Happy 5th Birthday!

I cannot believe it is New Years Eve already. This year feels as if it has flown past - in fact - the past 5 years feels as if they were just yesterday...

That is because 5 years ago today, my niece, Carly, was born. I was beyond thrilled to be an Aunt. She was precious then and she still is today, but she definitely interacts with you a lot more now than she did 5 years ago! LOL! I remember that a few weeks after Carly was born I took vacation time to spend a week helping my sister and getting to know my new niece. On the last day there I was sitting in Carly's room rocking her while she was sleeping and I sat there crying because I didn't want to leave her. My sister walked in and asked what was wrong and I told her that I wanted to take Carly with me - she could have another baby. Needless to say, *that* didn't go over well. :-)

Now, Carly is 5 years old. She loves everything Princess. Her favorite color is pink. (She also likes purple.) She enjoys playing make-believe. She likes chicken nuggets, spagetti (without any sauce), and chips. She is so much fun and I love her even more today than I did 5 years ago... and I definitely didn't think that would be possible!

Happy Birthday Carly!

And, to everyone else, Happy New Year! I hope you have a great and safe evening tonight.

Fun with Carly and Cole

I *know* this is a blog about school stuff, but since this is our winter break and I like sharing glimpses of my "real" life with you I decided to share a few more pictures of the fun I had with my niece and nephew.
Today it stopped raining so Carly and Cole were able to have some fun outside with more of the gifts from "Aunt Bri." Carly was excited to try out her new ice skates and she did OK - just a few falls and lots of laughter. She definitely preferred to have someone holding her hand while she skated, but she said she was going to practice practice practice. When she opened the roller skates she said, "Just what I always wanted." It was too cute.

Poor Cole... when Carly was little and Aunt Bri bought her a "bike" I was crazy
enough to try to put it together myself for her. (So not a good idea! Ask anyone who was around when I *tried* for an hour to hang the shelf that is in my office!) But, being the loving aunt I was willing to look beyond my lacking in handy-man type skills and suffer through. Now, Cole, the 2nd child, who is still VERY much loved gets laughter from me at the thought of putting together a bike and, as a result, received his bike in a box... for his VERY handy dad to put together before he could play with it. What would have likely taken me days to assemble his dad had together in no time. (Thankfully!) Cole liked the idea of the tricycle - and he liked having someone push him around on it, but he was too small to actually reach the pedals. (Although, his handyman dad who Carly will quickly tell you can fix anything, came to the rescue and added blocks of wood to the pedals so that he will be able to ride on his own.)

It was fun playing with the kids and I was sad to leave them. I had a great time with my sister too - her husband took kid duty last night and she and I went out to a movie... we saw "PS I Love You" - let me just tell you - SAD movie!!! Somehow I missed that detail in the previews and did NOT expect to cry through the entire movie. So while my fun times in Kentucky are now over it was great while it lasted. I hope you have also been enjoying your break. I can't wait to see all of you again at school (I can't believe we go back next week already!) and hear about your fun stories too. Enjoy your last few days of freedom! :-)

Holiday Happiness

My holiday really felt like it started on December 26th when I traveled to Kentucky
to spend a few days with my sister's family. As anyone who has stepped foot into my office surely knows, I adore my niece, Carly, and my nephew, Cole. So, coming down to share in some of their Christmas excitement was better than I can put into words. Santa came to see the kids and they were happy to show me their new toys so that we could play together. They also liked some of the gifts from "Aunt Bri." One of the gifts I brought Carly was a dress that had a matching dress for her babydoll. She thought she should be in a magazine - The internet is the closest that I can do for her.

I also bought them each hooded towels like animals and Cole loves his bath time along with brushing his teeth so hanging out in his dog towel was a hit. I hope you had happiness in the simple moments of being together with your families. Sadly, I return to Columbus tomorrow, but I am thankful for the time I was able to spend in Kentucky.

Financial Aid

Save the Date! On Tuesday, January 8th at 7:00pm there will be a presentation about financial aid and filling out the FAFSA form in Room 207 at WKHS. (FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid.) Most students will need to fill out the FAFSA form and it is essential to meet the deadlines established by your colleges of choice to determine what amount of aid they can offer. (Many deadlines will be February 15th.) So this is definitely not something you can put off once we hit the first of the year. There are some people who will automatically assume that they do not qualify for financial aid and it is important not to make assumptions and to read the fine print from the colleges carefully as there are some colleges that won't offer any financial packages (including merit scholarships) without having a FAFSA on file. Specific questions about each college's requirements and deadlines should be addressed to the financial aid offices at each respective college.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I know that everyone does not celebrate Christmas, but either way, I hope that you have a wonderful day today surrounded by the people who mean the most in your life. Be thankful for all that you have received and find joy in giving to others. I have so much to be grateful for this year - my family, friends, and the students with whom I work each day. Thanks for being a special part of my life. I hope you have a relaxing and memorable Christmas!

