Finally got back home this week. Finished my last TEE last Thursday and stuck around Friday to move and have some final hang out time with some of my soon-graduating Firstie buddies.

I had some flight delays but got back to Texas in time for my niece's birthday party. After that, it was off to a whirlwind week of high school visits. Normally during Grad Week (the week after TEE week), everyone stays at school to drill a lot and have lots of parades in preparation for the weekend's graduation ceremonies. A few Cadets are chosen to go home on CPRC (Cadet Public Relations Council) and go do high school visits instead of staying at school during Grad Week. For Grad Week CPRC, we're required to do 6-8 visits; for me,  this last week consisted of 15 visits talking to over 300 kids. It was exhausting, leaving at 0730 and not getting back till 1730 on most days, absolutely hoarse from hours of talking all day. But it was very enjoyable.

I got to talk to one very dedicated young man who did not get accepted and was looking at potential colleges to attend while still pursuing his childhood dream of going to West Point. I got to talk to another young lady who had just graduated high school; she was aware that she was too late to go to WP this year, but wanted to know if it was still possible to go if you didn't go right after high school. I was glad to be able to share my circuitous route to WP with them and hopefully encourage them by showing them that it is possible as well as explaining how advantageous it was to go into WP with some college experience and maturity under one's belt. One other young lady stayed to talk to me for over an hour after I spoke to her class; she hadn't even considered West Point as an option but seemed to be beyond extremely interested after the presentation. Another young lady wanted to go to WP but was hesitant to go to a military school and leave behind the arts. I was happy to share my experiences in Glee Club, the Theater Arts Guild, and other programs with her as well as tell her how awesome it is to have Broadway just an hour away...

In addition to talking to interested high school students, I got the opportunity to talk to a group of six candidates who had accepted their appointments to the Class of 2014 and are reporting to Beast this summer. It was a different visit than normal, but a great opportunity to share some advice and answer some of their questions about what to expect. Half of them I had met and talked to at a previous high school visit during Thanksgiving, so it was neat to see that they had stuck out the application process and got appointments. Those six candidates at Harker Heights High School represent the largest ever number of students from a single high school to accept appointments to the same class year. Here is that group along with their counselor:

Me and GEN Shoemaker (USMA '46), an amazing American and the namesake of one school I went to:

With the President and Vice President of the Heart of Texas West Point Society:

Great visits and I had a good time (and I got to go to an awesome hockey game after my last visit Friday!), but I'm glad to have this next week off! Tomorrow for my birthday I get to go to the doctor and help my parents move. Yes!