In this episode, your host Grant Vermeer speaks with United States Navy officer Sarita Condie '17 about her experience during plebe summer, being one of the best basketball players ever at the naval academy and her time as the honor and character liaison on the staff during plebe summer.
Sarita joins the podcast while serving in the surface warfare community in Japan. She is kind enough to jump into a Taco Bell for a place to connect with Grant for this podcast.
Sarita talks about how as a female athlete gave her a little bit more of a platform to be a voice for the other females at the academy.
Be sure to review and subscribe to The Academy Insider with Grant Vermeer podcast on iTunes or where you listen to podcasts.
Follow the Academy Insider on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Links Mentioned in the Show
Sarita's Book Recommendations
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast and the USNA Property Network Podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
Connect with Grant on Linkedin
Academy Insider Website
Academy Insider Facebook Page
If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: podcast@academyinsider.com.
In this episode, your host Grant Vermeer speaks with United States Navy officer Sarita Condie '17 about her experience during plebe summer, being one of the best basketball players ever at the naval academy and her time as the honor and character liaison on the staff during plebe summer.
Sarita joins the podcast while serving in the surface warfare community in Japan. She is kind enough to jump into a Taco Bell for a place to connect with Grant for this podcast.
Sarita talks about how as a female athlete gave her a little bit more of a platform to be a voice for the other females at the academy.
Be sure to review and subscribe to The Academy Insider with Grant Vermeer podcast on iTunes or where you listen to podcasts.
Follow the Academy Insider on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Links Mentioned in the Show
Sarita's Book Recommendations
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast and the USNA Property Network Podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
Connect with Grant on Linkedin
Academy Insider Website
Academy Insider Facebook Page
If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: podcast@academyinsider.com.
Okay.
Speaker 2:This is your Grant Vermeer United States Naval Academy class of 2017 and on your academy insider. It's my goal to be your guide through the Naval Academy experience by sharing my stories and providing you insight information into the life of a midshipman. Academy insider is in no way officially affiliated with the United States Naval Academy. All of the content on academy insider is my own and does not reflect the views of the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, nor the Department of Defense. Welcome to the academy and set our podcast and thanks so much for joining me as we continue our talks about the plebe summer experience. Today we're being joined by Sarita Condie, a fellow class of 17 graduate and the thousand point score, which probably makes her one of the best navy basketball players to ever go through the Naval Academy. Just like the past couple episodes, we're going to talk about Sarita's plebe summer experience, but also a time is the plebe summer honor and character liaison officer. Now, I know we've kind of talked about some things and for everyone knows me. Um, I didn't really enjoy, please don't wear all that much, but Sarita has a little bit of a different opinion so I think you guys are really enjoyed it.[inaudible] has been out to see now for a little while as a surface warfare officer and she was literally kind enough to take time during one of our port visits in Hawaii to literally jump into a Taco bell where there was Wifi. So that way she could talk with us all and share some valuable information about her experience. It's going to be a great discussion, so don't miss it. All right. Hey, uh, thanks for Rita for coming on and being a part of the podcast. I appreciate you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course. Definitely. All right. Before we get started, do you mind just telling all the listeners a little bit about yourself? So where are you grew up, how you ended up at the academy and just a little bit of background about yourself.
Speaker 4:Grew up in Lovelock, Nevada. I was recruited for women's basketball and that's kind of what opened up the door for me to get to the naval academy and I played all four years there. So I pretty much owe everything and how me getting into the academy and everything through the women's basketball team.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. No, that's really cool. So just for everyone's knowledge then, did you have any military in your family
Speaker 3:one and then like how that work?
Speaker 4:Yes, I have zero throughout my family. I think like my great grandfather served a few uncles that I don't really know. So this is the entire process has been extremely eye opening, me and my family. And then the cool part is that my brother actually two days ago found out that you got an appointment to the academy. So that's awesome. Now going to be going to the event
Speaker 3:they say they will kind of me with is really cool.
Speaker 4:He's not, he's just going, I'm for school. Maybe we'll try to walk on some way, but he's more just focused on the academic medicine.
