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BLKBOX, a modern marketing firm based in New York City. He spoke to Cadets about pursuing their passion, and the trials and tribulations he experienced starting his own business. Roughly 90 cadets attended, and they spent most of the hour asking questions and eliciting feedback from Mr. Beasley on everything from academic pursuits to upcoming life decisions.

Army West Point yearling wrestler Ben Harvey advanced to the blood round, but fell one-win shy of All-America honors as the Black Knights' 2017-18 season came to a close on the second day of the NCAA Championships at Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday. Harvey, Lucas Weiland and Rocco Caywood all advanced to the second day of the national tournament before being eliminated in the consolation bracket. As a team, the Black Knights compiled an overall record 7-6 with Weiland earning the program's first bonus point victory at NCAAs since 2015 with a 9-1 major decision over #26 Andrew Shomers of Edinboro yesterday. As a team, the Black Knights' seven wins at nationals is the most by an Army team since 2003. Weiland and Harvey become the first duo for Army to win two or more matches at the NCAA Championships since 2008. Harvey became the 15th Cadet to win at least four matches at the national tournament and first since Matt Kyler in 2008. Read More

The United States Corps of Cadets Pipes and Drums performed at the American Legion in Greenwood Lakes to support their annual Celtic Day event. The Band had two performances; at each performance they provided live bagpipe music as well dancing from the Celtic Dancers. In between the two performances, the cadets interacted with veterans and community members at the American legion. Cadets marched in the Highland Falls St. Patrick's Day parade and conducted practice sessions with the Royal Canadian Air Force Pipe and Drums Band, as well as the Newburgh Fire Department Pipe and Drums Band.

The Army West Point men's track and field team claimed first place in dominating fashion at the UC Irvine Spring Break Classic. At this meet, the team earned 233 points which was good for first place, outscoring second place by 90 points. The team earned this spot with six first place titles. Track: Army placed second in the 400 relay with a time of 41.40. The team consisted of Ben Sims, Kevin Dyer, Tyler Davis and Drew Bullen. Keagan Smith won the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:49.06. Roman Ollar claimed third with a time of 3:52.63. He was followed by Robbie Santoyo (3:54.85) in sixth, and John Valeri (3:55.22) in eighth. Ross Puritty clocked in at 14.85 in the 110-meter hurdles which was good for third place. Tyrell Maddox timed in at 48.22 in the 400-meter dash which earned him second place. In the 100, Andre Vaughn placed first with a time of 10.70. Davis took second with a time of 10.74 and Kedrin Jefferson took the three spot at 10.78. Field: In the long jump, Tyrese Bender finished eighth with a distance of 6.25m. Drew Bullen jumped for 6.21m which was good for 10th place. Lee Bares won the pole vault, clearing a height of 5.15m. Joe Popek was close behind in third with a height of 4.65m. In the shot put, Michael Renard placed fifth with a distance of 16.37m. Geoff Kirk was close behind in sixth, throwing for 15.66m. Read More