November, 2002; Page 5
November, 2002; Page 5
CLASS OF 2005
“KEEPING FREEDOM ALIVE”
Charn McAllister: Charn has been having a great 2nd year at West Point. He made it on the cycling team and has enjoyed having his bike at school, especially to just take a ride from time to time to and think of something other than studying. With a bit of investigating along the way, he has decided, at this time, to major in engineering psychology - it sounds very interesting to us and probably a relief for him to have made the decision. A few weeks ago, he received the superintendent's award for academic, military and athletic achievement. He said that it really felt good to have the award given to him by the Commandant and to have the Dean shake his hand. We are very proud of him. Two weeks ago, Charn had all four wisdom teeth removed and it went fairly well. The day after all this dental work, he was invited to join Andi Travis and her parents in New York to see, "The Phantom of the Opera". The seats were fantastic and the show was really great. He was having such a good time; he even managed to eat a hamburger and French fries, which may explain why he was pulling "long pieces of stitching" out of his mouth over the next few days! Scout Weekend was a good time also. He took a group of young Cub Scouts on a tour and at the end one little Cub Scout looked up at him and very sincerely asked, "Do they whip you?" Charn had to ask him to repeat the question because he wasn't sure if he heard him correctly. With the question confirmed it was very hard for Charn to keep a straight face and give this little boy an answer in the sincere tone in which it was asked. Halloween was a lot of fun, Charn spent quite a while on his costume and the pictures are awesome. He is going into the city this weekend on a community service project and looking forward to it. All in all the 2nd year has started off well – even with Chinese!
Nathan Brown: Nathan Brown is having another fun semester at West Point. Academics are intensive but manageable and he expects to do well again this semester. He is really enjoying having his very own Plebe to develop his leadership skills. SHE is a Corps basketball player. Nathan is having a blast with intramural football. He remains active in Officer Christian Fellowship. He managed to escape on pass during Plebe Parent Weekend and flew down to Washington, DC to visit his girlfriend who is interning there for the semester. Luckily Bill Clinton is no longer in town. Nathan has decided to major in Engineering Psychology.
Tye Reedy: “So far, so good” this semester! Tye reports that he has everything “squared away. Academically he is doing well. He is happily back on the wrestling mat after missing out last year due to shoulder surgery. He is progressing along well, and he is even handling his longest stretch of time without a visit home, or a visit by us up to West Point, well. Tye reports that his time is a bit tighter this semester as he has an extra physical education class to make up from last year, being out on profile. He reports that combative class was fun, but he’s not so sure about the gymnastics class, which he has just begun. One area of difficulty he has faced came during the time frame to declare his major. Several phone calls and emails home related to this topic took place. We encouraged him to think about his proven areas of strength, areas of interest/enjoyment, and his goals for the future, as he makes his decision. Ultimately, he found that his multiple visits and talks with the “P’s,” in the areas he was considering really made the difference and helped him make his decision to choose Systems Engineering as his major. Tye is really looking forward to the wrestling season and a shot at earning a starting position on the team. He realizes that it will be difficult to achieve this goal after missing all of last year, but he is focused and will go all out in his attempt to achieve this goal. He added one piece of information for us to know about in relation to achieving this goal, “I only have to beat out a Firstie who is the Captain of the Team to earn a starting position.” Our reply, “So, what’s your point!” Finally, Tye reports that the time continues to fly by. We, as his parents, can only echo that comment. It is so hard to believe that yet another semester is just short of being over. So far it has been a fast, but wonderful, ride and we are hanging onto our hats, as we know there is no slowing down!
Greg Van Bemden: Greg’s grandparents went up to visit him for PPW so he was able to take a pass and travel around the area away from West Point, it was a real treat for all of them. In mid-November Greg’s Great Uncle and Aunt will be at West Point for the class of 57 reunion, they are looking forward to meeting Greg for dinner. It has been a long time since Greg has been home so it has been a blessing to have family visit. This semester he has been doing battle with French but is hanging in there and continues to do well. He even received the Superintendents wreath. Greg has chosen Geospacial Information Science as his major and Computer Science for his engineering sequence, he is very happy with his choice. Once I looked it up, I’m sure he will enjoy it and do very well with it. Greg played intramural basketball again this year and really had a good time. His team made it to the finals and only lost at the final shot. We are all looking forward to having him home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and he is really looking forward to playing some golf since he never did get any spare time to play at West Point after he took his clubs up last time he was home.