News & Events

From the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation: The 2021 All Academy Challenge has begun! Despite the challenges of 2020, last year, you all came together for our best year of the All Academy Challenge to date. Nearly 6,000 alumni and several hundred parents and friends showed up for the five day competition bringing in over One Million dollars in support for the Academy. Remember, this challenge is about participation, and beating the other service academies. To make a donation count, follow this link from 16-20 May 2021 https://navy.allacademychallenge.com/pages/usna-home Go Navy! Beat them ALL!

See Brian’s remarks as well, on our class Giving page.

The 2020 All Academy Challenge kicks off on Sunday, 16 Aug and continues for 5 days. Navy is facing off against Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines – and the service academy with the highest percentage of alumni making a gift in support of their alma mater takes home bragging rights. Naval Academy alumni have consistently taken the top spot in terms of dollars raised – but this contest is all about participation and not total dollars raised.

The Naval Academy Foundation has made it possible for classes on active class legacy gift projects to make All Academy Challenge gifts directly in support of those projects. This year our class is choosing to support the Project Based Learning (PBL) component of our class project during the 5 day challenge. To support this fund, choose “Class of 1996 Project” in the Gift Designation block. If you don’t want to support that fund, you can always direct your gift to the general Naval Academy Fund and it will still count in our class totals.

If you’ve already made a gift in support of the Academy this year, thank you, and please consider making another small gift to help us ensure our victory – every gift counts towards our participation!

“SIR, YOU NOW HAVE 3 DAYS, 9 HOURS, AND 59 MINUTES UNTIL THE ALL-ACADEMY CHALLENGE BEGINS ONLINE, SIR!”

Dear ’96 Classmates:

I hope this message finds you and your loved ones happy, HEALTHY and coping during these unprecedented times.

The 2019 All Academy Challenge was a huge success bringing in over one million dollars for the Naval Academy from nearly 4,000 donors. Thank you for your past support!

The 2020 All Academy Challenge kicks off on Sunday, 16 Aug and continues for 5 days. Navy is facing off against Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine—with the service academy with the highest percentage of alumni making a gift in support of their alma mater taking home bragging rights. Naval Academy alumni have consistently taken the top spot in terms of dollars raised—but this contest is all about participation and not total dollars raised.

In 2020, with your help, we plan on taking the participation prize! You should have received, or will receive very soon, a sticker from the Naval Academy Foundation with more information, but we really want our class to come together to show our support especially in these trying times. Visit https://navy.allacademychallenge.com starting 16 August and make your gift—then use your personal networks to ask your classmates and other alumni to do the same. This year’s All Academy Challenge site features a Class Participation Leaderboard as well as buttons to make social media sharing—and getting your friends and classmates involved—even easier.

Also, the Naval Academy Foundation has made it possible for classes on active class legacy gift projects to make All Academy Challenge gifts directly in support of those projects. This year our class is choosing to support the Project Based Learning (PBL) component of our class project during the 5 day challenge. If you don’t want to support that fund, you can always direct your gift to the Naval Academy Fund and that will still count in our class totals. You can direct any questions to Clay Evans, class giving coordinator at the Naval Academy Foundation, at clay.evans@usna.com or 410-295-4117.

If you’ve already made a gift in support of the Academy this year, thank you, and please consider making another small gift to help us ensure our victory – every gift counts towards our participation!

Thanks,

Brian
e: Brian.Reardon@1996.usna.com

p.s. If filling out the physical mailer sent by the Foundation, just hand write “Class of 1996 Project” in the Gift Designation block. Your donation will be allocated to our Project Based Learing goal.

Email sent via Classmail 12/10/19

Greeting ’96 Classmates.

It’s time for an annual update.  In no particular order…

PENSACOLA SHOOTING

First, a moment to recognize our classmate (CAPT Tim Kinsella) for the incredible leadership during the horrible events this last week in Pensacola.  Let’s also remember ENS Joshua Watson, a recent USNA graduate that helped save peoples’ lives after being shot 5 times.  A true hero.

COUNCIL OF CLASS PRESIDENTS

I attended the COCP on 6 Dec and captured some of the highlights:

From the Alumni Association (full brief):

• They are looking to fill an open position for their V.P. of Finance.  If you have a CPA/MBA/accounting background and are interested, they would love to have you.
• Ground breaking for the new Alumni building in ~1 year.
• They will sell the old building that we know outside gate 3 (Ogle Hall).
• Next week, they will begin dismantling the chapel dome.  90 years of neglect took a toll on the dome and it will be completely replaced.  Once replaced, it will be a bright copper for ~7 days, then for ~25 years, it will be brown until the patina chemical reaction occurs.
• They will recover all of the copper and make a variety of keepsakes to sell.

