One woman’s lived history in the second wave at the Naval Academy One of the strangest reflections for me now, as a mother and after decades of working with teens and college students, is remembering that, in those early years at the Naval Academy, plebe doors had to remain open at all times.All times.Even at night.Some of my women classmates remember being issued nightgowns. I only remember sleeping in a T-shirt and gym shorts, knowing…
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The Summer Games – Plebe version
Published February 16, 2026
After the initial thunder of yelling and chaos of that first evening at the Naval Academy, the shock and awe of entering Bancroft Hall and realizing rather quickly that I was yelled at from every corner, one instruction rose above all the others: “Eyes in the boat.” Look straight ahead. Do not look left or right. Do not make eye contact. Move. We were told to rapidly navigate to a company area we had never…
Leave a CommentInduction Day, Continued
Published February 9, 2026
Twelve Hours That Changed Everything It is astounding how much change occurs in less than 12 hours. Induction Day had only just begun. Within an hour of reporting, we were already in formation, learning basic marching commands, dressed in the simplest version of a Naval Academy uniform: a USNA T-shirt and a Dixie cup. A complete uniform issue followed quickly, and with it the unmistakable sense that whatever we had been before was being set…
Leave a CommentInduction Day
Published February 2, 2026
I walked in knowing exactly where I was going.I just didn’t know what I was doing. Inside Halsey Field House, Induction Day began with an unsettling calm. Everything looked orderly, almost polite. The ferocious part was waiting its turn. Rows of folding tables stretched across the floor, aligned alphabetically by last name. I found A and stepped up to a table. The upperclassman behind it didn’t smile or look at me for long. “Plebe Andrews,”…
4 CommentsThe Letter
Published January 26, 2026
Who gets a letter nowadays? Back in 1977, that was the way. The only way I learned about college rejections or acceptances was by mail. No portals. No emails. No “check your status.” Just the quiet anticipation of the postal delivery and the weight of an envelope in your hands. My appointment to the United States Naval Academy arrived that way, too: A letter. A single piece of paper that changed everything. There were hurdles,…
Leave a CommentGetting In
Published January 19, 2026
I didn’t spend much time wondering whether I would get into the Naval Academy. In 1976, I assumed I would. That certainty wasn’t confidence so much as innocence—a product of youth, limited perspective, and a life that had unfolded almost entirely within the familiar boundaries of Annapolis, Maryland. This may sound strange now, but at the time, I never doubted the outcome. I was that young, that naïve, and that unaware of the larger world…
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