Speaker 3:Okay, well that's awesome.
Speaker 4:Good luck to him. And that's interesting. So did he growing up having an interest in the military or is it when you went to the naval academy that he kind of realized that that was an option? To be honest, I don't even myself asked me even my sophomore year of high school if I would've gone to the military, I think I would tell you absolutely not. But I think seeing how amazing the school itself is for so many different reasons. He got to see kind of like the athletic side and what I got to go through. But when he would visit he saw that there were a lot of opportunities to volunteer and the scoring itself is great. All of the things that you can do in the summer, and I think it was really eye opening for him, how much we all push each other. I think the connections that I made with people like you and friends was something that was really cool for him and something that he wanted to be a part of. And I think that was a big reason why he decided to apply for the weekend.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. It's funny you say that cause I was in the exact same boat as you where like I had no intention of joining the military either. Like no, I just wanted to play basketball in college and it kind of worked out that way. But once you did get recruited by the academy and you decided you were going to go there, how much information did you actually learn about the academy prior to going to id? Like what'd you actually know going into it?
Speaker 4:So I'm like the worst person to ask this because I've been asked this before. Look hardly anything. We got that little package, the chain of command. So I memorize those. But I of person where if I know too much I'll just make myself anxious about it. So I went in pretty blind. Okay. So that part in and of itself was pretty interesting. I definitely, yes. I didn't really know anything about it.
Speaker 3:I kind of just showed up and my hair was cut because you didn't really know what you're getting yourself into. What was your id like? Like tell us a little bit about that first day where you showed up. You didn't really know much about it and then just like boom, hair shave, people are yelling at you. What's going on? What was going on
Speaker 4:through your mind? The best way to explain it was it felt like I was in the twilight zone. I wasn't really upset. I wasn't really, I was just like numb like I was like, I don't know. I remember being very confused and it felt like everything that I was doing was two seconds behind where it was supposed to be because I was trying to process everything.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That's funny you say that because whenever I describe my plebe summer too, the word confusion comes up a lot cause like at a certain point you like, you didn't even realize you were upset in the moment or like not happy. You were just like utterly confused about everything that's going on in your life. I just have no idea what's on. People are screaming, I don't know what I'm doing. Even looking back on it now, yeah, it's just mass chaos. Especially on that on the first few days. So that's funny. Who actually came out with you on it? Did you have your whole family come out and then kind of tell us a little bit about that and then what did you do in that like 30 minutes after the oath of office before you actually went in for that real official startup leaf center
Speaker 4:barbecue that day before I players who are currently on the team there. So we're able to kind of talk about, we get kind of prep before that, but my, both of my parents came and my little brother came to drop me off. So the morning of we are all on the bus and they dropped me off. And then after the oath of office we met up with our parents and the parents of the other please, women's basketball players. And I don't really remember what I did. I remember that we took the photo and then my mom just, this guy's it as I was just like out of it. Like I wasn't really talking. I was kind of just like, alright, here I go. I wasn't upset. I know some people will cry and get really emotional, but I think I was just like you said so confused. Then I kind of was just there and I took a photo and then we walk.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's so funny. I was the exact same way. Like my parents got me a bunch of food for that like time and I was like I'm not hungry and I just kind of sat down for a little bit and like people are like emotional. I'm just sitting there like I don't know what's going to happen to me because this is the first few hours already. Interesting.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I think I might have even left early cause I know you get like a full 30 minutes but I was so dislike ready to get started that I was like, okay I'll see you guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no absolutely. So it's funny about that is if there are any parents listening that's a real thing, right? Like sometimes like don't be shocked or don't be worried if your kids kind of just like out of it or just like numb to what's going on because it is an entire culture shock because you go into Bancroft Hall for a couple of hours and you do get to experience it for a couple of hours before you actually come out and have that last like 30 minutes together. So don't, don't think like stuff is like majorly wrong if they come out and they're just not the same person. But that first day is just, it is a lot of confusion and just a, a major culture shock. So it is just something to expect. All right, cool. Well now let's kind of move on a little bit into a plebe summer. We'll kind of start with some of the more positive things first here. So with that being said, do you have like a favorite memory from plebe summer, whether it be funny or motivational, inspirational, like whatever it is. But do you have like a favorite memory from plebe salmon?
