#136 LIVE Podcast from I-Day at the Naval Academy with John Schofield of The Sing Second Pod

Your plebe has been gone for a few hours and your brain is already filling in the blanks. We get it. From a live recording on Main Street in Annapolis on U.S. Naval Academy Induction Day, we walk through what’s actually happening right now inside Bancroft Hall, why the first interactions can feel jarring, and how to think about those first emotional check-ins before the oath.

Grant Vermeer brings the on-the-ground midshipman perspective, including what plebes are doing in the early churn of I-Day and why the smallest “rules” can feel huge at first. We talk candidly about Plebe Summer as a deliberate habit reset, what it can look like when your kid seems different after only a few days, and a leadership principle worth stealing for the whole family: don’t make a permanent decision based on temporary emotion. Along the way, we connect the dots between discomfort, resilience, and the kind of composure young officers need when real life turns hard.

We’re also joined by Naval Academy parent and USNA alum Jason Solata (Class of 1994) and recent graduate Isaac Phillips (Class of 2019) to cover servant leadership, team-first culture, and the realities of athletics and recruiting at Navy. We close with practical resources for Naval Academy parents: parent programs, local clubs, shared interest groups, the plebe parent photo program, and the Daily Shipmate newsletter, plus what to expect at the superintendent’s brief.

If this helped you breathe a little easier, subscribe, share it with a new USNA parent, and leave a review so more families can find it. What’s the one moment from I-Day you can’t stop replaying?

For any real estate questions, please text me at 650-282-1964

To stay most up to date with Grant, Naval Academy updates, and real estate insights, follow him on LinkedIn

The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.

This podcast is independently produced and reflects the views and opinions of its creators. It is not officially affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of the United States Naval Academy or its affiliates.

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. 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 residential real estate company that matches service academy families with trusted real estate teams all across the country.  Text (650) 282-1964 with any real estate questions.

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Transcript

Welcome To I-Day In Annapolis

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Um we're going to get to all right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard another great episode of the Sing Second Podcast. This is a joint podcast with Grant Vermeer and the Academy Insider Podcast. Here we are at your ID5 in Annapolis here on Main Street on June 25th, 2026, welcoming in the class of 2030. If saying that someone is graduating from college in 2030 doesn't make you feel old, you are wrong. So congrats to the parents in the room today for having uh gotten their child uh to the to the promised land of showing up on my day. Congrats to you. Uh, we're gonna hear from a particular parent, Jason Solata from the great class in 1994, and a uh friend of mine here in a minute about his journey. He dropped his son off at 0600 this morning. Uh so by now there's a lot going on. So joining me to talk about that a lot going on is Grant. Uh Grant graduated from here. If you don't know Grant, he graduated from here in 2017, four-year uh letter winner uh playing Navy basketball, uh joined the Navy um after graduation. I'll let him take it from there. But Grant, for years, since he was even a midshipmane here, has been doing one thing and one thing only, um, delivering context and perspective about what life is like inside of Bancroft Hall for midshipmen. He does it on the uh podcast medium, uh, which is fantastic. So, number one, Grant, welcome aboard. And number two, can you like lead us

