Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"August 30, 2002
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
August
30, 2002
Story and photos by Spc. Nate Jastrzemski
Staff Writer
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| Cadets 1st Class (from left to right) Nathan Pelletier, Frank Shriley, Stephen Hays and Seth Johnson flash their new rings for family and friends at Trophy Point. |
Members of West Point’s Class of 2003 received their rings August 23 during the annual ceremony at Trophy Point.
Friends and family members of the 800-plus senior cadets dotted the hill above the amphitheater as sunset closed in, watching as the cadets sang the alma mater and waited to receive the symbols of their ever-shrinking proximity to the Long Gray Line.
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| Maj. Vince Lindenmeyer, A4 tactical commander, congratulates Cadet 1st Class Alex Aquino, a platoon leader, during the ring presentation ceremony. |
Brig. Gen. Leo A. Brooks Jr., commandant of cadets, was guest speaker for the event, and he imparted the importance of rings in history as a symbol of timelessness.
An important milestone for the firsties, the ceremony was brief and executed with the precision expected of such a time-honored tradition.
Afterwards, the cadets were free to mingle with their loved ones, friends and cadre to display their elation at having come so far.
This year marked the second for the Class Ring Memorial Program, in which graduates from the past supply their own class rings to be melted down and added to the new rings -- creating an eternal bond with the younger generations and classes as they try to join the Long Gray Line.