Speaker 4:So I am actually one of the weirdos and I really liked plebe summer. Okay. I know that my id sounds kind of crazy, but I really liked that was numbered. I really liked that we had something to look forward to and the plebe parents weekend and that was something that kind of drove me every single day is a little tough sometimes because the people around you get pretty emotional and pretty homesick, but I treated it as a game kind of. So everything that we are tasked with, I mean I'm very competitive so I would just try to like win whatever was put in front of us or if we had a memorize rates I would just try to memorize it faster than you know the person next to me and I actually got really lucky because my roommate, Logan Ballard and I are very similar and we got really close and we're both very competitive so we would kind of make our own competencies have seen us as we are getting to the toxic things. I really liked the rope courts. I think that's one of my favorite days because you're being active, but it's really fun and you get to help people overcome their fear of heights. If they have them. I don't know why that sticks out in so much for the high ropes course. Really Fun. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's funny. Cause that high ropes course get scared the crap out of me. I hate it. I was also the kid that you were describing the super emotional homesick, so I was making everyone else miserable. That was also the, uh, but there is hope for all the recruited athletes out there. You don't really know what you're getting stuff into. It is very possible to actually enjoy it. Likes it is possible. I personally didn't get that feeling, but you know, apparently it can happen. All right, so kind of along with that now, obviously you're telling us that you actually enjoyed it, but was there anything that you got in the mail, whether it be letters or care packages or anything that your parents sent you, her family sent you, that you appreciated during plebe summer? Like what are some things that people can send that that kind of had a spark or boost?
Speaker 4:Okay, so mail time every day. That was actually something that I look forward to you from the second I woke up. So for anyone who's listening, sending mail, even the smallest like letter or card or photo of like your family, like missing them goes so far. I was pretty lucky I got mail most of the time. I remember there were nights when cause you wait for your name to be called and whenever I didn't get it because for most people I think I can talk to most people. That's what we look forward to is hearing from people that we love hearing from sort of normalcy that's going on outside of the craziness of pleats, summer and knowing that the people that you love and care about are thinking of you and that they're still doing okay. Snacks you can never go wrong with. And I know that they kind of tried to scare you off with sending candy and stuff, but even just like clif bars or fruit snacks are very much appreciated in Britain. A lot of calories.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right, so that's really funny. As you're talking about going back to the letters in the mail time at blue and gold. So at the, at the end of every night there's a ceremony called blue and gold and basically it's a time for literally during plebe summer they'll do like feet checks to make sure that your bliss, like you don't have any blisters, they'll kind of do any like little medical attention. But then at the end of the day, basically it gives the company commander a chance to address the entire company. So I remember during plebe summer there's like Alpha Bravo, Charlie company all the way through and those have two platoons in it. So you have about 80 pleads in one hallway with a bunch of detailers and you have a company commander that has the ability to kind of address them. But also there that's when they pass out the mail because the mail goes to the companies. And it's really funny cause she's like you're saying, you're just standing on the bulkhead, you're kind of just standing there as they're calling out mail and you're just like, fingers crossed, like really hoping they call your name because it's literally like everyone's standing there and they just scream out a name and then when you hear your name you like, we literally call it stick out a Paul, you'd like just shoot your arm out there so the detailer can find you. And you're like, yeah, that's me. But you're also not trying to smile and laugh because then they'll just yell at you anyway. But mail call, that's funny that you bring that up because that is like one of the like cool, like three or four minutes of every day. You're just like, oh man, I really hope I get something today.
Speaker 4:And it's like, it's like taking a box of crayons. Everyone, they'll wheel out the mail and they'll wheel out the packages. So everyone's just like,
Speaker 3:that's a big captive snacks as yours.