Winter Break

I don't know about you, but I am relieved that we have reached winter break. I do find it a bit scary that we are nearly 1/2 way through the school year though. Does it seem to be flying past for you too? I hope you have plans to relax and enjoy the upcoming days off. I am nearly finished with my shopping (thank goodness because I hate to shop!), but have not started wrapping gifts or writing Christmas cards yet. (Guess you know what I will be doing tomorrow...) :-) Friday ended up being a little bit crazy for me so I didn't get to wish you all the best for the holidays. I hope you enjoy it with your family and are safe throughout the break.

Also, FYI - I will blog several times over the holidays, but probably not every day - as this is a vacation for me too. :-) Looking forward to hearing all about your holiday fun after we get back to school. Again, have a great break!

College Life Panel

Today at school the seniors had the opportunity to listen to a panel of current college freshman who graduated from WKHS last year talk about what life at college. Five students returned to share their insights - Matt Roy from OSU, Danielle Miller from Ashland, Kevin Patterson from OU, John Coleman from University of Miami (FL), and Michaela Minichello from the University of Dayton. Clearly they had different sizes of schools in different areas and had unique experiences to kick off their college years.

John was the only one of "my" former students, but I was thankful that each of them volunteered their time to talk with the seniors. I have had several opportunities to talk to (or e-mail with) many of my past students to hear about college life and each time I have the chance to hear more about their transition to college I always feel it is beneficial. As a result I was glad that the seniors are given the opportunity to have a little time out of class to benefit from their insights as well. I'd guess that my favorite pieces of advice were to keep your door open when in your room as it is a great way to start meeting other people, go to class, and reach out to your professors for extra help.

I also appreciated Alex DiBartola and Jon Roullard (Senior Class President and Vice-
President) serving as hosts and asking questions of the panel participants. They did a great job... and because Alex guilted Jon into dressing up and then didn't dress up after all I have to compliment Jon for looking so nice. Thanks Alex and Jon - I really appreciated your help in pulling off today's assembly!

December Socratic Society

Congratulations to the 45 students that were inducted to the Socratic Society this month. The Socratic Society is intended to recognize students for outstanding commitment to one or more of the Socratic principles - lifelong learning, integrity, compassion, scholarship, and personal effort. I was very proud to watch as 15 of "my" students were inducted into the Socratic Society during a ceremony last Friday. (You may wonder what has taken me so long to update about this group, but I had grand intentions of getting a picture of the students that I missed for the group shot, but since I was unsuccessful in this attempt again today, I decided to finally post without it.) "My" students honored included: Becca Alexander, Jonathan Baldwin, Maeve Beyer, Tyler Boggs, Aurora Braig, Philip Bunting, Alex Cameron, Nai-Kwan Cheung, Nai-Ying Cheung, Sam Craig, Tim Curry, Stephanie DiBartola, Jack Doran, Brittany Hammond, and Joe Pfeifer. All of these students are pictured above except for Tyler and Tim. (Sorry guys!) Congratulations to every individual recognized and thank you for the impressive way you carry yourselves each day.

Studying for Exams

I *know* some (or maybe all) of you don't want to hear this, but it is REALLY important that you start studying now for exams. Today I skimmed through the interim grade reports and was sad to see how many people are struggling. If your grades are not where they should be at this point in time, please make use of the resources available to you - the academic assistants in room 209 and, most importantly, your teachers. I am also here to help you with studying strategies and tips if needed. For many students, your final grade for the semester will come down to how you finish out this quarter and how well you do on semester exams. Please don't neglect this opportunity to make the most of the remaining time and use winter break as a chance to start reviewing for exams.

