News & Events

Email sent via Classmail 6/18/2021

Classmates,

Time for a Reunion update from Thomas Leahy:

REGISTRATION

• FYI, our numbers are looking pretty good (currently 276 classmates are attending) but we still need some more people to register to meet our assumptions on pricing.
  • The Reunion Committee has certain costs that are by head (e.g., food) and certain ones that are spread across registrations (e.g., security and the tailgate tent).  If we don’t get enough people, then the Committee will have to cut back on some of those fixed costs.
• There are about 40 people that registered but didn’t actually checkout/pay.  Thomas sent you all an email so if you aren’t coming, just we can track headcount.
• The price will increase again 1 July.
• If you are having finance issues and that is the only thing keeping you from attending, please contact Thomas to discuss options.
• The MD Governor is rescinding all COVID restrictions as of 1 July.  So there will be minimal impact to our activities.

FRIDAY NIGHT RECEPTION

• Lots of questions about what will be provided Fri night.  The short answer is open bar and food options/carving stations.  Exact menu items will be providing as we get closer and things firm up.

FOOTBALL TICKETS

• There are still seats and standing tix available.
• Reminder that you do not need a football ticket to get into the tailgate.
• Our block closes at the end of June.

HOTEL BLOCK

• There are very few rooms left.
• on July 10, we will release any remaining rooms back to the Westin.

CLASS STORE

• Class store is still open. http://www.usnaclasstore.com/96store.html
• Order by 18 July!

ELECTION

• Don’t forget to vote for your Executive Steering Committee.  Only a few weeks left.

Nagel Sullivan

Happy June everyone! Hope everyone had a safe and memorable Memorial Day Weekend. I live close enough to hear the memorial gun salutes at Arlington, which was a wonderful reminder to pause and pay tribute to those who have gone before us. As of today, we’re in the June price zone for reunion registration, so if you have not made your plans yet to join us in September, now is the time to do so! The next incremental price increase occurs on 1 July. The tiered pricing is designed to incentivize early sign up. This allows us to put down deposits and lock in the best pricing, which is largely dependent on how many folks we can muster. There is an option during the registration process to break up the payment. Please reach out to Thomas Leahy directly if you are have a financial hardship (leahyt@gmail.com) and need assistance. This is a come one, come all event – and while the committee has done their best to keep costs low, the reality is things do not come cheap in Annapolis.

REGISTRATION SITE (EXTERNAL)

A few other reunion notes —

• The online merchandise store will reopen on 13 June. Items ordered this summer will arrive prior to the reunion. Contact Tony Yanero with questions.
• There are still rooms available in the hotel block. We will start dialing back the room numbers to remove risk of us having to cover unbooked room.
• There will be some slight schedule tweaks coming out (networking event and Class Business meeting times/locations).

Hope to see you in September!

 

Email sent via Classmail 1/31/2021

The Class of 1996 Merchandise Store is open with ’96 gear available for “Early Bird” orders now through 7 March. Fill those shopping carts, ’96! In advance of our reunion later this year, the store has been open for a spring ordering period and will be open again this summer. Orders placed during the current period will ship on 5 April.

See yesterday’s email blast for more details and contact our merch POC Tony Yanero with questions or suggestions. BZ, Tony! Thanks for keeping us all stocked.

 

Email sent via Classmail 12/24/2020

Classmates,

Due to the recently updated football schedule, the USAF game has moved from to Sep 11, 2021 to align with the 20-year Remembrance of the 9/11 attacks. At the moment, there is no scheduled game at USNA 3 Oct (a location and opponent are TBD).

We have considered several options and decided to move our 25-Year reunion to align with the USAF game 10-12 Sep 2021.

We all remember the heat from the 20th reunion and attempted to avoid the same risk this time. Our Friday venue will be much larger to accommodate the crowd and will investigate options to cool people down at the tailgate.

The attached Schedule of Events goes into more detail on the weekend. Standby for event registration to go live around Memorial Day. Based on feedback from last reunion, we will be doing á la carte registration fees.

Here is the link that will take you to our Westin room block.

** I will also remind everyone that given our current status, making any non-refundable deposits or bookings is done so at your own risk. While I hope we are back to normal by the fall, anything is possible.

Our reunion committee (led by Thomas Leahy) has scrambled this week and done a great job at rebooking and coordinating the switch. Thank you all very much.

GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!

Nagel

(301)904-1526

nagel.sullivan@mac.com

Email sent via Classmail 4/24/20

Greeting ’96 Classmates.

I’m writing today to summarize today’s Council of Class Presidents (COCP) meeting.  It was held on-line for the first time ever.  And if you can imagine what it might like to have ~80 people on a VTC with Presidents 70-80-90 years old…it was probably worse.  But also pretty comical at the same time.  We had briefs from various people to include the Commandant of Midshipman.