Speaker 4:And then you hear someone get calls and you're just like, Dang, it wasn't me this time.
Speaker 3:Oh absolutely. And then you'll get like some people that get like a package and like five letters and their constant calling out and there'll, there'll be like standing next to a kid that like gets nothing and it's kind of sad at the moment. But at the same time like you have details be like, oh, how come no one likes you? But everyone loves the guy. You know? Like there's that whole thing in it always does make it pretty. All right. So kind of with that are moving on from that now, you said you liked it, but what was the most challenging aspect of plebe summer for you? Kind of what was the most difficult thing to get through?
Speaker 4:I think the most challenging part, being proud of everything that you did in that day, but then when you go to sleep, knowing that you have to wake up and do it.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:Except for Sunday, Sunday morning for nights. And then I think is maintaining your emotions. Like what we mentioned earlier, you've never have any privacy. I think that was really tough too. But you're in these really confined spaces with people and we're all people, we all have emotions and so kind of being there for each other and having no privacy to just be compressed was probably the toughest part. So I think back to what I said and resilient, if you have like a goal and you have something to look forward to, like parents weekend or even just Sunday, I know a lot of people look forward to Sundays. I think that that really helps me to kind of just like keep my mind where it needed to be.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And then on the
Speaker 4:athlete side, I think it was tough for me that we didn't really get that much time to like play the sport that we were recruited therefore. Yup. And I know that that doesn't really apply to everyone who's listening cause not everyone is as who'd athlete. But I do think that that's something that brought a lot of us down because we were kind of, at least I was explained that when you go to plebe summer you have time to like focus on your score and to practice and get better. So that you're ready once the season starts. And that really wasn't the case for us. We would do a couple of drills but then we kind of just pick up and you're already so exhausted from plebe summer that I kind of felt like I got worse over the summer going into my first season as a college athlete. So that part really bothered me. But I know that that doesn't really apply to everyone.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And it's funny you bring that up cause we talked about that we had Troy Thompson on earlier actually and he talks about the same thing and like how there's not sports period for like eight days. Right? And so like you show up and you think you're going to go and there are people telling you, hey, there's going to be time dedicated to your sport and you go the entire first week in a week during plebe summer feels like a really long time. So like, right, it's a lot of days you go that entire time without playing your sport. So that is definitely an interesting challenge and for all the varsity athletes and it's important that you do realize and embrace that and know going into it like, hey, you're not going to be playing as much as you thought you were. And then during that time, like you're saying, you're so exhausted that when you have that hour and a half for sports period, it's tough. It's tough to do things because you are just mentally and physically exhausted. All right. So here's a question for you. You talked about kind of most challenging thing overall and then also being a varsity athlete. Did you feel that there were any unique challenges that you faced being a female midshipman or any kind of unique challenges that females may experience during plebe summer?
Speaker 4:Nothing that really sticks out, but just being at the academy in general, there were a few times, I don't know, we're still a minority obviously. I think that we still have a long ways to go, but there's this little moments that stick out in my mind. I remember walking to class one day and there were like a group of tourists and as I was walking by someone pointed and said, look, a girl one.
Speaker 3:And so I think, I think
Speaker 4:that kind of just highlighted that we do still have a long ways ago and they're are definitely very sounders that you see being a theme Bobby Patton in general. But I think that the of Varsity athlete actually gave me a platform to be respected and to be treated equally. And I think that a lot of that has to do with this, the classmates and the people I was around and all of us knowing that we were all there for one goal, that I do think that being a female athlete kind of gives you a little bit more of a platform to be a voice for the other females at the academy.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Really cool. And, and for everyone listening, I Serita was unreal as a Midshipman, like as a one just as a Midshipman, but two as an athlete as well. I mean probably one of the better basketball players in navy basketball history to be completely honest. But for everyone who's listening, like you should look up Serita if you don't know Serita I there's probably some, I guarantee you there's some youtube video out there so, but I mean that right there is a role model for air for anyone I promise you. So that is really cool. I do appreciate you saying that and I think it is a great to become a either part of a team or some kind of club or anything. Just again to give you exposure and a platform to kind of show how important of a piece. A few[inaudible] that for the brigade. Cool. So moving on a little bit. So we talked about in a previous episode about kind of the roles of all the different details during plebe summer. So I guess my question for you is who made the biggest impact on you during your plebe summer? Who, who was the person that kind of really made an impact on you? Very unclean summer specifically during police over specifically. But if you have someone else throughout the course of your time at the academy, feel free to talk about it.