Excited for Week Ahead

I admit it - I am *really* looking forward to the week ahead. In part it is because we only have 5 days left before winter break, but I sincerely believe it will be a
great week. I am excited to talk to the students who *hopefully* heard from their colleges about early decisions and early action admissions. I know this weekend had a large number of you rushing to your mailboxes and I hope the news was what you were wanting to find. I am also really excited to see and talk to some of my "former" students who will be home on break. At the end of last week I had a chance to chat with a few former students and I loved every second of it! :-) Then, on Friday, to end the week, we have an all-school assembly and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing everyone that is involved perform. All in all, should be a great week - don't you think?!? :-)

Interim Reports

Second quarter feels like it is winding down, but you still don't have your interim reports. Initially the interim grades were due earlier this week, but all of the computer craziness at school and the fact that none of your teachers could access anything in the computers made this deadline unrealistic. As a result, all of your teachers will be turning in interim grades by tomorrow (Friday) and they will be sent home Monday. That gives you just a few weeks plus exams to be sure that your grades are where you need them to be before the end of the semester. Don't forget, it is the semester grade (and not the quarter grade) which appears on your transcript and impacts your grade point average. Please be sure that you are doing everything possible to put yourself in the best situation for getting the grades you want this semester!

More Pictures... Because I Can

I am "done" with my USAFA updates, but as I looked through my pictures there were some things that I had wanted to share and hadn't... so... I decided I should share them.

This picture is me at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.


The Prep School at the USAFA is something I didn't really talk about on the blog (because all we did was drive past it), but the reality is that for many students the prep school is a one year transition into the USAFA.

There were two other things that I forgot to talk about when blogging over the last week.

The first was in the chapel. I thought it was interesting that the 2nd pew in the
chapel is roped off and there is a candle lit in the center of the row as a way to honor of all prisoners of war and those listed as missing in action. No matter how many people are trying to squeeze into the chapel that pew remains a standing and impressive tribute.


The second component that I didn't point out was the fact that the cadets live in their dorms as a squadron - which is a combination of males and females. Each squadron has their own logo and you can see them on the cadet jackets as well as in the dorms.


I was also excited today because I received a note from James Johnson, the cadet who I blogged about yesterday. He had found my blog and the video clips through a friend. (Yes, I know, it doesn't take much to make me happy.)

USAFA - Day 3

The final day at the United States Air Force Academy was definitely one of my favorites. No, we didn't sit in a simulator or have lunch/ dinner with cadets, but we heard presentations from two incredible cadets and the second young man, James Johnson, absolutely amazed me.

For day three we started at the USAFA Airfield. It was interesting to learn that the cadets are the primary instructors for other cadets. They are responsible for 94% of the flight training and 95% of the parachuting trainings. The first cadet who talked to us was a senior at the USAFA and he is a soaring instructor. That means that he is responsible for teaching other cadets how to fly the glider airplanes (no power source). He was interesting to listen to and honest in his responses - he talked about what he has learned through the experience and the importance of being able to stay calm when you are teaching other cadets how to fly because they "are trying to kill you" and yet you have to wait until the last possible moment to take over and save the plane. He said you don't want to scare them away from flying and you want them to learn how to correct their own mistakes and keep improving. Evidently there are teams that compete - like a cross country soaring team - where they try to fly far distances by using the air streams and air currents to move their planes. It was interesting. Here is a picture of a glider airplane being towed behind another plane.

The second young man that we heard from was a parachuting instructor. He is known as a jumpmaster and he is a trainer for other cadets. James is a junior at the
USAFA. He had never jumped out of a plane before his sophomore year at the USAFA, but he now has 260 jumps (including one the morning before he spoke to us) and is responsible for teaching other cadets how to safely jump from (perfectly good) planes. Interestingly, he is responsible for everything from training the other cadets on the ground to also helping them when they are up in the back of the plane preparing to jump. He is on the headset with the pilot, he holds them at the doorway before they jump out of the plane, and then, after all of the cadets have jumped out of the plane he jumps out after them. Clearly he is good at what he does because he is a member of the USAFA's "Wings of Blue" demonstration team. (That is why he has a blue uniform instead of the more common green version.) As a member of the demonstration team he is one of the individuals who would jump into stadiums, etc. He was entertaining and poised and incredibly confident making it a joy to listen to his experiences. I have lots of video clips (although if I would have been taping more instead of just listening there would be even more) from this segment of the trip - obviously because I thought it was so interesting and I can't decide on just one to share with you - so I hope you enjoy them because I have a lot of them. :-)

The first clip is James introducing himself. I think you will see what I am talking about with his confidence.

He was open to answering questions and one of the other counselors asked him what went through his mind on his very first jump. Here is his response.

