Dear Alumni,
It has been a long standing tradition to have a "State of the Academy and Alumni Association" presentation as part of the March Board of Directors meeting. It is typically held for about 2 hours on Saturday morning with the AA President, Superintendent and his key staff members providing an overview of the past year and significant future events. This year's meeting summary was provided by AA Board member Tiffany Jones '97.
Thanks for all your support and if you have any questions or suggestions about your Alumni Association, please contact me at any time.
R/
CDR Jim Sylvester '71
President
USCGA Alumni Association
All Class Meeting
USCGA Alumni Association
Alumni Center, New London, CT
March 27, 2010
Summary
At the recent USCGAAA All Class Meeting with the Academy's Superintendent Admiral Burhoe, USCGAAA President Jim Sylvester, Dean of Academics Kurt Colella, Commandant of Cadets Captain John Fitzgerald, Athletics Director, Ray Cieplik and Chief of the Leadership Development Center, Captain Bill Kelly, the board and other alumni had the opportunity to receive a great overview of the Academy's current state of the union, understand how our contributions are directly impacting the lives of cadets, and hear about the vision of the Academy and where it is going.
As part of the meeting, we heard from 1/c Frank Varrichio and 2/c Gabe Nelson. They each explained how alumni dollars were able to fund eight Academy sports clubs including water polo and boxing, several high profile glee club events, billet night, ring dance, and even the ability to send 235 cadets down to attend 3/c Kenny Link's funeral recently. These funded activities provided cadets with additional opportunities to develop leadership skills, self-confidence, work ethic, physical and mental strength, and positively represent the Coast Guard in various ways.
Admiral Burhoe provided updates concerning the admissions process for the 2010 school year. He also highlighted that 208 cadets will graduate this year. Of those graduates, 7 will attend flight school, 5 will go to Sector billets, and the remaining will go afloat.
Capt Fitzgerald highlighted some exciting new protype activities for cadets this year, including radical thinking training, peer-to-peer counselor program, the establishment of an Interfaith council, and the creation of a one week Prevention course that some cadets will participate in during the summer if they have no desire to attend CATP (Cadet Aviation Training Program). He also highlighted a great example of how cadets continue to sacrifice for others. In March, 13 cadets gave up their Spring Break so they could build a chapel and baseball field in the Dominican Republic.
Dean Colella spoke about several academic programs, including the Honors Program, Writing Center, a new Network Security and Cyber Defense course, and the renovation of Mac Hall to improve the facility and labs. We have just learned that Cadet 1/c Joe DiRenzo was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and Cadet 2/c Melissa McCafferty as a Truman Scholar. These selections were the result of hard work by the cadets, but made possible through Alumni Association support of the Honors Program.
The Superintendent and his staff addressed questions the alumni had regarding 2009 cadet alcohol incidents, the admissions process, Chase Hall renovation, the recent re-accredidation of the Engineering and Management departments, plans for Riverside Park, and even a question about the UTube and Twitter use policy for cadets.
Lastly, John Maxham and Allen Krueger talked about the CG Leadership 44 campaign. With the commitment of alumni donations to build new sailing vessels, 100% of the cadet corps will soon be able participate in a coastal sailing program.
As both an alumni and board member of the USCGA Alumni Association, I was able to hear firsthand how alumni contributions continue to enrich the lives of cadets.
Tiffany O. Jones '97
Secretary, Board of Directors
USCGA Alumni Association |
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