Speaker 4:I think all of us looked at God and goddesses obviously knew everything that was going on and they're treating you. So in general, I looked up from the detailers and you know, little things like when we're doing runs, I'll try to keep up with their do killers and stuff like that. But throughout my entire career, I think the person who made the most impact on me was our compassion in Paul Hollinger and she was actually a detailer two. So that kind of goes hand in hand, just extremely smart, always very composed and genuinely cared about everyone that sees around and our development. And I think that I just appreciated her and always had to emulate her even throughout my career. So, and it started up week, summer because it was a detailer. I should reach out and make sure that I was doing there and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So I think if people and
Speaker 4:find someone that they kind of can associate themselves with, I think that that will help you find a way to get through and thing. The main thing at the academy that people struggle with, even if they don't admit it, is we all go through these phases where we feel like we don't belong there for whatever reason, whether you don't think you're smart enough or athletic enough or you don't do the military is for you. And I think it's essential to find people who will drive you and to find people who have similar interests as you so that you can continue forward and realize that we all have a different piece.
Speaker 3:That right there is that sums up so much of everything. I really appreciate you saying that because that was me, right? Like that was when you're saying like, I felt like I didn't belong because I wasn't sure if the military was for me and I saw these people who loved it and I saw the people who like really want to be in the military. But it wasn't until I found Kevin Alter pooky as a role model where I'm like, this guy, this guy is awesome. Right. And then when I had conversations with them, it came out that he felt the exact same way as me when he was in my spot. Right. And so I was able to see like, oh, I can get to that point where I'm in such admiration of this person. And yet he was in the exact same spot as me. So what you said was so spot on and I just encourage everyone to reach out and try and find mentors and role models who are upperclassmen Shipman because so many of them have been in the same spot as you, but you just don't realize it until you have those conversations with them. That is really, really cool. All right, so kind of with that kind of who had the biggest impact on you, but now do you have like a lesson, like a most important lesson or something that really stuck with you that you learned as a result of plebe summer? Like was there something that you learned as three, your experience during that summer?
Speaker 4:Oh, I love food and it's something that I still carry with myself to this day. So when you're in please summer, you feel like every little thing that you do is the biggest deal. If you drop your pen, you get yelled at for it and it's on your mind the rest of the day. Like, oh my gosh, I couldn't believe I got that pen. Or if you, you know, don't run your mile as fast as you did two days ago. It's like drop 10 seconds. They're going to be so mad at me. I'm going to get yelled at for this. I couldn't remember what the meal was today. I'm going to get yelled at and it sticks in your head and then when you're on the other side of it, like I was a detailer my senior year and you realize that none of that really matters like at all. It's all just a way to try to develop someone and I carry that to this day is you do want to do your best to be good at the little things, but don't make the little things drag you down and weigh on your mind when you're trying to continue to go forward.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I lost my train of thought because I find guys this was okay.
Speaker 4:So I guess what I'm trying to say is
Speaker 3:do your best to do all the little[inaudible]
Speaker 4:things, right? But if you continually mess up and only focus on the things that you're doing wrong and things are going bad, then it's just going to spiral out of control. So just do your best and realize that people don't really care as much as you think that they do.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I know that totally makes sense. And when you were a detailer, was that a lesson that you tried to teach the plebes and so you were in a really unique situation. So if you don't mind telling the listeners what your role was during plebe summer cause it's not like your average role, it's something completely separate. And then so just talk a little bit about what your job was during plebe summer, then how you try to instill certain lessons that you wanted to into the place.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So am I hiking and I had the best job of honoring character liaison. So I got to the knights
Speaker 3:please.