From the Supe (full brief):

• ADM Buck hasn’t made any drastic changes since CoC on 26 July 2019.
• They have introduced numerous outdoor small-team leadership programs in austere environments to force people outside of their comfort zone (e.g., not just leadership in a company or sport team).  Similar to YP training but with a variety of options.
• USNA Grounds are in bad shape.  The yard is underfunded.
• Flooding is a huge issue.  Affects Hampton Roads and downtown Annapolis too.
• Sleep deprivation is a big issue.
• Addressed recent Satanic Cult rumors.  At no point has USNA ever (or will ever) allow a Satanic Cult to worship as an official club/activity.  If they choose to meet on their own time, they have the freedom to assemble.
• King Hall is in bad shape.  There are issues with quality and quantity.
• 96% of Firsties got their 1^st or 2^nd Choice at Service Assignment night.  2020 is a very small class so there are minimal people that selected Restricted Line.

CLASS GIFT UPDATE

30 Year Class Gift.  We are currently just over $200k pledged/donated toward our class gift (with 190 classmates participating.  About 30/190 is on recurring monthly pledges).

Help up improve midshipman development and the Yard: Consider pledging ~$1 a day.  You can set up the $30/month to be charged straight to your credit card.

Side Note: You could be on recurring pledges but they *may* not be going to the CLASS GIFT (so ’96 gets credit for your donation but it isn’t going towards our $600k goal).  The only way to know is by calling USNA or contacting Brian Reardon at Brian.Reardon@1996.usna.com.

Give here and make sure you choose “other donation options” then “support my class project” then select “pledge”.  Or call 410-295-4115 to donate.

ARMY-NAVY GAME

If you are in Philly for the game, we will have a no-host social at Tir na Nog Saturday morning about 10:00.  Show up and order what you want.  If you prefer tailgating at the stadium, Johnny Harnett will be there in the parking lot.  Contact him for details (john_a_harnett@yahoo.com).

NAVY-NOTRE DAME GAME

Don’t forget to plan for the trip to Ireland to watch Navy/Notre Dame 29 Aug 2020.  People are planning to meet up with friends and classmates.  Last time was a blast!

YOUR USNA.COM PROFILE

A message from Shane Macdonald to remember to update your profiles with the Alumni Association.  We spent time collecting a lot of updated details on people, however, USNA has now changed their policy and we can no longer make changes for people.  You are responsible for yourself now.

’96 WEB PAGE

As a reminder, for those that don’t have Facebook (or can’t stand going on it any more), Cara Albright maintains our class web page that repeats much of the same information from our class Facebook page.

ACTIVE DUTY RETIREMENT

As a wave of or classmates approach their retirement, don’t forget to reach out to your class for questions, recommendations, help, etc.  Other resources include:

• Jenn Campbell runs The New ’96 Hour. An opportunity to hear about various topics monthly. UPCOMING EVENTS: Rhoan Boucher is booked 24 Jan 2020 spot, TBD on the 21 Feb 2020 spot.
• Our LinkedIn page
• Service Academy Career Conference (SACC)
• Benefit Finder

SUICIDE AWARENESS

The class of ’96+2 is still pushing suicide awareness very hard after their string of incidents. Please consider downloading the app OBJECTIVE ZERO and becoming an ambassador today.  You just need to be ready to answer the phone if someone needs you.

ALUMNI WATCH BUY

The class of ’96-7 has organized a group Bremont USNA watch-buy.  Cost is $3k (retails for $6k).  Details here.

SINGING AT GAMES

There were questions about why some teams sing their alma mater after home & away games and others don’t.  The Academy coordinates with each team a couple of months before the game and asks if they would like to sing their alma mater after the game.  Some schools agree and some don’t care.  It is up to the individual school.

BLUE AND GOLD OFFICERS

USNA is looking for more people to be B&G officers.  We have several in our class so if you have questions about what it entails and job satisfaction, please reach out to Sharon (Eliassen) Barbins.

25 YEAR REUNION

Most of our large muscle movements are done and we eagerly await our 25^th Reunion.  It is scheduled for 1-3 Oct, 2021 (USAF Game) and our home base hotel will be the Westin.  We are working on some alternatives for other hotel blocks to give people options.  Put it on your calendars now and start saving!

