The Water Polo team travelled to the University of Notre Dame to participate in a tournament. The ten-man team played four games, where they went three and one. The first of the team’s three games on Saturday was against Lake Forest University; after a tough first quarter, the Army team rallied on the counter and hammered them down to a convincing 15-2 victory. In their second game, against the hosting team Notre Dame, Army faced their toughest competition of the weekend. After a tough four quarters of very even play, the teams went into a shoot-out to break the tie; after one shootout yielded the same result, Army lost in a sudden-elimination round by one goal. After refueling and a quick break, they returned to play Carthage College. Motivated by their tough loss earlier, yearlings CDT’s Shelby Lee and Leonid Milman came out with a strong counter and led the team to a 17-2 victory. After a night’s rest, the Army team came out to face off against Grand Valley University. With a lead secured early on by Firstie CDT David Bennet, and the excellent play of plebe CDT Jeff Stark, the team was able to relax their counterattack and focus on their fundamentals, leading to a 10-4 victory. The ten man roster presented a new and different experience to the players over the weekend, as they all experienced playing with more fatigue and more swimming than they were used to. However, playing these new opponents under different conditions was a valuable experience for all of the members, and valuable connections were made with referees, coaches, and players in the region.

The USMA Cadet Community on Civil-Military Operations (C3MO) travelled to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn. The cadets sat in on proceeding by Judge Sterling Johnson and Senior Judge Jack Weinstein, and then toured the offices of the U.S. Marshals. The cadets discussed the difference between civil and military justice with the judges, and learned about the judges’ legal careers. The club strengthened the Academy’s bond with New York City, and demonstrated the professionalism of the Corps of Cadets. This event created an opportunity for future engagements between USMA and the Federal Court system.

The Army West Point Cycling team travelled to Cleversburg, PA, to compete in the 2016 Shippensburg Scurry. The strong winds and unseasonably cold weather provided a challenge to all of the riders. Saturday started out with a circuit and killer hill climb, and the weekend finished up with a road race on Sunday. Unfortunately, due to the weather, officials had to truncate the road course and cut out the Horse Killer Hill. Top finishers this weekend include: cadet Jinny Yan ’16 CAT B, taking 3rd place in the circuit, and 2nd in the road race and hill climb; cadet Tristan Leo Manderfeld ’17 CAT B, taking 5th place in the circuit and 4th in the hill climb; cadet Monte He ’19 CAT C, taking 1st place in the circuit, 2nd in the road race, and 3rd in the hill climb; and cadet Andy Young ’19 CAT D, placing 5th in the circuit. With four riders upgrading going into the Shippensburg Scurry, and more expected to upgrade this next weekend, the team has seen strong improvements early in season.

HAMILTON, NY - After forcing the game to extra innings, the Army West Point softball team was able to clinch a 4-3 victory over Colgate Thursday evening in the series that began earlier this month. The Black Knights scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth and hold off the Raiders for the win. Gladys Esparza-Gallegos led off the Black Knights in the top of the eighth with a walk and had pinch runner Tyler McKinney take the bag for her. Maddie Kim was then walked to advance McKinney into scoring position for Army. Ashely Yoo tabbed a sacrifice bunt to the third baseman to push McKinney safely to third. Read More

IRVING, TX - Senior Matt Giachinta of the Army West Point football team was named by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) to the 2016 NFF Hampshire Honor Society.The players honored are comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their collegiate career. Each player must also be a starter or significant contributor to their respective school in their final year of eligibility and meet all NCAA/NAIA-mandated progress towards degree requirements.

Giachinta, one of Army's co-captains for his final year, is one of 875 players to receive the honor. He appeared in every game this season with eight starts. The Cold Spring, N.Y., native totaled 61 rushes for 286 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and one touchdown this season. He finished fourth on the team in rushing yardage and was one of six offensive skill position players to appear in every game. Full Story»

Seventeen years ago, a single West Point academic department invited external guests to witness the applied research its cadets had done in support of the Army and the Department of Defense. From such humble beginnings has sprung Projects Day, the United States Military Academy’s annual showcase of presentations, poster sessions, theses defenses, performances and more that represent the best of cadet intellect, creativity, and tenacity. This year, 13 academic departments, along with the Department of Physical Education and the Department of Military Instruction, took part in Projects Day. Speaking at a luncheon for donors, whose contributions to the Margin of Excellence help fund many of the projects seen on Projects Day, BG Tim Trainor ’83, Dean of the Academic Board, said, “It’s simply an amazing day at West Point.”

