Congratulations 2005 Graduates
 
GRADUATION AT THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY
CLASS of 2005
 

      The U.S. Military Academy Class of 2005 will graduate and be

commissioned on May 28, 2005.  Those graduating this Saturday represent
approximately 77 percent of the cadets who entered West Point almost
four years ago.
 

      Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is

the graduation speaker.
 

      There are 912 cadets who are expected to receive their diplomas

this Saturday.  Among them will be nine foreign cadets.  The class also
includes 144 women, 70 African Americans, 77 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 51
Hispanics and eight Native Americans.  There are 120 members of the
class who have attended the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School,
Fort Monmouth, N.J., (97 men and 23 women).
 

      Almost all of the graduating cadets will be commissioned as

Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army.  However, four will be commissioned
as officers in the Air Force, two in the Navy and one in the Marines.
 

      The nine foreign cadets, who represent Bulgaria, Cameroon,

Kazakhstan, Korea, Lithuania, Romania, Singapore (2) and Slovenia, will
return to those nations for service.
 

     The Class of 2005 has 45 cadets who are sons or daughters of U.S.

Military Academy graduates.  Two of these cadets have parents who are
both graduates.
 

      The Class Motto is "Keeping Freedom Alive."

 

      The First Captain is Cadet Ryan L. Boeka, Amarillo, Texas.

 

      The Class President is Cadet James M. Freeze, Boardman, Ohio.

 

      The highest cumulative Academic Quality Point Average

(Valedictorian) was earned by Cadet Kyle A. Greenberg, Kalamazoo, Mich.
 

      The highest cumulative Cadet Performance Score was earned by

Cadet Michael D. April, Colorado Springs, Colo.
 

      The highest cumulative Military Program Score was earned by Cadet

James M. Edelen, El Paso, Texas.
 

      The highest cumulative Physical Program Score was earned by Cadet

David A. Plotts, Declo, Idaho.
 

      Cadets Michael April, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Jin Wang,

Singapore, were named Rhodes Scholars and will attend two years of study
at Oxford, England.
 

      Cadets Jay Choi, Cerritos, Calif., Anne Hammerstrom, Hudson,

Ohio, and Matt Powers, Tulsa, Okla., were selected as Marshall Scholars
earning them two years of study at any British University.
 

      Cadets Christopher Gin, Freemont, Calif., Michael Kolton, Fairfax

Station, Va., Kha Nguyen, Tulsa, Okla., Tomio Toyama, Munster, Ind.,
were awarded East-West Fellowships for two years of study at the
University of Hawaii.
 

      Cadet Annie Hsieh, Davis, Calif., was awarded a Truman

Scholarship.
 

      Cadet Russell Isaacs, North Myrtle Beach, S.C., was named a

Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar.  Fulbright Student Grants
were awarded to Cadets David Cowan, Wausau, Wis., and Jeff Glick,
Buffalo, N.Y.
 

      This year, 49 members of the class earned recognition as Honor

Graduates.  This award reflects overall excellence in cadet performance
- academic, military and physical.  Those honored will graduate in the
order of their Cadet Performance Rank within the class.  All other
cadets, with the exception of the First Captain and Athletic Association
award winners, will graduate in alphabetical order within their
companies.
 

           The top ten Honor Graduates are:

Michael D. April
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Ryan L. Boeka
Amarillo, Texas
Kyle A. Greenberg
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Anthony A. Perone
Colleyville, Texas
Sean A. Healy
Greenville, R.I.
Peter B. Walther
Winter Springs, Fla.
Brad R. Ballard
Alpine, Utah
Gregory E. Ambrosia
Knoxville, Tenn.
Brian S. Chen
Irvine, Calif.
Jay J. Choi
Cerritos, Calif.
 

      Ten percent of honor graduates are women, 18 percent of the women

are Gold Star recipients, 13 percent have earned the Superintendent's
Award for Excellence and 14 percent are Superintendent's Wreath
Awardees.
 

      This year, there are 45 Superintendent's Award for Excellence

recipients (cadets who are in the top five percent of the class based on
a Cadet Award Score, a year performance score in each of the academic,
military and physical programs.)  There are 93 Superintendent's Award
for Achievement recipients (the following 15 percent of the class based
on a CAS) and 148 Gold Star recipients (cadets who achieved an Academic
Grade Point Average of 3.67 or higher).
 

      The Class of 2005 will serve in the following branches of the

Active Army following graduation this Saturday:
 

Branch

# Men
# Women
 

Infantry

185
0
 

Armor

118
0
 

Field Artillery

76
0
 

Air Defense Artillery

26
6
 

Aviation

105
14
 

Engineer

79
16
 

Signal Corps

37
9
 

Military Police

6
15
 

Military Intelligence

71
29
 

Adjutant General's Corps

0
17
 

Finance

0
2
 

Chemical

4
1
 

Transportation

7
8
 

Ordnance

3
4
 

Quartermaster

6
6
 

Medical Service

9
11
 

Medical School

14
5
 

Interservice Transfers

7
0
 

      This is West Point's 207th graduating class and the 26th class to

graduate women.  This is the 25th anniversary of the graduating Class of
1980, the first class to include women.  (No classes graduated in 1810
or 1816 and there were 2 graduating classes in 1861, 1917, 1918, 1922,
and 1943.)