Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends:
Happy Holidays from the Naval Academy Foundation! As we conclude another momentous year of achievements realized in service to our mission, we would be remiss if we did not take a moment to share our sincere gratitude once again for your great support over the course of Called to Serve, Daring to Lead: The Naval Academy Campaign. As we look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead in 2022 and beyond, it is hard not to reflect how philanthropy at the Naval Academy is making a difference. Your investments enable Yard leadership to think bigger and push beyond the boundaries of traditional approaches, such as creating new academic majors; it affords midshipmen numerous “margin of excellence” activities that enhance their leadership and cultural awareness; and it is enabling planning for a more innovative approach to education, leadership and character development instruction.
With that in mind, we wanted to share a few highlights from the Fall semester, many of which were made possible by private philanthropy from alumni and friends like you.
- Building a New Annapolis-Based Home: Admiral Robert J. Natter ’67, USN (Ret.), led a virtual update on the progress for the construction of the new Alumni Association and Foundation Center. Listen to the discussion.
Snapshot of progress at the site of the new Alumni Association and Foundation Center. Click HERE for live feed.
- Emerging Warfare and Career Opportunities: 1,108 midshipmen from the class of 2022 received service assignments, including cutting-edge fields in cyber warfare engineering.
- Leading Edge Conference Themes: The 10th Annual Science and Engineering Conference was held in November. Participants engaged in discussion and research on data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning; themes that will be at the forefront of conversations over the coming years.
- World-Class Student-Athletes: Atlanta native and political science major, MIDN 1/C Sarah Skinner, named one of 32 American selectees for the prestigious Rhodes Scholar program. She is the 54th Rhodes Scholar in USNA history AND the Navy Women’s Rugby team captain, fresh off of a National Championship.
- Historical Philanthropy: Navy Rowing received historical support from Tom ’67 and Candy Knudson.
- Desire to Serve: The Brigade collects a record 90,000+ pounds of food for the 2021 Harvest for Hungry Campaign. This is the 12th year the Midshipmen Activities Group has organized the campaign supporting local communities.
- Impactful Conversations: The Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership continues its podcast series, Radio Stockdale. Recent discussions include leadership lessons from NASA Astronaut CAPT Chris Cassidy ’93, USN (Ret.), and a thought-provoking conversation led by Command Master Chief Britt Slabinski, USN (Ret.), discussing decision-making when faced with impossible choices.
- Mission Accomplished: Navy beat Army 17-13 in Saturday’s annual matchup at MetLife Stadium. View NAAA’s highlight video for a game recap and a reminder that at USNA everything we do is about supporting each other to ensure mission success.
Looking ahead:
- Celebrating a successful close to our $541 million campaign, we embarked on a Year of Gratitude to thank all our donors—including you—for your continued investment in the future of our Naval Academy and the leaders of the Navy and Marine Corps.
- Join us in Annapolis for the 2022 Naval Academy Leadership Conference, 23-26 January. This year’s conference theme is Resiliency Rising: Forging through Adversity.
- Navy v. Notre Dame in Ireland, 26 August 2023 – Reserve Your Tickets Today!
While these are just a few of the many remarkable stories of success happening throughout your Naval Academy community, we invite you to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for future updates. As always, thank you for your continued generosity as we aim to sustain and further elevate the Naval Academy as the Nation’s flagship undergraduate education, leadership and character development institution. We look forward to meeting with you in the new year as we continue our work together to prepare the future leaders of our Navy and Marine Corps.
Finally, if you have already supported the Naval Academy in 2021, thank you! If you have not made a gift this year, please consider making a gift to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation and support our future Navy and Marine Corps officers. We are encouraging those interested in making a gift to do so online due to mail delivery delays in the greater Annapolis area. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Mike Hoffman
Executive Director, Regional Development
Office: 410-295-4184 | Mobile: 443-798-5644
Mike.hoffman@usna.com