25 YEAR CRUISE

Cruise Planners has put together a cruise trip that will provide a great opportunity to share in our 25th and ’96-5’s 30th anniversary of being commissioned. The 25th anniversary commissioning cruise that we have put together is a 9-night Norwegian Cruise Line cruise aboard the Norwegian Escape from May 28th, 2021 through June 6th, 2021 (second option is July 3rd –  12th, 2021). The cruise sails from Copenhagen, Denmark and sails to Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany; Tallin, Estonia; Overnights in St Petersburg, Russian Federation; Helsinki, Finland; and Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden before returning to Copenhagen. The current pricing has a 30% discount promotion running through December 16th, 2019. There may be other sales, and while our group pricing is better than “regular” prices, this promotional pricing should be the lowest we can get. Deposits are only $50 per person and refundable, so if you are interested, please contact Dan so he can give you more information as well as reserve a cabin for you. He can be reached at: 844-GoNavy-1 (844-466-2891); via email at Dan@GoNavyTravel.com. (price is ~$5k/couple)

Dan will be on this cruise with members of his class on the May/June cruise as well and he looks forward to sailing with you for your 25th anniversary of commissioning.

 

With that, I sign off.  Please feel to reach out with any questions or comments.

Nagel Sullivan

301-904-1526

…and easier, too! Check out our link below, which is hosted by Give Campus via the Naval Academy Foundation. It’s even mobile friendly! It is set up for both recurring pledges and one-time donations, so feel free to share it with friends and family.

Click here to donate now!

The great Class of 1996 is piloting this new fundraising platform for the Foundation, so please send any feedback you have to our Class Project Officer, Brian Reardon.

Here’s some additional gouge from Brian Reardon based on recent questions he has been fielding about donations and the class project.

Q: In addition to/instead of pledging $30 for 96 month to our Class Gift, I want to make a tax year 2018 donation to the US Naval Academy Foundation. How can I make sure the donation is allocated to the 1996 Class Gift?

A: If you are donating by phone, or if you get a call soliciting donations, make sure to tell the telemarketer that you want to give to the 1996 Gift. If filling out a form you received in the mail, include the 1996 Fund Numbers on your form. The 1996 Class Gift includes the below Fund Numbers:

50% – Class of 1996 Bench Conservation support (69960200/Y18CG1996)

27% – Class of 1996 Project Based Learning support (66960100/ Y18CG1996) 

8% –   Class of 1996 Athletic Excellence support (68960200/ Y18CG1996)

15% – Naval Academy Annual Fund (69000000/ Y18CG1996)   

As discussed previously, percentages can be changed to suit the desires of the donor. Please contact Brian if you have any questions!

Don’t forget that donations are tax-deductable, and that corporate matching can really boost our giving potential. Here’s a message from Brian Reardon, our Class Project Officer, about donations:

Class of ’96,

Giving Tuesday is a great opportunity to make a tax-deductable gift or recurring pledge to the Class of 1996 Class Project!

Thanks to the classmates that have signed up for our $30 for 96 month pledge drive and to those that have directed their annual USNA Foundation donation to our Class Gift or have taken the extra step to set up corporate matching with their companies! You are putting us on the right path for our 30th reunion gift!

Email sent via Classmail 11/12/18

Greetings classmates,

I’m emailing out our annual update this year (last year I tried the Facebook video feature but most didn’t take advantage of it so back to email). I will continue to use Classmail for the more “official” announcements to reach all of those not on Facebook. Remember that we also have a website (this one right here!) that Cara keeps up date date and has done a LOT of work to get up and running.

SAD NEWS

I hate to start off with unfortunate news, but this week we lost our classmate Jeff Dixon. Funeral service/visitation will be Thursday 1:00-4:00 in Westminster, MD. Please keep his family in your thoughts. (Link for details)

CLASS GIFT

For some time, we have been talking about our 30^th Reunion Class Gift and our effort to raise $600,000 is support of USNA. We have decided to lead the way with a new pilot for raising money for Class Gifts. Rather than rely on a few large donations, we want to push for record levels of smaller donations and much larger participation rates than is the norm. To that end, please consider making a minimum pledge of $30 a month for 96 months ($2,880 total over 8 years).

Our project consists of Conservation of the 1^st/2^nd Class Benches (see previous post for photos), Project Based Learning, Athletic Excellence, and the Naval Academy Fund. It does not seem unreasonable that we could get the 208 classmates we need to reach our $600K goal.  In fact, we would love to blow past that participation rate. Please spread the word and reach out to your Class Officers or Company Reps with any questions.

We had hope to get this drive up and running for on-line donations, but USNA Foundation issues with their software provider is delaying progress. Please excuse our 20^th century methods and please donate the old-fashioned way to help us reach our pledge goal before the Army-Navy Game! Just email,scan, fax (seriously? what is a fax?), or call in your pledges. Details are on the downloadable pledge form: Class of 1996 Pledge Form $30 for 96 months

POC is Brian Reardon (Brian.reardon@1996.usna.com)

Last note –  to those that give to other priorities (Rugby, Crew, D&B, Cyber, etc.) please consider supporting our Class Gift in addition to your other annual donations. To those that plan to give more than $2,880 over the next 8 years, feel free to up your $30 pledge, make larger annual gifts, or supplement your current giving by adding a pledge to our Class Gift.