Speaker 4:So I was in charge of the development of our honoring character program that we had at the academy. And so I got to see all of them in a classroom setting without the rest of the details. So in addition to teaching the lessons and kind of teaching the traditions of the academy and how to compose yourself and to do the right thing, I also got to conversation with them and kind of see where they all at. And so during those times I would try to give little tidbits of like, you know, don't focus too much on this, stay positive. It's only six weeks or eight weeks or whatever it is. So that part was really cool, but I think it's like you said, it was definitely a unique situation and then it, but it also opened up the avenue for people to be able to talk to me either before or after class and just kind of give them a pep talk before they went back out and got yelled at.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And if you don't mind, do you mind talking a little bit about the honor character classes and kind of one how often they are into a little bit like what actually goes, what happens in those classes?
Speaker 4:So in those classrooms I think there are eight lessons. I know that it's probably things since then, so I will see everyone a total of eight times. Some weeks you have it twice a week, some weeks you have at once a week and sometimes you don't have it that whole week. It just depends on the schedule. But in those lessons we talked about various things like our honor code, the system that we have at the academy and talk about the battle of Gettysburg and how that can apply. Probably the other ones that we've had, I know that there was one where we talked about just like current events, you kind of just various things that were happening because I think that that was him or if there's a lot of things that when you think academy, especially in police summer, you have no idea what's going on outside of the walls. So I know that we've tried to incorporate kind of during events that were going on and how it went. Why is test number any of the other lessons?
Speaker 3:That's perfect. I mean, that's really cool. Okay. Yeah, thank you for that. So that's definitely something that was generally like hour long classes. So it's a nice little break during the day, uh, where, where are you? Like probably doing some gray space or whatnot. And then they lined you up and you start marching outside and you realize you're walking towards the little lose classrooms and you're like, oh, let's go. It's air conditioned and they're going to be nice.
Speaker 4:The hardest part was me like everyone to stay with.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean everyone's exhausted and then they're finally in a relaxed setting. It's pretty tough for sure. All right. Kinda a couple last questions here. So the first thing I want to ask is, is there anything that you wish someone would have told you prior to heading to the Naval Academy? Like was there, was there a little piece of information that may have helped you out or is there anything that you wish you would've known prior to heading?
Speaker 4:Nothing like informational wise cause like I said, I just function better not knowing everything. I'll just worry about it too much. If I were to give myself advice right now on the outside I would say just to not take everything to see. That got me caught up on a lot of stuff and just realizing that we're still, we're still like young adults or kids like that you it out and when you add precedents to yourself, that's not always necessarily a good thing.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right. Do you have any specific advice potentially for recruiting athletes for anything during the summer or even during their four years at the academy?
Speaker 4:Overall my experience with the thought of me, I would say keep an open mind when you're recruited. I think we all have this like image of how we think our career's going to go world on the collegiate level. And it doesn't always pan out how you want it to. And most of the time, whether it's you're not in the same position that you were recruited for, you're not playing as much as you wanted to or your grades are slipping or you're not as fast as he wants to wear or you're not able to lift as much as you should or you can't find enough time to do everything over the summer that you're asked to. I would just say feeding open minds, the academy is a great place to have this happen because there are other avenues where you can still be heard and you can still work on yourself as a person and an athlete. So I would just say don't get discouraged. Understand that it happens in Nicola's world everywhere, but I think it's enhanced at the academy because of all the other demands. So yeah, just keep an open mind and don't get too discouraged when things don't necessarily go your way. And in the end it always works out.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right. And then the last piece is, would you have any different advice or any unique advice specifically for female Mitch Shipman Getting Ready to prepare for the academy?
Speaker 4:I would just say to make an effort, especially in an environment like the academy where it's so male dominated and it is already so competitive, this knowing that you have females around you who are there to actually help you and lift you up and help get you through the tough times. Those so far. So yeah, I would just say that make an effort not only just like, you know, stay out of it are, but like actually make an effort to go out of your way to help each other. I don't really far.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right, cool. Well let's finish this thing off with a couple of we call a lightning round of questions that I asked everyone. So just couple of quick responses here. The not very difficult questions, but first thing is what was your favorite spot on the yard?