USNA STATUS DURING COVID

• USNA opted to allow Midn to reside elsewhere.  That was in some part due to the 2 x suicides of Firsties at USAF Academy.  They were in some part attributed to their very strict isolation policies (they have since been relaxed).
• Most events are postponed or cancelled.  Meetings, Commissioning Week, Dedications, Ceremonies, All Academy Challenge, etc…
• They have NOT determined how I-Day or plebe summer will be run yet.  They are evaluating numerous options.
• Midn are continuing their education via on-line methods.  They are also doing virtual clubs and physical fitness challenges.
• They gave restrictees the option to stay at USNA to work off their time or postpone their time and stay somewhere else.  There are about 40-50 Midn currently in Bancroft Hall.  A handful of Midn have been ordered to return to USNA due to liberty incidents.  The group in Bancroft is basically the work detail to keep basic functions and maintenance going.
• They have stepped up rodent / pest control while Bancroft and King Hall are virtually empty.
• Many have asked why USNA is doing things differently than USMA and USAF Academies for graduation.  The Dant said “each Academy has their own set of facts, assumptions, and variables” and therefore they may or may not follow suit with other Service Academies.
• They have NOT decided exactly how the virtual graduation will be held on 22 May.  They are capturing lessons learned from USAF graduation.
• For now, the Navy / ND game is still on for Ireland but they are evaluating options.
• They are still trying to figure out next year’s plebe appointments with potential candidates that have not taken the ACT / SAT.
• The Class of 2020
  • Of course everyone wants to “help” the Class of 2020 with their graduation.  Based on USAFA graduation, they ask that classes not get out in front of USNA activities.  Apparently, there was a lot of confusion and stepping on each other. As a class we do not have anything planned.
  • They are also asking for any digital media (videos, pictures, memes, etc…).  If you want to tag any, use #usna2020.
  • Ultimately, the message from the Dant regarding graduation was to the effect of “it sucks but we are in the war fighting business and we are going to miss a lot of things in our career.  Get used to it.”
  • Orders to their first duty stations start getting cut next week.

NEW ALUMNI CENTER

The Mail Center and HAZMIN building / move has begun.  This is a predecessor to the new Center construction.

• ~$22M building.  ECD July 2022.
• Will have 2 event decks and can host a 240-person event.

They are still negotiating with Annapolis in parking and gate entryways.

SERVICE ACADEMY CAREER CONFERENCE (SACC)

They just hosted the first of the series online (Jacksonville) and was a success.

• Washington DC SACC is still planned June 11-12
• San Diego SACC is planned August 20-21
• Dallas SACC is planned October 29-30

CHAPEL DOME

Most of the copper from the dome has been removed.  They have started making items for sale through a contracted company. (See https://usnachapeldome.com/)  They will continue making items until the copper is gone.  We could do a group-buy of custom ’96 copper challenge coins with a price point $120-125 per coin.  If anyone thinks they can get a group buy together and would like to run that, let me know.

NEW ALUMNI-OWNED BUSINESS PAGE

If you would like to register your alumni-owned business with the Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation, you can go to their new page located here https://www.usna.com/alumni-businesses. They are making an effort to help others find and connect to alumni-owned businesses.

25 YEAR REUNION

Don’t forgot to mark your calendars for our 25 Year Reunion 01-03 Oct 2021.  Expect everything to go “live” (Westin room blocks, registration, etc…) ~ Feb 2021.

CLASS GIFT

Although times might be tough right now, don’t forget that you can still donate to the Class Gift.  If you are on a monthly auto-donation, you can always increase your value just a little…maybe an extra $5/month.

FOOTBALL SEASON

As of now, it is still planned. Let me know if you have season tickets and want your parking spot at our tailgate.

• If you’d like to help out with the operating costs, feel free to contact Nikki Battaglia.  You can send her donations via Zelle (use her phone number (904) 535-5810).  We also accept paypal at usna1996tailgater@gmail.  Contact her for other methods of payment.
• As a reminder, the tailgate is a completely separate account and self-funded through donations and we use no class funds to pay for anything.

 

With that, I’m signing off. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I’ll do my best to find an answer.

Nagel Sullivan

301-904-1526

Email sent via Classmail 4/20/2020

Greetings classmates,

I wanted to take a few minutes and reach out to all of you for 2 main reasons:

First, there is a Council of Class Presidents (COCP) coming up next week that I plan on attending. If there are any specific questions, comments, concerns, etc…that you would like me to address with the Alumni Association, please send me an email or give me a call to discuss. My plan is to take any notes of interesting information and share that with everyone.

Secondly, I wanted to check-in with everyone regarding the COVID-19 situation. I can’t pretend to know everyone’s situation but I imagine that some of us are impacted more significantly than others.  If you’re a small business owner or the business you work at is forced to close (restaurant, teacher, gym, etc…) then you could be faced with a dire situation.  Before you let it get to a point where stress is too much to handle, please reach out to someone…. anyone… classmates or not. And I can definitely say that there are there is help out there in various forms; even if it’s just someone to listen.

We have such a diverse group: active duty, retiring, reservists, new parents, kids graduating from USNA, business owners, teachers, contractors, you name it….I’m sure we have someone quietly in the shadows needing help but are afraid to ask.  I’m equally sure, someone is willing to help too.

