cadet blogs

Welp. As I look around at my half-packed up room inside Chase Hall, I can proudly say that I’ve made it through two years of academia at the Coast Guard Academy. In my time here, I’ve accomplished far more than I thought I could prior to arriving here. For instance, I’ve taken 75 credit hours of classes in only four semesters, which is an absurd amount that only service academies can give you the pleasure of taking in such a small amount of time. Although my GPA isn’t exactly where it was in high school (nowhere near it, actually…oops) the transition into collegiate-level academics has proved to be quite the experience, and finally with my foot in the door, I can see some good advancement in my GPA.

Athletically, I couldn’t be more proud of our lacrosse team. We finished a regular season best 10-1, beat Stonehill to get to the PCLL Tournament Final…and then lost to our rivals, Briarcliffe, 9-7. It was one of the most nerve-racking games I’ve ever been a part of. Despite the setback, we were still granted an at-large bid to Nationals, and the team will be heading down to South Carolina next week to play in the MCLA National Tournament!

Militarily, things only got better and better for me as I progressed here. Starting as a 4/c with demerits falling everywhere, I now have three semesters of no demerits, and will be getting my second silver star for military excellence for the past semester. On top of that, my roommate and I were selected as Masters-At-Arms for Echo Company, so we’ll be running our department-specific incoming 4/c as they progress from swab to cadet.

So overall, after two years here, things really have shaped up. Being halfway done with my time here at the Academy is a unnerving thought, as it feels like just a few days ago I was getting screamed at by 1/c Sykes to keep my eyes in the boat. Well, in just a few weeks, I’ll be yelling at some swab myself. 2/c summer is coming quick!

More about Sam.

It’s crazy to think that freshman year is almost over. It seems like just yesterday that I drove in the front gate with my parents and began this journey. I’m glad freshman year is over, though, it was definitely tough but I know this place well enough to know that it’s not going to get any easier.

There are a lot of exciting things coming my way in these next few months starting with tomorrow when we find out our new companies. Since Reporting-In day I have been with the same group of 28 freshmen and they have become some of my best friends, but I don’t know my other classmates too well. When we switch companies we will remain in those companies until we graduate the Academy. I’m pretty nervous to see where I end up but it’s also pretty exciting. Then, next week is finals week and within no time I’ll be on Eagle for five weeks with my 121 classmates, sailing the Caribbean. I can’t wait! The first two weeks we will be underway with no stops! I m hoping that I don’t get too seasick; when we get to our first port call in Aruba I’m pretty sure we will all be more than excited to see land again. Then we sail to Guantanamo Bay and finally St. Petersburg, Florida where the rest of my classmates will get on Eagle and I will head to the Academy for summer school. Since I am majoring in engineering and started in Introduction to Calculus I’ll be taking Calc II in summer school. I’ll be back at the Academy for six weeks with about 40 of my classmates and from what I have heard, we have a pretty good time. We are here when the class of 2017 reports in so we will be sure to get some good video footage of that. Finally to wrap up my summer I have three weeks of leave and during that time I’ll be attending the Oshkosh Air show in Wisconsin! Before coming to the Academy I attended the air show every summer, and with missing last year due to Swab Summer I’m ecstatic to join my family there this year. Then, back home to Texas for some good ol’ Texas heat before starting my second year back at the Academy.

I’m ready for a change of pace after my first year and there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming weeks. I have learned a lot this year and if there was any advice I could give to incoming freshman, as cliché as it sounds, I would say rely on your friends to get through it. There are a lot of overwhelming times here, especially during 4/c year, and it’s impossible to get through on your own. I know that the people I have gone through this year with are the ones that are going to be in my life for years to come, well beyond our Academy years.

So have a great summer! And good luck class of 2017!

More about Jessica.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for me 3/c year, which is completely unbelievable. Although time has gone by so fast that I still feel like a swab sometimes and I am almost halfway to graduating!

The spring semester was probably the most challenging academically for me, although I’m proud with how classes have worked out. As of this moment, I have completed my first navigation brief, written my first 30-page paper, finished two additional group projects, taken two tests, and finished another 14-page paper, all due, by the way, within four days of each other. I think of my only final (Physics) as a reward for finishing this past week with my sanity intact. To recover I am planning on (eventually) sleeping for approximately two full days when I go home for break.

After a couple of months of our spring season, the women’s soccer team pulled away with two wins (shutouts) in our tournament last weekend! It was nice to see how our hard work in the offseason paid off during both of our games.

Looking ahead to leave, I am excited to focus all of my energy toward mentally and physically preparing for Swab Summer. I feel that it is important to be able to do absolutely every exercise and more with the swabs in order to be a respected leader, and also be able to intrinsically motivate them. My classmates and I have already started preparing specific things for certain situations as well as funny things we can pull off when the time is right.

More about Lindsay.

3/c cadets in the Marine Geochemistry class visited Ocean Beach to make a profile of the bleach slope and observe the layers of sand and sediment along the beach. These cadets are part of the Marine and Environmental Science (MES) major. This trip was not only educational but lots of fun, too!

Justin's video blog

More about Justin.

Hello!!

It’s the last day of April and I am so excited! I just finished my last test of the year and all I have left is finals coming up next week. It is really hard to imagine myself underway on Eagle in less than two weeks. I have been keeping up with my school work and I just finished the offshore sailing season last week. It has been pretty crazy at the Academy. We had a luau at dinner last week, the second class just had their ring dance on Saturday, and Castle dance (the firstie dance) was last weekend! We are all getting pretty excited about the summer, no matter where we are going. I just realized that I need to start to pack up my stuff and get ready to leave! We have had carry on for a few weeks now, and it is very nice. Last Thursday, one of my friends from my high school (the Science and Mathematics Academy at Aberdeen High school) came up as a prospective cadet. It was funny because I can’t believe that that was me a year ago. I think that I have come pretty far in the past year. I have been successful in school, I have tried some new sports, I marched in the Inaugural Parade, I was restricted for a week because I had an Instagram account, I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and I have made some incredible friends that I am excited to share my summer with. I don’t know that I have changed much at all, or a lot, but I definitely think that I have matured and I think that I appreciate the small things in life more than I used to. All in all, it’s been a great year, and I have to say that I am not dreading the next three years. Although they are going to be challenging and not always fun, I can’t see myself doing anything else.

My family is coming up right before I leave for Eagle which is nice because I will have been done with all my finals, and I can celebrate my birthday with them! (My birthday is this Sunday! I am turning 19!)

I am going to my friend’s house for the long we get the weekend before finals. I am excited to relax before I get into that last week.

The next time I blog, I will be a third class cadet!

Have a happy May :)

-Lucy

More about Lucy.