From the ballroom of the West Point Club to the labs of Bartlett Hall and in various venues all over the Academy, nearly 400 projects were on display at this year’s Project Day. One cadet was even outside between buildings to display the results of the Astronomy Club’s balloon satellite launch.

While the projects were varied, representing the academic interests of the cadets’ home department (for example, statistical analyses for the Department of Mathematical Sciences or international case studies for the Department of Foreign Languages), they all had one element in common. “I think all the projects extend problem-solving skills beyond the classroom,” said CDT Jacob Browning ’16, one of the team members of the Chem-E-Car Design Project. CDT Kaeliegh Warfield ’16, who worked with three other cadets in establishing a new observatory on the roof of Bartlett Hall for taking astro-photography and deep-space images, put it another way. “It’s not about the contents of the cadet projects, but rather the context surrounding them,” she said. “That is, figuring out ways to fix things when they go wrong and keeping faith in oneself to get the job done.”

Other factors seemed to unite cadets surrounding Projects Day. Most spent an average of eight-to-ten hours a week outside of their normal assignments working on their projects, and all seem to relish the opportunity to present their projects to an audience (“Although we all go crazy with stress the night before,” admitted CDT Tucker Favreau ’16, who worked with four other cadets on the Black Hat Risk project, which blended math, psychology, international relations, and computer science to calculate the risk of a force being detected while hacking into an enemy computer network). As BG Trainor remarked, one can readily hear the excitement and passion in the cadets’ voices when they discuss their projects. “Projects Day is meant to inspire a passion for lifelong learning,” said Trainor. By this measure, Projects Day is not just an amazing day at but also a marvelous success for West Point.

Click here for the video. Track and field can be one of the most demanding college sports, but multiple athletes have found a way to be successful at it while also achieving highly for other teams at West Point. Story

WEST POINT, NY - The Army West Point baseball team edged the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh 5-2 in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader on Sunday from Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field. Lehigh (21-27, 9-10 PL) starter Sam Ashey tossed an efficient first inning, needing just eight pitches to retire the Black Knights (16-30, 6-13 PL) in order. The Mountain Hawks scored the game's first run in the top of the second on a hit by Anthony Rinaldi. The single scored Ryan Bonshak, who reached on a one-out walk. Read More

BETHLEHEM, PA - A remarkably close contest for the Army West Point men's tennis team against Navy fittingly came down to a third set tiebreaker in the fifth singles flight on Sunday in the Patriot League Championship. The Black Knights avenged a loss to the Midshipmen from eight days ago as junior Kyle Barnes won 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) in the decisive match to claim a 4-3 win and the program's seventh league title. "It was an exciting match," said Army head coach Jim Poling. "It's always fun to play and compete against Navy. I thought we competed hard and it was a great match, one of the best matches we've played in a while. Barnes had three opportunities at match point before winning in the third set tiebreaker. Read More

ANNAPOLIS, MD - With a 22 stroke advantage, the Army West Point golf team won the Patriot League title Sunday afternoon with sophomore Dean Sakata clinching the individual title by nine strokes. Three Black Knights placed in the top five and all six Cadets finished in the top-30. Army not only wins the league title, but also qualifies for the NCAA Regional Tournament. Today's win marks the 11th Patriot League title for the Army golf program and the second under head coach Watts' tenure. Watts was named the Coach of the Year for the second time of his career at Army. Sakata is the 10th Black Knight in program history to bear the Men's Golfer of the Year title. Read More

WEST POINT, NY - The Army West Point women's rugby team captured the 2016 National Intercollegiate Rugby Association 7s championship with a 15-12 victory over AIC on Saturday from Anderson Rugby Complex. The day started with a 36-5 victory over Dartmouth with Kirsten Redmon and Chioma Odocha leading the way with two tries each. Zye Crittington and Becca Stipp also contributed tries, while Lindy Clark added four points from two conversions. Kaeleigh Warfield scored two points with a conversion. The Black Knights then blanked their service academy rival, Navy, 31-0. Read More