25TH REUNION

The planning for our 25th Reunion is well underway. The Committee has chosen Air Force weekend, 01-03 October 2021, as the tentative dates for our event. This choice allows the group to move forward with planning and vendor negotiations. Expect the dates to be finalized when the football schedule is published in Winter 2021. Please feel free to contact me directly if you want to contribute or help with the planning.

POC is Thomas Leahy (leahyt@gmail.com)

COUNCIL OF CLASS PRESIDENTS (COCP)

This year, Cara Albright attended the COCP on 8 Nov. Although this was a very abbreviated meeting, there were a few things that she wanted to pass along:

• Suicide Prevention – This initiative began with ’98 in response to their own personal situation (50% of class losses that are not operational are due to suicide) and will be discussed at great length at the spring ’19 COCP.
• A lot of discussion on reunions (lessons learned, costs, alternative venues, etc…).  All these things have been fed back to our Reunion Planning Committee.

COMPANY REPS

We are still looking for a few more volunteers to be their company rep. It’s really not that much work but helps when we need to reach out to large groups.

Looking for reps for 7th, 26th, 29th, 32nd, and 34th still….

You get to help us track down your company mates and make sure they are getting all the information on class news.

FOOTBALL TAILGATE

Another awesome year is almost over (JUST HAVE TO BEAT ARMY!!). Each week is like a mini-reunion and we often get people that are on work travel for the week to stay an extra night to come to the game on Saturday.

The donations in the tailgate kitty pay for all of the sustainment (~$3000 a year). This year, all of the prices went up pretty significantly but we are still about breaking even. All the funds we receive to the paypal account help to pay for any of the larger upgrades (e.g., eventually we will need a new trailer, etc). If you feel like throwing a few dollars that way to help make our spot one of the most envied tailgates, please send them to paypal at USNA1996Tailgater@gmail.com

POC is Nikki Battaglia (n.battaglia96@gmail.com)

There may be a few 96 jerseys (link here) left if you didn’t get a chance to get your personalized one!

ARMY/NAVY GAME

As usual, many of us will hit the town Friday night. Some of us will try to meet up so let me know if you want to join. Saturday, I’ll do the standard no-host social at Tir na Nog in Philadelphia starting about 10:00. Every year they allow us to hog a section of the restaurant to stay warm, eat, and drink before the game. Hopefully the weather will be better than it was last year.

 

And with that, I’ll wrap up this update.

Nagel Sullivan

Class President

BEAT ARMY!

Email sent via Classmail 10/9/18

‘96,

A note from our Class Project Chairman, Brian Reardon:

Although we are waiting for the new Naval Academy Foundation website to be fully operational before we formally kickoff our Class Project fundraising (expected November 2018), I wanted to give you information so if you donate to the Foundation during their annual fund drive, you can choose to give to the overall 96 CLASS GIFT or one of the subsets of the class gift (like the bench refurbishment).

From the 96/Foundation MOU:

“Class Project: The Class of 1996 has elected to support conservation of the First and Second-Class Benches and their supporting plinths and cannon (Bench Conservation), Project Based Learning (PBL), Athletic Excellence (AE) and the Naval Academy Fund (NAF).”

The overall fundraising goal for the project is at least $600,000, comprising four components:

(50% of the total goal) for the Bench Conservation

(27% of the total goal) for Project Based Learning

(8% of the total goal) for Athletic Excellence

(15% of the total goal) for the Naval Academy Fund

If you don’t like these pre-fixed percentage, then feel free to choose your own percentages; but they must be one of these 4 to count toward our 30-Year Gift. And if you don’t like these 4 choices, then feel free to choose whatever you would like.

As a reminder once we kickoff the campaign (~Nov), we will experimenting with a method for Class Participation by establishing a pledge of $30 a month for 96 months. Think of it as a subscription service like Netflix. We expect to have a direct webform provided to the Class soon, but if you want to get in early, you can set up that pledge with the Foundation by calling (401) 295-4100. If you get a solicitation call or choose to mail in a new pledge with the form provided in Shipmate, you can also set up a recurring pledge. The quick math is that $30 for 96 months is a yearly pledge of $360 for 8 years. This aligns with our 30th reunion.

More to follow once we have a webform for our Class Gift. Our goal is similar to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief….100% contact.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me any questions.

Brian Reardon

brian.reardon@1996.usna.com

   

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