What Plebes Are Doing Right Now

SPEAKER_02 1:44

right off? It's about 110 p.m. Uh, what is happening to the current mids who are uh who are in Bancroft Hall or at various places around the yard?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, absolutely. Uh first of all, thanks everyone for for being here. Um I I I think for me, again, I I appreciate if you've come up and said hello, uh, I just want to say thank you. Um, I feel like each thank you is is one more penance that I have to my mother for the the hell that I put her through uh while I was a midshipman and and after. So a genuine thank you from the bottom of my heart. Right now, um this is kind of this weird feeling. I'll be interested to see. I think some of you, if we were to take a complete spectrum of everyone in here, there may be some folks at this 6 p.m. oath of office ceremony when you see your midshipmen again, they may be ecstatic. They're like, this is this is cool, this is exciting. And then you may have some who are like me, like eyes wide open, like, oh snap, that was only 10 hours. I have six more weeks of this. Like, this is interesting. Um this first segment is really interesting because there's so much movement and there's so much chaos going on that you actually have like a little bit of time. Usually they just like once you've finished processing, they'll put you in your room and they'll teach you, they will, they really they won't. You'll hopefully have a napster or a prior enlisted sailor kind of teaching you how to fold your clothes, fold your socks, and spend the first couple hours just getting your room ready. Um, and so for me that was always funny because no one uh I remember this is a funny story for my eye day, is that when I got into Bancroft Hall, my first detailer was this woman by the name of Elizabeth Smallwood, and she was like the sweetest person on the planet. And even in her detailer mode, she couldn't really channel it. And so, like when I'm walking in, she was my first interaction with a detailer, and I'm like, oh, this isn't this isn't that bad. Like, I don't know what everyone is talking about. She's like, This is your room over here. You can like go over here, you just fold clothes, all this stuff. And I was like, Oh, great. Things easy. And uh the then about an hour after that, I was like, Well, I have to go to the bathroom, and like no one's like told me anything, I'm not aware of anything. So I just like walk out into the hallway. And as you will soon learn, uh, you don't just get a walk out into the hallway. And uh, so I started walking to the hallway, and that's when another detailer, uh, midshipman first class cox, still to this day, the oh my gosh, like that guy uh is burned in my memory. But I just remember him just being like, What are you doing? Right. And so then I was caught in the middle and I had no idea what was going on. And that was my first introduction to Pleep Summer, was just getting absolutely reamed. He's like, Go hit a bulkhead. And I was like, I don't know what that means. Uh like, what are you talking about? Like, I'm like, I'm staring at looking back at him, like, what are you like, what are you talking about? Like, hit a bulkhead. What does that even mean? And so I was just like absolutely getting reamed in that first uh meeting, which then again made my conversation with my mom at the, you know, at the 6 p.m. I was like, uh, this is not good. I don't know what's going on, but this is not good. Um, and so again, really, they're just in this period, they're gonna be folding their clothes, they're gonna be getting stuff ready again. As you saw, they're carrying these massive bags. They have to get their rooms organized, right? Like they are going to take everything that they have and start that process of getting everything put together and put away. So that's what you got over the next couple hours. And that could either either be a really low-key environment or there could be some fun interactions.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Well, Grant, so many parents in here have uh have openly said and come up to us before the recording started, you know, how they prepared their uh their daughter or son uh for today by listening to uh to the Academy Insider podcast. You know, you you put out so much good gouge uh, you know, that helps uh mids get ready or prospective mids get ready. You have a lot of parents in the room right now who are just kind of like going TikTok until they get to the uh soups brief at 3 p.m. and then the oath at 6 p.m. What advice do you have for them, you know, in in this immediate couple of days? You know, I mean, tonight's gonna be emotional, but then after that, you know, from everywhere, from when's the next time you expect to hear, like when's the next phone call? Like what should parents now expect in order to kind of cope with maybe that that feeling of being a helicopter parent? I'm not looking at you, Jason Salada, at all, not remotely. I don't think you're a helicopter parent, just a teeny bit of a drone parent, no big deal.

Parent Expectations And The First Call

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Um the the the biggest thing in this world is as best as you can, just realize that they've just entered, taken their first step to embark on probably the best life decision that they could have possibly made. And I know it's difficult to have that emotional attachment of someone that you've raised for 18 years, like this is your baby. And you know, my mom would always say, she would always reiterate to me, again, in reflection on the Naval Academy, is she would she would say, you can only be as happy as your unhappiest child. And I know that's really difficult because you may see your son or daughter be unhappy during plebe summer. My goal for you and my goal with Academy Insider is just to continue to reiterate that, like, that is the point. And I want you to be happy that they are unhappy in this case, right? Because what they are doing is they are going through this process that is going to develop them into the young man or the young woman who is going to be ready to go out into the fleet as a 22 or 23-year-old and take care of other human beings. And they have entered into a life that has purpose. They have entered into a career path that will give them mission and they will live a true life of fulfillment. And in order to arrive at that step, they're going to have to go through hard times. Like you have created an incredible environment, an incredible bubble, an incredible world to prepare them to arrive at this spot. Now you just have to do your best to trust that the institution is going to do what they do to take them to that next step. And so, as best as you can do that, like that is always my goal and my reiter reiteration is that they are in the greatest place in the world to go from being an incredible young person, an incredible child, to becoming an adult. And having that awareness is just gonna hopefully allow you to realize this, yes, you you can't be emotional. You should be emotional. This is an emotional time, but that every emotion is worth it and that you have done an unbelievable job to deliver them to this point, and you will continue to get the opportunity to advise them, to consult with them. They are going to have tough times and they're still gonna look to mom and dad for advice, right? And like that's where you get to be a part of this world and along the journey with them.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

When does the uh when does the first phone call take place? Like, or I I I have no idea. Did they do they even know? Yeah, they're probably all aware. Again, these have been published July? 11 July. 11 July July. You heard it here on the Sing Second podcast. We didn't get it from anyone else. We already had this intel 11 July. Well, Grant, I'm gonna ask our other two guests the very same question, so be ready for it, Isaac and and Jason.