I will put in a plug for ‘96+2 Objective Zero.  This was started due to their disturbingly high suicide rate in their class.  It can get you in touch with someone 24/7. Download their app too.  And if you feel so inclined, you can volunteer to be an Ambassador so someone might call you for help one day.

https://www.objectivezero.org/

Thanks to the classmates that have been organizing various events over the last few weeks.  Whether they were serious or just drinking on Zoom, it helps break the monotony of the situation.

Feel free to contact me directly and I will do my best to help you out!

Nagel Sullivan

(301) 904-1526

Email sent via Classmail 5/29/18

Class of 1996,

I’m happy to announce that after of about a year in work, we finally have our MOU signed between our class, USNA, and the Alumni Association. Based on feedback from you all and alignment with USNA priorities, here is our “Class Project”:

Conservation of the First and Second-Class Benches and their supporting plinths and cannon (Bench Conservation) – 50% ($300k). See attached photos

Project Based Learning (PBL) – 27%

Athletic Excellence (AE) – 8%

Naval Academy Fund (NAF) – 15%

Shortly, our class project/funraising lead (Brian Reardon) will start our campaign to start raising funds so I won’t steal his thunder. If you have specific questions, he’ll be able to answer them.

I did want to point out, that if you don’t like the ratio we picked, you can designate the proportion of your donation and where it goes to as long (as it’s one of the four items). If you don’t like any of the four, then you can still give to whatever you want and it will count toward our lifetime giving amount but not our project.

Coincidently, the All-Academy Challenge will be starting this Wednesday. The point of this is to get the highest participation rate (versus highest dollar value) between all the Academies. If you would like to donate during the Challenge, it will count toward our Project but it isn’t directly a part of our fundraising effort.

Keep an eye our for details!

Beat Army,

Nagel Sullivan

Email sent via Classmail 5/4/18

Greetings Class of 96!

I recently attending the bi-annual Council of Class Presidents (COCP) at the Academy.  I wanted to pass along some of the things we talked about and keep you all informed on what is going on with our alma mater.

Official minutes from the previous council (Fall 2017): Fall 2017 COCP

Unofficial minutes from current council: Spring 2018 COCP Minutes from Nagel

Briefing from the Alumni Association and Foundation: Spring 2018 Foundation

Briefing from the Academic Dean: Spring 2018 Dean

Class Updates:

• In sad news, I assume that most of you heard about the recent passing of our friend and classmate Teresa Elders on 15 April. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. Please send any donations to NineGirlsAsk.
• Let me know if you want your football parking pass at the 1996 tailgate spot.
• A sincere appreciation for those COMPANY REPS that have been working with Shane “Bruce” Mcdonald to update your company’s databases. There are still pockets of classmates out there that don’t have current e-mail addresses in there.
• Our 30 Year REUNION PLANNING COMMITTEE has been plugging away at initial planning activities. With the football schedule getting published in Feb, the key is to have as much planned as possible so that you can execute a plan quickly. They are taking into account your responses from the 20-year survey and other classes lessons learned. Please thank Thomas Leahy for leading the charge!
• Lastly, an update on our 30-Year reunion class gift. Brian Reardon has been working with USNA to get our MOU written and signed. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be done by the May All-Academy Challenge so anything we donate that week will not count towards our fundraising goal. Brian did great work trying to balance USNA strategic objectives, 96 Class desires, and realistic plans to come up with our fundraising goal.

Have a great weekend!

Nagel Sullivan

 

 

Email sent via Classmail 10/24/17

Greetings classmates,

We had a successful Annual Meeting on Saturday at the tailgate. For those of you on Facebook, we pushed the video out on fb LIVE and last I looked, I think about 30 people viewed it. However, if you’d like to just read the minutes, I am emailing them out (see attached). A few highlights:

1) In response to many people’s request, Cara Albright has done a fair amount of work getting an official 96 WEBSITE up. This will be a good repository for those not on Facebook, AND if you are, it will be easier to find official information. Take a look and send suggestions to Cara. She has been pressing the Academy on adding features: http://1996.usnaclasses.net.

2) Since there has been some confusion, I wanted to clarify what constitutes being a “classmate”. According to the Alumni Association, it is anyone that raised their hand on July 2, 1992. It doesn’t matter if you graduated or not.

3) Thomas Leahy has already volunteered to run our 25th reunion.

4) We are still looking for Company Reps from 3, 7, 10, 12, 13, 26, 28, 29, 32, and 34.  Please contact Shane “Bruce” McDonald at tonteauex@yahoo.com if you are willing to spend a little time tracking down current contact information on a few company mates. This will help us straighten up the class registry.

5) Lastly, we plan on constructing a new bar for the tailgate and we would like to use YOUR COMMAND COINS in the top of it (your ship, squadron, or whatever coin means something to you). Drop me an e-mail if you need my address. You can also send a zapper for the trailer.

Go Navy, Beat Army!

Nagel Sullivan

(301)904-1526

Classof1996AnnualMeetingMinutesCMA21OCT17final

• USNA Website
• NavySports.com

©2013-2024 United States Naval Academy Alumni Association
Class of 1996