Why My Actual Graduation Happened on a Dirt Road in New Hampshire

Graduation was almost two weeks ago. It’s hard to believe, but it happened! I went home right after graduation, partly to recover from that week, but also to get back on a good workout schedule. In less than two weeks I am heading to Amsterdam for a few races in Belgium and the Netherlands. I am really excited to see what racing in Europe is like as well as to do some sightseeing.

Graduation week at West Point was hectic, busy, and honestly a bit frustrating. There was a lot of rushing around attending events. I felt stretched between trying to spend time with my family, finishing up moving out, and graduation activities. There was barely time to sleep let alone process the fact that the class of 2018 was graduating and becoming the newest wave of officers in the United States Army. I will admit I got a little weepy at the graduation ceremony itself, mostly because I could see how happy all my classmates were, and it made me so proud to be with them all as a class one more time. However, the fact that I graduated and am now a Second Lieutenant really didn’t have time to sink in.

One week later, it finally clicked for me in a completely unpredictable way. I was riding my bike up the final hill to my house and struggling hard. I was wearing my West Point Triathlon cycling kit. A pick up truck passed by and then pulled over. I figured I either looked so bad going up the hill that they were about to offer me a ride, or I was going to get kidnapped. Either way I wouldn’t have to keep riding up the hill so I was pretty calm about the whole thing. A man stepped out of the car, and said “ I have to ask, are you at West Point now? I saw your kit. I’m a ‘97 grad.”

“Oh,” I smiled, relieved a little, “I just graduated.”

Finally saying those words--that I had just graduated--made it real for me in way that walking across a stage had not. We continued to talk. He is also an Engineer, and he was up here visiting his dad although he is originally from Vermont. Fun fact: the Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Semonite, is also from Vermont; he grew up in a town called Bellows Falls with 3,000 people and no stoplights. The conversation wound down and he got back in his car and left. I started my slow grind back up the hill.

I’ve always heard that it’s a small Army; on this day it was tiny--a back road in rural New Hampshire. For that man seeing a West Point kit was enough to make him stop and say hello to a fellow old grad, 21 years after his own graduation. This random encounter helped me to recognize how grateful I am to have graduated from an institution that creates those bonds, and I am really excited to see what’s in store for newly commissioned 2LT Groton.