Speaker 4:My favorite spot on the yard was the ice cold water fountain. Right outside of the hall. The weight room,
Speaker 3:right. That is the best. So the best the waters,
Speaker 4:you said that you were done with your workouts for the week and you could go hang out with your friends.
Speaker 3:That's so funny. I never really think about that, but is most definitely the best water fountain on the yard. All right, next question. What was your favorite meal in King Hall? My favorite meal was
Speaker 4:the vegetable Lasagna.
Speaker 3:Really? That's a unique answer. Okay. I like it. A third. Who was your biggest officer or senior enlisted leader? Mentor. During your four years.
Speaker 5:Huh?
Speaker 3:And if you have multiple, you can mention multiple.
Speaker 4:Yes, I would go 10 of Arnold and Catherine Smith
Speaker 3:solid. All right, next question. One. What's your favorite book into, what's one book you would recommend someone reads before heading to the academy and they can be the same one, but I just kind of preface it two ways
Speaker 4:and my favorite book is the giver
Speaker 3:who writes the giver.
Speaker 4:I don't remember. That's fine. I read it in elementary school, but it is the first book that I love probably reread it and a book that I recommend is probably not very good answers, but you can take it out if you want. But it's the subtle art of not giving a F.
Speaker 3:I have seen it. Absolutely
Speaker 4:So I think it kind of goes along with what I was saying earlier about not being caught up a little thing, but none of very great answer going into police somewhere else.
Speaker 3:But it's good for life. No, absolutely. It obviously they're going to be times during plebe summer over the detailers. Make sure you know that you should give an f but the, I mean that I want, I've, I've read it, it's a fantastic book and to like, are they saying that eight does provide that perspective of like, Hey, don't worry about the little things. Just continue to focus on what's in your control. Um, again, which is the current moment and you show your attitude, you control your efforts. So absolutely a great read and a great recommendation. All right. What is your greatest memory from your four years in Annapolis?
Speaker 6:Oh,
Speaker 4:that is a tough one because there were a lot of good memories.
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 4:But the one that sticks out when I first learned about it is my senior year
Speaker 6:army star game in Annapolis. That's good. Yeah, that's probably why I love it. All right.
Speaker 3:Last question is if someone is unsure about whether or not they want to attend the academy, they're kind of thinking about it. What advice or kind of thoughts would you tell them to consider when deciding to either apply or not apply to the navy?
Speaker 6:I would definitely consider
Speaker 4:the commitment after you graduate. I think that's like very downplayed at the academy. Yeah. So just actually consider it and realize that you do have like your five to seven years to serve afterwards because if you don't do that, that's for you. Then you're not only going to be miserable the academy, but you're probably going to be miserable for a solid 10 years of your life.
Speaker 6:Right. And just consider,
Speaker 4:I dunno, not really considered, but keep in mind like your support system that you have. We'll just like staying true to who you are. Don't. I believe having me or the two then the afterwards.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That is great advice. All right, well thank you so much Rita. I really appreciate you doing this. Kind of mentioned it in the intro here, but Sarita is literally just kind of in some port time here in Hawaii during your time as a surface warfare officer, so thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to do this. I really appreciate it. Of course. All right, thank you Sarita and for everyone listening take care and I hope you guys have a great day.
Speaker 2:Thank you all so much for tuning in and listening to the podcast today with Serita. Please leave me a review on iTunes and be sure to subscribe to the academy insider podcast. If you want to know more about plebe summer, check out my video online course in which I go over in detail about how someone should prepare for plebe summer, physically, mentally, emotionally, and logistically. You can find that in articles about plebe summer on my webpage, www.academyinsideour.com. All the links that we discussed today in the show are listed in the show notes, including all of the books, uh, that Serita recommended. I'm a grant for mere your academy insider. Thank you so much for letting me be your guide to the Naval Academy.