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The plebes of MA104 and MA255 had a unique pair of guest lecturers in their classes today. COL (R) Jeff Williams ’80 and COL (R) Tim Kopra ’85, astronauts aboard the International Space Station and members of Expedition 47, held a video teleconference (VTC) with the cadets in Robinson Auditorium. Aside from a 90-second loss of signal, the VTC was a great success, with 15 cadets posing questions to the astronauts, who were whizzing above them at 17,500 MPH, some 250 miles up in space. The cadets asked Williams and Kopra a wide range of questions, everything from how they do physical fitness training in space (they work out two-and-a-half hours a day) to how they do their laundry (they don’t; they bring enough clothes to last their six-month mission). While this might have been a math lesson (titled “Connecting Space Travel to Math”), some of the answers the astronauts gave crossed into the areas of philosophy and international relations. For example, Kopra told the plebes that West Point is changing them in ways they will only understand once they have left its gates, and when Williams was asked about working with the three Russian cosmonauts during Expedition 47, he said, “One of the greatest successes of the ISS is the ‘international’ part.” The 30-minute VTC also had some lighter moments that highlighted the personality of the NASA graduates. When Williams was asked if he would volunteer for a mission to Mars if it meant a one-way trip, he said, “I love an adventure, but I’m not a fool!” The duo also posed on screen for a space selfie with one of the cadet questioners. Then, before ending the VTC, Williams and Kopra performed the “Rocket” with the Class of 2019. MAJ Thomas Nelson ’04, course director for MA104, and his team spent more than a year coordinating this lesson with NASA, and it should be one that the cadets remember for the rest of their lives.

Members of the USMA-Vassar Initiative convened at Vassar College, where Cadets and their student hosts attended a C. Mildred Thompson Lecture given by Dr. Marilyn Young, New York University Professor of History, entitled “How to Remember the Vietnam War.” Young’s lecture coincided with Vietnam Veterans Day and the 33rd anniversary of the United States’ withdrawal of combat units and support personnel from Vietnam on 29 March 1973. In her lecture, Young explored what the Vietnam War can tell people about today's foreign policy problems. Following a group dinner with their student hosts, Cadets remained overnight in the Vassar College dormitories before returning to West Point early the next morning. In its sixth year, the USMA-Vassar Initiative part of a Mellon Foundation funded project designed to bridge the civil-military divide.

Under the leadership of CDT Cameron Voigt ’17, who was inspired by his attendance of the annual conference of the International Writing Centers Association in October 2015, the Writing Center conducted its first large-scale event in direct support of a specific writing assignment: the SOSH Paper. Held 3-4 April, 1930-2230, the Writing Center’s “SOSHIAL” facilitated expanded numbers of individual appointments for Cadets who worked with Writing Fellows specifically trained to assist them. In all, the Center conducted nineteen forty-five minute one-on-one consultations, in addition to serving several other Cadets who dropped in with briefer questions. Meanwhile, CDTs Nathan Hernandez and Erin Savage conducted special workshops on “Evidence: Research & Integration” and “Chicago Citation Style,” respectively. Finally, the Yoga Club helped out by conducting ‘relaxation sessions’ to support Cadets through the long writing process. The event received significant support from MAJ Renee Ramsey (SOSH), Course Director of SS307, and Ms. Laura Mosher (Library), in addition to the West Point Parents Club, which provided plentiful snacks to sustain CDTs as they worked. Overall, feedback from all Cadets who participated was extremely positive, despite the limited number of appointments the Center was able to offer, and through CDT Voigt’s leadership and the dedicated efforts of nearly two dozen Cadet Writing Fellows, the event set an important precedent and standard for the future.

Army West Point Crew continued their strong spring season at the Kerr Cup in Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River, competing against 35 other collegiate programs from across the county, including NCAA women’s teams and highly-ranked DIV-1 varsity men’s programs. Army entered 11 events, sending 9 boats to Grand Finals, including all of the Eights races – the premier category in the sport. The Varsity Women’s Pair won their heat in the varsity pair event with the fastest time of the morning. As the top seed in the Grand Final, the women experienced a seat mal-function at the start, but were still able to finish in 5th place ahead of one crew in the race. In the Grand Finals, The Novice Women’s Four took 4th, just .15 seconds from the bronze medal positon, ahead of the crews from NYU and Rutgers Camden. The Novice Men’s Four came up less than a second short of consecutive 1st place finishes, just behind the top-ranked Delaware LWT crew, defeating hometown favorites Drexel and Villanova in the process. The Novice Men’s Eight finished their Grand Final race with a time of 5:59.01, just behind the gold medal shell from Drexel, but ahead of the Delaware team that beat them in the heats earlier in the day. The Novice Women brought home the first gold for Army at the Kerr Cup since 2009, crossing the line in 6:52.8, two and a half boat lengths in front of the next closest competitor. The gold medal boat was coxed by CDT Xiao Pfohman, and powered by CDTs Mary Bahr, Lauren Hudak, Natalie Nepa, Hannah Makuch, Hannah Wentland, Lauren Pile, Margaret Gleason, and Amanda Kuruc at the stroke position. The Men’s Second Varsity Four placed 2nd in a finals only race, bested only by Fordham, and ahead of Temple, Rochester, Mary Washington and NY Maritime. The Men’s Second Varsity Eight sprinted to a 5th place finish just seconds behind the top crews, beating the Gonzaga boat at the line. The Varsity Women Eight had a strong first row of the season making the Grand Finals in a field of 16, beating the Patriot League Lehigh boat, and in close contact with an all-NCAA field including Temple, Fordham, Drexel, and St Josephs. The Men’s Varsity Eight finished in the bronze medal position, just behind the 12th ranked (nationally) Drexel boat. In the process, the Army crew defeated St Josephs’ top eight, marking an 8 second swing from the previous weekend’s result at the Knecht Cup. As a result of their strong performance, all four Eights were ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the American Collegiate Rowing Association poll. In preparation for the nationals, Army will host their only home event of the spring, the Faunce Cup, against Penn State University, beginning at 0800 at the Caufield Crew Center on Saturday, 23 May. The team will then leave the next day for a dual meet with Marist in Poughkeepsie for the President’s Cup.