The Mental Shift Through Plebe Summer

SPEAKER_02 8:42

But for you, you know, how you you you mentioned like you came out, you know, right before oath of office, and you were like, I don't know, this is not gonna, I don't know if this is gonna work out. This is uh, yeah, this is tough. How did you then change from that day to the end of plebe summer when reform took place? What was the biggest, I don't know, indicator of change? What was the biggest thing that changed in your mind or your psyche or in your confidence between late June of 2013 to August of 2013 when you completed your own plebe summer?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah. Um this might not be the most comforting answer for parents, so I apologize in advance. Um I I felt like I was just not the same person. And I think, you know, we talk about plebe summer from a perspective of oh, the first set they break you down, then second set they build you back up. Um look for so for some people out there that may be the case. For me, I was just completely broken down. Um and I remember like my sister kind of having a conversation um with my parents, and it was relayed to me after the fact, she's like, Grant feels like like a robot, like the the grant that we knew is not there anymore. And um I I like I I share that story for the sole purpose of just a reminder is if you just take a look at the six-week snapshot of Plebe Summer, you're not gonna see the journey of four years in six weeks, right? Like this is this is just the first step. This is just the breaking down of the habits of being a normal kid, of being a civilian, of just being a person. And in order to build new habits, you have to break down the old ones. Like that is that is plebe summer. It is breaking down what you knew to set the foundation upon which you will grow and you will learn and you will develop. And so if they come out in that first weekend and you're like, something feels off or something feels weird or something feels wrong or different, it's not wrong or different. It's just part of the process. I again, I silly athletes, and I know we have the tennis coaches here. Like, I love to make the analogy of like an elite athlete training and working out. If you work out and you're not actually fatigued, you're not actually tired, your body is not actually hurting, you are not pushing your point to failure, you're not getting stronger. You are not getting faster, you're not getting more resilient. And if you want to win, if you want to train to compete and grow, like you are going to have to push yourself to a point of being wildly uncomfortable and a point that you no longer feel like yourself. And and for me, that was like the reality of plebe summer, right? Is like I got broken down and I wanted to quit when I was down, versus realizing that this is again just one small snapshot, one sol segment in what will be an incredible journey of four years.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

I was talking to a parent before we uh started recording that the great thing about plebe summer, and I've been through my own plebe summer, um, you know, the the great thing about it is that it gets you very used to failure. And so for so many of these students, uh that they've been the BMOCs, they've been the valedictorians, they've been the 4.0 students, and and now the the real benefit of of today and this summer is getting you used to failing, you know, and as Jack Schofield, my dad, always used to say, like, hey, when the ball goes between your legs for an air at third base, the first thing that you should be thinking about and praying for is for the next ball to be hit to you at third base. And that's what the U.S. Naval Academy teaches you to hear about some of those habits that are gonna get broken down in Leo Salada's life from those mean streets of Coronado, California. We're gonna be joined by uh Jason Solata here uh from the great class of 1994. A lot of people might not know this, but Jason, uh world-class athlete here, uh recruited to play water polo. Uh class of 94, also has a brother, Stevie, from the great class of 97, and his son, Leo, was dropped off this morning at 0600. So, first things first, Jason, thank you so much for joining the pod today. Um, and welcome to your lovely wife, Tisha. Jason was a former naval uh Navy PAO, uh rose to the rank of captain, retired not too long ago, um, and now living in California. Welcome back to Annapolis, Jason, a friend of mine. Uh, first things first, you know, it what emotions did you have right at 60600 as your son was walking away from you in that line going into alumni hall?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Well, thank you very much. Excuse me, Grant, I'm gonna thank you so you get another one in your book uh because we do adore the work you do. But I'm great, grateful to being here today. Um it's yeah, the emotions I wasn't was not expecting this. And I did all this, right? And uh and my wife is cool as a cucumber and I'm upside down. But I know that every one of these young men and women is gonna be okay and they're gonna make it through, to include my own son. But it is not it's not a joke, you know, it's not a joke. So um we'll look forward to seeing him off tonight. And I know that all the parents that are here will feel the exact same way, but this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I I it it's a it's something between a music fest and like a a Middle Eastern bazaar. I mean, there is there is more going on and and credit to the leadership at the Naval Academy and the business. Oh my god, the midshipman business folks, I mean, really, really, really a top-tier event. So I wanted to take a second to say that uh because as a parent, I'm grateful for that. Um thank you.