Obviously, things can go wrong when jumping out of a plane. James talked about several different safety elements. He said that they average one reserve ride every thousand jumps. (By reserve ride he meant needing to use your reserve parachute.) In this clip he introduces a backup system. And in this clip he talks more about the Cypress system and what would happen if you were unconscious as you were falling from the plane.

In this clip he answers the question, "Is it like a rollercoaster?"

This final clip is one of my favorites and I started recording as he talked about the ground hurting and (I think) it is entertaining.

We did get to see some people from the Army that were being trained by the cadets at the USAFA jump from a plane which was fun to see. It was also interesting to learn that there are all different sizes of parachutes (canopies) and the different sizes determine how quickly you move down to the ground - the better you get the smaller canopy you can use allowing you to reach the ground faster.

After we finished at the airfield we concluded our day with a presentation by the Director of Selections, Mr. Rollie Stoneman. He reviewed for us the different avenues that students can seek nominations for the USAFA (and the other service academies). They ultimately offer appointments to about 1600 students (out of the 9500 students who are qualified and receive nominations) with the intent that about 1300 of those students will actually attend the USAFA. He stressed that they are looking for students of good moral character who will ultimately be able to serve as officers of character. Applying to an academy is a rolling process and generally begins in the spring of your junior year. Basically, when selecting a student to offer an apointment they are considering their Academic composite score (GPA, Strength of Curriculum, Verbal and Math Standardized test scores - think ACT/ SAT), Extra-curricular composite score (athletic and non-athletic activities), Candidate Fitness Assessment, USAFA Liaison Officer Evaluation, Teacher Evaluations, and Medical Qualifications and then a panel looks at all of those pieces and determines if the students should be offered an appointment to the academy. If you are interested in learning mroe about the details and what it will require in order to be competitive for a service academy, please stop in and see me and we can review the information that they shared during this program and the trip as a whole.

(One off the topic side note - the server FINALLY came back up this afternoon - THANKFULLY! It will probably take me a little while to get through the ton of e-mails that were awaiting me when I was finally able to read them. Please be patient. Thanks!)

Kilbourne News and Notes

The server is STILL down! I can't believe it. Today was very frustrating from a work production perspective because I wasn't able to access any computer files, view or respond to e-mails, or check schedules. I tried to log on again a few moments ago, but still no luck. Hopefully they are working all night to figure out what is going on with the computer system. It is shocking at how dependent we are on the computers for everything we do each day. So, if you have sent me an e-mail, please know that I am not ignoring you, but I do not have access to your message.

Due to last Friday's (wonderful) 2 hour delay, the Socratic Society ceremony was unable to be held at it's scheduled time. They told us today that the ceremony is rescheduled for this Friday, December 14th, at 7:30am in the auditorium. I believe e-mail announcements will be sent out as soon as the e-mail is back up, but I wanted to let you know as quickly as I could.

Tomorrow night Kilbourne takes on Scioto in Boys Basketball and there is also a band concert. Good luck to all of you!

I have several more video clips that I want to upload for my USAFA Day 3 blog so that will have to wait until tomorrow. :-)

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.

USAFA Day 2 Revisited - Part 1

Hello! I am home again, safe and sound. I ended up running out of time in the day to update not to mention struggling with problems connecting to the internet and downloading pictures the last two days so I wasn't able to post updates during the trip, but still wanted to share. So here is what I would have told you about Day 2 of my trip. :-)

We started out the morning with a presentation by the Commandant of the USAFA
cadets. General Susan Dejardins was a 1980 graduate of the USAFA (and I think that she was one of the first females to graduate from the academy.) She shared information about how the USAFA is structured and the opportunities available to the cadets.

One of the pieces that she (and many others) discussed with the honor code which is a central component of the United States Air Force Academy: "We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does." It was interesting to learn that the cadets run the investigations and make the initial recommendations. In talking to the cadets one of them talked about it being relatively easy to take care of yourself and make sure that you do not lie, steal, or cheat, but when you see it in someone else and have to turn them in (the whole "nor tolerate among us" part) is when it gets really hard because this person is often a friend and someone that has helped you through basic training, etc. I had some very interesting conversations relating to the central foundation that the honor code plays in the formation of the cadets into Air Force Officers.

After listening to the presentation by the Commandant, we were paired with a current cadet at the USAFA. I was honored to meet Brian Campbell, a WKHS graduate who is now a senior at the USAFA.