Department of English and Philosophy faculty and Cadets attended the Third Annual Ethics of War Conference, an annual joint program between West Point and Villanova University. This year’s conference was hosted by Villanova University. This multi-disciplinary academic conference gathered some of the most influential philosophers, lawyers, political scientists and theologians currently contributing to the field of war ethics. The plenary sessions were offered by Dr. Claire Finkelstein of the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer of University of California, Santa Barbara; Dr. Frances Kamm of Harvard University; and Dr. Dominic Tierney of Swarthmore College, with faculty presentations by COL David Barnes, LTC Mike Saxon, Prof. Graham Parsons, and MAJ Tim Leone. While all were enriched by those scholars’ contributions, the highlight of the conference each year are the more than twenty Villanova students and West Point Cadets that present their own academic work throughout the event. USMA Cadet Presenters this year were Sam Andersen, Brett Benedict, James Duncan, Edmund Mullin, Zoe Kreitenberg, Carolyn Kehn, Harold Shablom, Matthew Malcom, Sam Kolling, and Ivellisse Velez-Morey.

Cadets Compete at Collegiate Infrastructure Challenge. A team of five cadets (Matthew Brown, Colin Doody, Ian Mauldin, Matthew Salazar, and Kevin Yi) were given a challenge to develop a solution to reduce the vulnerability of our nation’s transportation infrastructure. They presented their solution 24 hours later to a panel of judges and a room full of engineers, policy makers, and city planners as part of the Collegiate Infrastructure Challenge hosted by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) during this year’s Critical Infrastructure Symposium in Charleston, SC. The USMA team beat teams from USAFA and The Citadel to earn a second place finish behind a team from VMI.

The Combating Terrorism Center hosted its 4th Annual Cadet/Student Conference. The conference provides a high-level forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present research focused on the characteristics, causes, and implications of terrorism and insurgency as well as broader issues related to asymmetric conflicts. This year’s experts included the Honorable Juan Zarate, former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism (2005-2009); Dr. Victor Asal, Chair of Public Administration and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at SUNY Albany; and Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, professor of sociology, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Student presenters hailed from such institutions as Stanford University, London School of Economics, Kings College, and UMASS Lowell.

The two-day event featured addresses by COL Cindy Jebb, head of the Department of Social Sciences, and AMB Michael Sheehan, CTC’s Distinguished Chair, as well as presentations by several cadets. These included CDT David Lane (Conciliation Strategies in Northern Ireland), CDT Theodore Lipsky (Security Sector Reform in Post Asymmetric Conflicts), CDT Joe Presti (States or Something Else—A Comparison between ISIS and Hezbollah), CDT Bryan Silverman (Deciphering National Intelligence Institutions), and CDT Carson Warnberg (Effectiveness of CT Legislation against Militia Groups). Other cadets and USMA faculty attended panels and contributed to discussions throughout the conference.

Members of the Hudson Valley Cultural Forum traveled to the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City to attend an evening of veteran comics’ performances. Three of the performers—Isaura Ramirez, Mike Garvey, and Clifton Hoffler—were alumni of the Armed Services Arts Partnership’s (ASAP) Veterans Comedy Bootcamp who were making their NYC debut. They were accompanied by national headliner and Navy Veteran, PJ Walsh, and Army Veteran Dion Flynn, who plays the President on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Cadet Kyle Lackey discovered an unexpected connection with one of the performers, Marine Corps Veteran Mike Garvey. Cadet Lackey assisted in training Garvey’s service dog, Liberty, with Puppies Behind Bars. The Hudson Valley Cultural Forum’s mission is to expose Cadets to the history, arts, and culture of the Hudson River Valley.