Leadership Under Pressure And Resilience

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Well, Jason, yeah, you uh I meant made mention before that you you know served a long career in the Navy and you obviously relied upon your your leadership abilities um you know to to rise to those ranks and and to succeed the way that you have what we like to call this place not just you know a small engineering school on the banks of the Severn River. It's not just the number one ranked liberal arts college and U.S. News and World Report. This place is where you do leadership. Let's just break it down to brass tacks. What leadership is being learned right now on day one? And and talk to me about the progression of leadership uh that you learn over the course of your years here at the Naval Academy and how it benefited you as a naval officer.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Well, the clear word that comes to my mind is service, right? So it's servant leadership. And Grant, I love that you mentioned your mom because of course we all are are here and adore our moms and our dads. But um, my mom handed me when I got they they dropped me off at LAX in 1990, and I flew here by myself and just got in the suck and it started. But um, she handed me, if you remember back in the 1900s, Gary Larson and the far side. There was like these calendars that you would get with these little kind of like maybe three by three calendars. She hands me this leaflet from the calendar, and it's all of these penguins, and there's just one penguin popping up over everybody, kind of going like, I gotta be me, you know, and like and and I felt that like you know, she knew what what I was coming here, you know, that I was gonna need to be pushed right back down into that pot of penguins. And that's what sleep summer did to me. Um, and I think that once you decided that you were part of a team and that your service is team related, whether it's whether you're playing a sport, whether you're in a company, whether you're out in uh on an aircraft carrier, that team and that service was the the lesson that I learned. And that benefited my leadership for 30 years.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Grant.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah, for for me, I think it's just this continued trend. And I I love the the service, right? I again I just I I will constantly on the podcast, if you ever hear me talk, is just talk about the fact that like your responsibility as a junior officer the moment you graduate is to be of service to your sailors and your Marines. Um for me, though I think kind of like my biggest takeaway, the thing that I'm most grateful for that I've taken into to leadership from the academy is the idea of um what it taught me was to never make a permanent decision based on temporary emotion. This is a phrase that I use over and over and over again. But the idea of waiting one more day when things are rough, the idea of when you are at an emotionally volatile state, when you are uncomfortable, when you are sad, when you are frustrated, when you are homesick, the ability to um separate yourself from that situation, allow the storm to settle, to regain composure, and then build a plan that will allow you to successfully move forward and be productive and be helpful. Um, that's been the greatest thing. Because, you know, I think um even recently in my life, for those of you again who have been kind of following my story, I think I mentioned it on one episode. Um, but my wife is a Naval Academy graduate. Uh my wife is classed to 2019 and she's a helicopter pilot. Um, and back in October of last year, October 2025, uh about month eight of deployment on the USS Nimitz, um, she was the helicopter aircraft commander um of her MH 60 Romeo uh that crashed into it crashed into the South China Sea. And um, you know, I I remember just being woken up at about 3 a.m. with a phone call from her commanding officer that uh, you know, I may see something on the news of a helicopter crash and uh that it was Dominique in the in the aircraft. And um it's still to this day, like it's very tough and it's very emotional, but I just think it's the freaking reality of life that like hard things are gonna happen. That like life never gets easier. Like we just get better at handling hard moments and overcoming hard moments. And like that's what I want to let you know about your sons and daughters and what they're about to go through. Is it's gonna prepare them to be an incredible husband or wife, it's gonna prepare them to be an incredible like father or mother, it's gonna prepare them to be a freaking warrior with their partner and their family and life. Um, you know, like just working with with Dominique as we as we go through this and we figure this out and we do all this stuff, it's why I continue. Like, I I thought maybe at a moment when that happened, I would become cynical or like not as appreciative of the Navy and the Naval Academy and what it's done for my life, and that it almost took my wife. Um, but I just couldn't be continued actually more grateful about this experience. And I just continue to reiterate just how special it is because at some point something bad will happen to your sons or daughters, and they are going to be prepared to handle it. They're gonna be prepared to work through it, they're gonna be prepared to do this stuff, they're not gonna have the answer, but they're gonna have the foundation that provides them the ability to do it. And um, and so like that's why I'm grateful for this whole experience.

