USAFA Day 2 Revisited - Part 2

FYI: I have been having some technical difficulties this weekend. I cannot access the school e-mail system (they took the server down on Friday at 4:00pm and it still isn't up) so if you are sending me e-mails and hoping that I would respond, please know that I cannot get back to you until Monday.

So, back to the USAFA. The afternoon of day 2 included a presentation by the Dean of Faculty, General Dana Born. It was interesting to hear about the true college side of the USAFA. The students who elect to attend an academy certainly get a world class education. They have 250 classrooms and labs, 10 research centers, an 8:1 student to faculty ration, an average class size of 15 to 17 students, and nationally recognized programs.

Like nearly all colleges, the USAFA includes a core curriculum that every student must complete. Unlike other colleges, their core curriculum is 102 semester hours (18 English, 27 basic Science, 5 Phys Ed, 1 First Year Experience, 6 Military Studies, 21 Humanities, 24 Social Sciences)and then they have their majors and classes specific to their majors on top of that - an additional 45-46 semester hours. They have 32 majors and 2 minors that students can pick from and everyone will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree with approximately 147 total semester hours.

General Born also talked about the summer and unique programs that students can participate in such as a summer research program, some of their international programs, a scholars program (think even higher honors level for the honors students), and the academy exchange program (where students from West Point or the Naval Academy can be exchange students for a semester with a student from the USAFA.) They have a student services center to help students who are struggling in classes and they reported that their faculty are very accessible and open to helping students.

Following graduation she said that 60-80 students go directly to graduate school, 520 go to pilot school, and up to 38 go to dental, medical, or nursing schools. (They have nearly a 100% acceptance to medical school.) The other students enter career fields based upon their majors. All of them are commissioned officers in the Air Force.

She discussed characteristics needed to be successful: Drive, motivation, and an inner fire. Dedication. Time Management (Self-discipline). Stress management. Willingness to use available resources. And she also pointed out that if a student's grades drop below a 2.0 in any area then they are placed on probation and are not allowed to go anywhere.

One of the pieces that was addressed throughout the different presentation was the USAFA Mission and Core Values. Their mission is to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, movitated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation. Their core values are: Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. You see and hear the mission and core values throughout the USAFA.

After General Born's presentation we were taken to the Warfare Lab (Simulator) where we had a chance to "fly" a plane. Two educators were in each plane and each person had the opportunity to be the one controlling the plane with a TON of help from the Air Force instructors who stood over our shoulder trying to keep us from crashing. (Note I said *TRYING* as it isn't that easy!) Here are pictures from outside of the simulator.

My mom, a counselor in Northeastern Ohio, was also on the trip and she and I were in the simulator together - here is a picture of us with our Air Force instructor.
Sadly, we both crashed when trying to land the plane, but when flying, I had a chance to do some "rolls" in the air. It was entertaining. Since I don't know how to shorten this clip down, if you just watch about the first 30 seconds you will see me navigate the plane and do my first roll. (I tried to have the video show up on this site directly, but it didn't work so I put it up on You Tube. Here is a link.) It was fun...

After they kicked us out of the simulators we went to see the library. It is a library - it was pretty (especially their 6 story spiral staircase) and it has lots of books - basically like you'd find at any other college. I loved looking around at the different groups of kids in the library and thinking that aside from the uniforms they could be at any college campus. I later found out from one of the cadets that most of the people hanging out in the library are typically freshman because that is one of the places where they can get away from all of the upperclassmen eyes of their squadron leaders.










We had dinner in Mitchell Hall again (where all of the cadets eat their meals.) Dinner is their most relaxed meal of the day. The cadets are not assigned specific seats and they have a buffet style for dinner including a few hours to eat vs. the 20 minutes to get in, be seated, start, and finish at breakfast and lunch. Dinner is also not a mandatory meal. One of the counselors from North Carolina had a student (Matt M.) join her for dinner and she kindly allowed me to sit with them and so I had a chance to ask a lot of questions and learn a ton more through that conversation. Because it was a more relaxed setting and the cadets were not on such a tight time schedule it was nice to be able to ask questions and not feel like you were taking away from their only down time in the day. He said that eventually he would like to be a politician and he will be fantastic - he was personable, engaging, and kind in answering so many questions. I really enjoyed being able to talk with him at dinner.

After dinner we attended a performance by the USAFA Cadet Show Choir. They performed for about an hour. It was interesting, two of the young ladies were from Ohio, but both of them are actually students at the USMA and the USNA, but are at the USAFA this semester as exchange students.

Clearly, it was a packed day, but it was enjoyable. I learned a lot - both from the official presentations and from the two cadets that I had lunch and dinner with during the day.