Commitment is a tradition for 18-year-old Alex Vinson and her family.
The Class of 2017 new cadet has seen the tradition in three generations of her military family. Now she’s made that military tradition her own.
Like her great-grandfather (USNA '14), grandfather (USMA '54), uncles (USMA '78 and '79) and dad (USMA '89) before her, Alex will be the fourth generation to attend a military academy and the third generation to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point.
“Commitment -- it’s just kind of who I am as a person, even about everyday things,” Vinson said. “Everything has an order and everything has a place. I need and want the structure at West Point.”
An avid runner and recent captain of her high school cross country team, she hopes to join the marathon team at West Point. Vinson graduated in the top 5 percent of her class with a 4.24 GPA, was a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society and was the founder or in a leadership role of about four different clubs including Crisis Assistance Club; The Hunger Pains, which she started to raise awareness of hunger; president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; and treasurer for the Environmental Club.
Now she’s following the footsteps of her family, including her aunt who recently retired from the Army as a helicopter pilot, and also hopes to make the Army her career either as a pilot or in military intelligence. She hopes to learn Arabic through her studies at the school.
“I know it’s in the family history, but I think it’s a lot more than tradition,” Vinson said. “It’s just kind of more of the temperament on my dad’s side of the family -- we are actually very suited for that kind of lifestyle.”