Athletics Recruiting And Finding A Path

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Well, Jason, you know, one one nugget of your experience with your son and your family, you know, was was navigating the athletic portion of this. And yeah, I was just talking to Mr. Bartley back here, whose son is a recruited football player from Austin, and and a lot of parents in here have have kids who were you know athletes. If if you if have heard the athletic director say before, if you haven't, I'll say it for him. 36 percent of the students, 36 uh percent of the brigade of midshipmen play D1 varsity athletics as part of the 36 D1 sports uh here at the Naval Academy. Um, yeah, the other school that has 36 D1 varsity sports, Ohio State. 55,000 people go to Ohio State, 4,400 people go to the U.S. Naval Academy. I think the number is something like half. Half of the female midshipmen at the Naval Academy play D1 athletics. What other school can say that? But but as you navigated that journey, Jason, with Leo, he was a hell of a uh lacrosse player, and and don't let Jason pull the wool over you. He's not a lax bro. He he grew up here and and survived Coach Mike Schofield and a great water polo program that routinely went to the NCAAs with Jason being the leader of that team. But walk me through, because I I know a lot of parents in here, uh not only today, but uh listening when we released this tonight, went through that kind of athletic journey. Um, you know, how how did you do it from going from trying to get Leo noticed by coaches to trying to get him into the Naval Academy? This is it it's an art that that not a lot of people know how to navigate sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Well, first I want to uh take I have to take a minute just for real quick to to thank. I always do it. Um, you know, Mike Schofield, water polo coach here for a storied amount of time, you know, he put my name on a piece of paper. I I feel like I earned it, but he did put my name on a piece of paper that changed my life, so I thank him any time, any chance I get a chance to do that. But looking at just again, we'll use Leo as an example, right? So he was a five played five sports in high school, excelled at all of them, was one of those kids. And it's like that is repeated in every face I look at today, uh, walking across the yard. These are all Americans. These are athletes all in their own right. So that crop of folks that are recruited to play here are very special. And the thing about it is so Leo, uh, a West Coast kid playing what is predominantly now it's growing across a national sport, but it's a middle and the hotbed is a Long Island and in these places. So my wife Disha has spent what the last three summers, two months playing lacrosse and whatever that hell on earth Delaware place is and where they play at this big field. Um but anyway, Leo uh was going to another service academy as a recruited lacrosse player. And three weeks ago, he got an email from the Naval Academy. He was on the wait list, and they said, You would you like to come? And it took him all about seven seconds to say, I'm not gonna go play lacrosse at this other academy. I'm gonna go to Navy. And um what I it what's a testimony to this place and the kind of culture that we have here is the coach, Joe Ampala, the lacrosse coach here, who didn't recruit Leo, but did tell Leo a couple years ago that like if you get in, I'll give you a tryout. And three weeks ago, Leo texted him and he said, bring your stuff. You know, so like it's up to Leo to make a very, very competitive team, and who knows what ends up happening. But that's the kind of culture you have around here. And if it doesn't work out, like there are a gazillion things you can do. You know, I met a a a gal that I know who's the pickleball coach here at the Naval Academy, which is something I didn't I mean, yeah, amazing. Jensen Summer, shout out. But uh, but the I'm that's to answer your question. I'm sorry, because um I I obviously think every kid that gets in here is a superstar, you know, and no matter what they end up doing, going back to Grant's point, what they come out, like how they come out, is it's all formed in a crucible, whether it's on the field of friendly strife, right, or if it's in the hall or anywhere, it's all a crucible and it's only gonna make them stronger. So I love it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Well, uh, Jason, last question from me, unless Grant uh has anything for you. You know, you you have now completed a cycle. You you went through um, you know, as as a plebe yourself. Uh you watched as your brother came in uh behind you, and and now you have dropped your son off. If you could encapsulate the emotions, encapsulate the feelings, and and then kind of deliver it from the standpoint of what the Naval Academy has meant to your life, a lot of these parents are are are sitting on the precipice of their children going out and having a lifelong lottery ticket, as I like to call it, the Naval Academy Network. Now that you've seen it from so many angles, what are your thoughts going out?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Well, my connection with excuse me, my connection with the Naval Academy ebbed and flowed through my career, right? I I wasn't here every weekend going to football games. I mean, I I kind of was radio silent for a lot of a lot of that time, but kind of dancing back into it now and seeing what's going on with the leadership that the soup is bringing to the academy, the feel around the yard, like that is a completely different world than it was when I was here, you know, 30 years ago. Um and that to me is uh it's laden in hope. I have a lot of hope for these for these young men and women. I have a lot of hope for the future of the Naval Academy, and I'm really looking forward to you know to seeing how my own son uh dances with the Naval Academy into his career and his his life and his family. So that really is how I feel. And I I'm prideful, I'm very, very full of pride uh that I came here. And that hasn't always, I mean, I don't want to make it that hasn't always been the case when I went to my first ship. I didn't always like bring my ring around, you know, like um, but but the day after my son got an appointment, I was like, hey Tisha, have you seen my ring? So thank you for the opportunity to be with you guys today. I know you have some other great guests.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Well, thank you, uh Jason Salada. Uh thank you for your service. Uh 30 years uh retiring as a Navy captain, member of the class in 1994, and now a Naval Academy parent. And uh, if I can say so, someone else who walked in uh fashionably late uh is the director of our parent programs uh at the uh Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation.

