Your Daughter is Going to a Military Academy. What’s Ahead of her?

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Your Daughter is Going to USNA (or another Military Academy). What’s Ahead of her? If you are one of the...

Your Daughter is Going to USNA (or another Military Academy). What’s Ahead of her?

If you are one of the 1,000+ who got an offer, and you accepted, you’re wondering what to do with yourself until I-Day at the end of June. This webpage on USNA.edu will provide black and white details, but there’s so much more. A question I often get from women concerns women in a male world. How’s that work?

I asked my daughter to help me with this. She graduated in 2008, served on the USS Bunker Hill and the newly-commissioned USS San Diego for her two sea tours, then assigned to Washington DC for her stateside tours. Along the way, she was promoted from Ensign to Commander and is on track to become Captain. She has a responsible position, lots of decision making, makes a difference in the lives of those around her and the future of the nation. When she retires, it will be with a solid pension, continuing health care, the feeling that she did something good for twenty years, and still young enough to start a second career.

Here’s her advice to women preparing to attend USNA or another Military Academy:

Ok, you got in! Cheer up, that wasn’t the hard part. There are a million ways to mess it up now. You’re not a big fish in a small pond anymore. Everyone is Type A and out to succeed. We operate like a team and look out for each other, but we all need to individually get through the same obstacles, too. It’s unfortunately common these days for women to play dumb. DON’T! No one respects dumb people at USNA. People who earn the greatest respect are the ones who get the grades, run the fastest, tell the funniest stories, ooze charisma, and seem to do it all effortlessly. Basically, at USNA we are so used to operating in a world where you out perform the people around you that the way to earn respect is to outperform the out performers. You have to be more than a jack of all trades; you have to be a master of all trades. But trust me, you’ll be better for it! Never settle. Always look for your deficiencies (won’t have to try hard because the upperclassmen will be there to point them out to you) and ALWAYS fix them before they snowball.

Women also have leverage over men with their femininity. DON’T USE IT. While the man is under your spell, he still knows he’s under you spell. Don’t dilute your righteous accomplishments with your femininity. Guess what? You’re feminine without any extra effort on your part. God made you that way. Leverage your intelligence, wit and knowledge of trivia—NOT your sexual organs for which you cannot take credit. Enough said.

Don’t forget to smell the roses. It’s hard to remember when you’re being yelled at and bells are going off for classes you’re not prepared to attend, but the Naval Academy is a beautiful, historic place. There are tons of opportunities to maximize your time there and you’ll really regret it if you don’t make the effort. Go to the museum, read the plaques on all the statues, go to church, put up a huge sign for Army/Navy week in T Court, play sports on Hospital Point, try to jump the wall one time (don’t get caught), visit the cemetery, take the sailboats out. People don’t get to do this stuff in regular college. You do, so don’t abuse the opportunity by ignoring it.

Above all, have fun! Get that diploma and start tailgating in the alumni tent at the football games. It’s way more fun on the outside!

Taken from Building a Midshipman This college-and-career series delves into making the military part of college career choices. All the links are there but some for future dates:

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

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