Brian is majoring in Business Management and minoring in Spanish. He allowed me to attend two classes with him and I had lunch with him and the members of the football team that are at the same assigned table. (Brian is very tall - as you can see - and very kind. He was a football player at the USAFA until blowing out his knee and having reconstructive surgery last spring.) Sitting through classes was very interesting because it is so similar to any other college class with a few exceptions. There are obvious differences (everyone is wearing a uniform) and not so obvious differences (no one is text messaging or has cell phones with them). It was also interesting to learn that you "don't skip classes here!" which is a difference from most colleges where there are some classes people will skip. Their academic courseload and the standard that these individuals are expected to maintain are impressive! Actually, every cadet that I met and spoke to were absolutely impressive and I loved talking to them!

We toured the dorm and saw a freshman dorm room compared to the dorm room of two juniors.














A freshman dorm is very different from an upperclassmen dorm - most freshman have 3 cadets per room instead of 2 as with the older students. They also have to maintain the fitted made bed look all the time (instead of the comforters you see in the room with the juniors.) Also, for the record, the last room is the room next door to the room where the student was showing us his room - so you can see that they really *do* require *all* the freshman to maintain their rooms in this way.

See how much stuff the juniors are allowed to have - refrigerator/ tv etc. One of the speakers (can't recall exactly which one) said that when the cadets arrive at the USAFA they take away all of their freedoms and give them back to them when earned as privileges.














One other huge difference that we saw between the freshman and the rest of the students was obvious during class changes. Freshman are required to run on the marble strips instead of just walking through campus anywhere they want. They are also not allowed to wear their backpacks - they must carry them in their hands. They must greet upperclassmen as they pass them on the sidewalk. There were lots of differences in how formal they must be during meals as well. For example, freshman eat at attention and are not allowed to look at anything other than the seal on their plate unless given permission to be at ease by the person in charge of the table (someone higher ranking in their squadron.) The athletic teams are a bit more flexible in these regulations, but there were not any freshman at my table to ask that question directly - it was just my general impression. This formality during meals is only during breakfast and lunch - dinner is optional so the cadets do not have to eat with their squadron and so the freshman do not have to eat at attention. Here is a picture of freshmen on the marble strips.


Not trying to drag this out, but I have so much more to tell you as this is only half of Day 2 and I know tomorrow morning is going to feel REALLY early (since it feels like it should be 2 hours behind the time here in Ohio...) so I am going to cut this short and post about the afternoon and evening experiences tomorrow.

USAFA Day 2... Sort of

Hi! Today was Day 2 at the USAFA and it was a great day. I had a chance to attend two classes and have lunch with a Kilbourne grad and current USAFA senior, Brian Campbell. I have lots of pictures, but unfortunately am unable to upload them tonight. Check back tomorrow for a full update about all of the events of the day.

Hope everything is going well for you at Kilbourne.
See you soon!

USAFA Day 1: Chapel & Athletics

We started our "official" tour of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) today. They drove us throughout the base a little bit before we went to the admissions office and had an overview presentation by a few new Lieutenant's who graduated from the USAFA last May. The Colonel who is in charge of the entire admissions process also talked with us briefly and answered some questions. The "official" admissions briefing is on Wednesday - this was basically just his opening welcome.

We next went to the Chapel. (And, let me forewarn you, this is just the start of the pictures!) The Chapel is one of the most well known structures at the USAFA. You can see it from afar and it is a central point on campus.

Me with the back of the chapel.

This is a view walking into the chapel.

I know that this may not seem as impressive or exciting to see small on this blog, but one of the things I really liked was the view out the windows from inside of the chapel - out one side of the chapel you see mountains in the background and out the other side you see the campus and the planes in the middle of campus. Pretty cool.

The chapel is actually more than just 1 chapel. There are six separate chapels within this one facility. The largest one is the Protestant chapel which is pictured above. In each of the two floors below that there are 3 more chapels - we were able to see the Catholic, Jewish, and Buddist. (Pictured Below)

Later in the day we had the opportunity to visit the athletic facilities. They were very impressive - remember, this is a Division 1 school. Approximately 23% of all of the Cadets at the USAFA participate in intercollegiate athletics. They have 27 D-1 Sports here. Everyone is required to participate in athletics in some way - it can be through club or intramural sports.

You probably can't read it very well, but this sign has their athletics motto - "Air Force Athletics... Tomorrow's Leaders Forged Through Competition Today"

The three pictures above include: An indoor track and field with an impressive mural, some of the outdoor courts, and (of course) the training room.

And, in case you had any question about the facilities and how well they compare with other D-1 Schools... check out their weight room below. WOW!