Hope And Pride Across Generations

SPEAKER_02 26:39

If you can't see her, she's holding up an Aperol Spritz right here in front of the speaker. Empty. I mean, get the Aperol Spritz going for her, Tom. Um yeah, Lori Coogan, uh Naval Academy uh spouse and uh director of our parent programs has so many good uh resources for you parents. What we're gonna do um throughout the summer and throughout your uh midshipman's time here, particularly the plebe parent photo program. If you just have to see pictures of your child, which is not me, but uh probably my wife, um yeah, uh Lori runs that and a great many other programs. So please find Lori here uh before uh the end of this podcast. And if you buy her an Aperol Spritz, she'll probably be very happy about it.

Alumni Support And Staying Connected

SPEAKER_02 27:27

So, Isaac Phillips, you are up. So um a member of our team here at the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation is Isaac Phillips. Uh, you know, deals with all of our shared interest groups, our recent alums. Uh, he himself, a very recent alum from the great class of 2019. Isaac was his class president uh and now working here at the alumni association and foundation. And and you know, we're looking for these different voices, right, Isaac and yours. You've been ducking the podcast for a long time. We've had you, you know, a little bit, but um, you know, but if you can, you know, talk. Oh, yes, an Aperol Spritz. I mean, who likes the taste of that? That put your hand down, Jason. That's horrible. That is horrible. Um, but Isaac, if you can, you know, uh talk a little bit more about what your job here is at the Alumni Association and Foundation and what we're doing to try to make parents and mids feel more connected to the important missions that we perform.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, John. Thanks for having me. Uh for everyone uh here, thanks for joining us. I'm uh Isaac Phillips, class of 19. I was actually Grant's underclassman. It was a great time over in 26 company being Rough Riders together. No, we had a great time. And uh for anybody out there who's wondering, my favorite drink is that Yamazaki 12 year if you're uh feeling generous like you were with Lori. There you go. There you go. No, I'm I'm happy to bring my expertise. I uh so I work with the Alumni Association, engaging our recent graduates. And the way that I do that is by doing some research, giving them calls, seeing, hey, what is it you're interested in? What do you want to see? And the resounding uh answer is hey, we want to see what the current midshipmen are doing. What is I Day like for them? Uh, what has changed since we've been there? And I'm curious about that too. So it's been good to hear, Grant, and it's been good to hear uh uh and see what's been going on on the yard. Aside from helping out our recent graduates stay connected, I work with our chapters and I work a lot with our shared interest groups, which are some great ways for our alumni, for our uh young graduates really to stay connected to the community. And uh it's been a pleasure working with them. Uh so happy to bring my perspective here.

unknown 29:32

Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Well, you know, let's hear the foundational elements of the story. Everyone has their I Day, you know, their I Day story. It's like Sean Hayes asking about, you know, uh theater nightmare stories on the Smartless podcast. But what was your I Day story? What was your experience? Did you come in confident? Did you come in afraid? And and how did those emotions ebb and flow throughout your day, which was not too long ago, 2015?

