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June 2003 Newsletter

June 8, 2003

West Point Parents' Club of Greater St. Louis

June Meeting at the Viking Restaurant

The June meeting of the West Point Parents Club of St. Louis was called to order by President Kent Howald at 1:15, after registration and informal discussions with new Candidates and their families. The Pledge of Allegiance was said and an opening prayer was led by Co-Vice President Gay Eskew.

Kent introduced the Past Presidents who were in attendance, as well as the parents of the ’03 graduates, the cadets in attendance (Erica Hill, Joseph Sanfilippo, Tom Cai, Nick Fullmer, Sarah Dreyfus and Robert Vietro, all class of ’06) and Frank Janowski, a ’74 grad and President of the West Point Society Chapter in St. Louis. Picture of 2006 cadets.

Secretary Pam Sanfilippo briefly outlined the minutes from the April meeting, and referred those in attendance to the web page for the full copy of the minutes. A motion was made to approve the minutes, it was seconded, and the minutes were approved by acclamation.

Treasurer Mike Collins gave the Treasurer’s Report. The balance as of June 5 was $2,110.01. A motion was made to approve the Treasurer’s Report, it was seconded, and the minutes were approved by acclamation.

Old Business included the status of the 501(c)3 application. At the last meeting the amendment to the by-laws was distributed, and a motion was made and seconded to approve the amendment to the by-laws. Discussion of when the application would be submitted—probably July at the earliest. Question and discussion followed to inform new candidate parents the reason for applying for the 510(c)3 status—this would give us tax exempt status for making purchases, such as the boodles for the cadets, and allow us to accept donations and have them be tax deductible for the giver. The amendment was then approved by acclamation.

Mike McCullough requested that we increase the size of the ad in the Howitzer yearbook next year, because we will have six graduates and the ¼ page ad would not be big enough to include all of their pictures. The next size up, a ½ page ad, would cost $350 compared to the $220 for the ¼ page ad. The motion was made and seconded to increase the size of the ad for next year. Discussion included an explanation of the importance of needing the additional space to do credit to the graduates. The motion was approved by acclamation to increase the size of the ad to ½ page for $350.

The next meeting will be on September 21, 2003 at Yacovelli’s, 1:00 p.m., where we will assemble the boodles for cadets. All graduates and cadets whose parents are in the club will receive the boodles.

Kent then introduced the officers who had not yet spoken, including Co-Vice Presidents Gay Eskew and John Liesen, and Web Master Mike McCullough.

This ended the formal part of the meeting. Food was then served.

The meeting adjourned slightly after 4:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Pamela Sanfilippo, Secretary

Kent Howald, President

Meeting Discussion – Map of West Point & New WP Book

After the meal the group divided, with the candidates going with the cadets to have a question and answer period, and the candidate parents talking with cadet parents. Each candidate family received a folder with useful information, including web sites, phone numbers, etc. Discussion included information on Plebe Parent Weekend, R-Day, Airfare, Hotels, contacting the Orange County Tourism (accessible through the West Point website) to get a good map of the area, security issues at West Point, and recommended reading, Duty First and Absolutely American.

New Cadet Dates

Announcements were made about upcoming USMA dates for new cadets:

June 30 R-Day

August 16 Acceptance Day

October 10-12 Plebe Parent Weekend

New Cadets

We had 11 new candidates, 6 cadets and 2 USMA ’03 grads at our June meeting. Maria Schmitz left before the pictures for a soccer match. I appreciate the efforts of those who attended the meeting, but especially those cadets and their parents who attended to help the Class of ’07 get started. I know that when we came as candidate parents three years ago, we appreciated the information provided by the club. I’m glad we can provide this assistance to each entering class and their parents. Pictures of 2007 cadets.

Press Releases

Reminder that Press Releases that are available through USMA should also be sent to local newspapers. As cadets progresses and earns various achievements USMA has a policy of issuing Press Releases.

Ft Knox & CALFEX

Ft Knox is for Armor training and Combine Arms Live Fire EXcersise (CALFEX). Phone number for on-base housing is (502) 943-1000. You must use your cadet’s SSN, and can only make reservations 2 weeks in advance of arrival. Dates for ’06 parents and cadets for Ft. Knox training:

July 15 Company 5 arrives

July 16 Companies 6-8 arrives

July 16-22 Training

July 17 CALFEX (Thursday)

July 26 Company 1 arrives

July 27 Companies 2-4 arrives

July 27-August 2 Training

July 28 CALFEX (Monday)

Toys for Tots September 5

Frank Janoski, USMA ’74, of the St. Louis Chapter of the West Point Society, was introduced and talked about the Toys for Tots Soccer Tournament. The West Point women’s soccer team will once again play Air Force on September 5 at SLU; then University of Illinois on September 7. Last year the tournament donated $13,000 in cash and toys to the local Toys for Tots campaign. Frank is also on the Board of the Association of Graduates and provided valuable insight to all present. We hope that we can make his attendance an annual event.

2003 Grads

We had two ’03 graduates attend the meeting. Steve Hemmann has received the prestigious East-West Scholarship, and will spend the next two years attending the University of Hawaii. His classmate who was passing through town is specializing in military intelligence, starting in Arizona and then moving to California.

August Picnic

We will not have an August picnic. Due to events scheduled at West Point and the Labor Day holiday, we were not able to secure a picnic site in August for a weekend convenient to club members.

September 21 Next Meeting

Our next meeting is at Yacovelli’s on Sept. 21. This is our boodle meeting where we send “care” packages to cadets and graduates whose parents are members of our club. Please have your membership dues are paid by Sept. 1; so we can include your son or daughter on the boodle list. A membership form is available on the website.