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Message from WPSA Leadership

Dear Members of the West Point Society of Atlanta,

I’m honored to be your President for 2018-19 fiscal year. I want to thank the most recent past Presidents, Bill Basnett and Steve Russell, for their guidance and efforts to keep Atlanta’s Long Gray Line strong.

As you know, your WPSA Board of Governors (BOG) and Officer slate are volunteers. Why do we do it? We do it because we believe in West Point — because we care about our school, what we learned, and what it has done for us. We do it because we believe in Duty, Honor, Country.

The theme I selected for this 2018/2019 fiscal year is: Honoring our Heritage, Preparing for the Future.

We, as an AOG Distinguished Society, have done a lot of things really well. We throw a grand Founders’ Day Dinner; donate generously to our Alma Mater; organize one of the best Governor’s send-offs in the Country; and take every opportunity to Beat Navy!

Did you also know we set up our own Foundation (John R Petty Foundation) to:

– help other charities which help veterans and their families?

– fund sending high school students to West Point for the two-week Summer

Leaders’ Experience Seminar?

– support Atlanta area JROTC programs with our time and resources?

However, the future is only ONE day away and we as a Board believe we must do certain things to keep our Society strong. Helping our younger grads achieve the same or better level of success our older grads have is key to WPSA’s future.

Our surveys indicate two areas where we are falling short: apathy and engaging younger grads. In my view, apathy is a serious problem.

If you find yourself not wanting to get involved, please tell me why and the WPSA BOG and I will do what we can to fix it. We want you to gain something from YOUR Society — whether it’s fellowship, remembering the good ‘ole times, grow your business or finding a job.

To that end, we have already taken action — we have reinvigorated the northside Happy Hour (the southside Happy Hour is already well established), created a Career/Networking Chair, and added younger Board members from the classes of the 2000s.

We’d love to hear your feedback and, even more, would appreciate your time in keeping the Atlanta Long Grey Line strong!

Respectfully,

Samir Patel, ’08

Your WPSA Leadership for this fiscal year:

Samir Patel, ’08

President

Communications Chair

Eddie Williams, ’81

President-Elect

Alex Mikstas, ’09

Vice President

Bill Basnett, ’86

Secretary/Treasurer

Past President

Jan Heath

Executive Director

Grip Hands!

Board of Governors

West Point Society of Atlanta