SPEAKER_03 29:58

I I'll be honest with you, it was uh not too bad for myself. So I went through naps twice for um those who had a kid who went through naps. Uh, you know that it prepares you academically, physically, uh even morally to get on the same page as where they're going to be uh here in a few days with the other midshipmen, right? They kind of got that head start to get them prepared for the Naval Academy. And so that gave me a great advantage. I got into it uh into pleep summer, and I, truth be told, was just ready to go. My report time was 12 p.m. and I uh decided that, hey, uh 7 a.m. I'm kind of bored, I don't have much else to do. I'm ready to get this thing on the road. And so I reported in and said, Hey, just please take me. Uh and I can't remember, it was one of uh Grant's classmates, uh class of 2017, who said, Are you sure or you want to get in and do this? But you don't want like five more hours of freedom or you know I was good, and you know, some of your some of your kids may be the same way where hey, they're feeling more confident than you might feel yourself, but uh I just encourage you to lean into that and to encourage them even further because that confidence will carry them a long way uh so long as they're willing to still learn and to grow. And and I I did exactly that, right? I I tried to have uh a teachable attitude as I got into there despite having gone through uh uh naps, but it it it really helped to listen to my upperclassmen and to see my fellow classmates really struggling through the process and to try and help them uh and even struggle alongside them in many parts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

So I'm gonna kick it over to Grant here for a couple of questions. But you know, I I I like to say that even as a recent alum, I didn't look uh for those of you who don't know, I didn't go to the Naval Academy, I went to Villanova. Uh, we are famous for the Pope and the New York Knicks. In case you're uh in case you're wondering, let's just break it down to brass tacks, ladies and gentlemen. Um, you know, and we have a pretty good ROTC department. So uh, you know, but I never I never you know really expected anything out of my alumni association as a recent alum, as a current, you know, older alum in my 50s, you know, and this is a different dynamic here. It's a very different dynamic at the Naval Academy where you know alums and parents uh you know feel like this is becoming more of a resource, and that's us doing our job right, you know. So if you can talk a little bit about the totality of programs, some of this falls into Lori's world or Nancy's world, but you know, we do so much, and and I just don't think enough people know about it. And it's like free like coupons, you know, that you can use to make your life easier, and and you know, people just aren't picking them up. So if you can, yeah, you know, try to talk about the great things that you do and your colleagues do.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Absolutely. I mean, oh yeah, no, but you're gonna it's more than just uh you know free coupons, like hey, we are uh standing up so much support for our community and for our midshipmen, for our parents. I mean, I I if I could put it into two words that we're really trying to what we're trying to build, it's a supportive community, right? We're trying to build these chapters, these parent clubs, these shared interest groups where our alumni feel connected, like they feel like they belong. Our parents feel like, hey, I have a fellow parent I can talk to. Heck, they might be my neighbor. I just have to find out by going on to uh I'll make the plug, onto my USANA, our website, where we just try and keep them all connected under one roof. Uh, and and you will find so much connection there. You will find that, hey, there are other parents who are struggling through the same questions as you. There are uh alumni out there in uh you know Wisconsin who are like, hey, where's everybody else at? I need to find some kind of community. And so uh really the programs that we're uh that we're working on are to build that community, to say, hey, there are other alumni, parents, friends out there who are really ready to support you. And I I know Grant's seen it, I know uh you've seen it, John, but it is just it's a great thing when the community really comes together and says, Hey, you graduated from the Naval Academy, you even step foot there, you raise your right hand, you are one of us, we're here for you.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Grant.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Yeah, I think the uh the big thing that's special about the Naval Academy is you truly feel like you're part of a community, like you're part of a tribe. And uh the one thing that I would encourage for parents as well, and for you know, the future midshipmen as they go through it, is that the network is only as strong as what you pour into it. Um and even though that this like network is incredible, um clo closed mouths don't get fed. And uh you you have to pour into the experience to kind of see the return on that as well. Um and so like that's that's my thing is that when we have a shared naval academy background, what it doesn't mean is that you are automatically gonna get the job or get the thing. What it means is that you will get 15 minutes on somebody's calendar who also went to the Naval Academy, right? Like if I reach out to someone and we have a shared background, they will make time for us to have a conversation. What you do with that time is now on you and your own prerogative to leverage that and turn that into things again. What it isn't is a guarantee of things. What it is is a door opener, and you will open all of the doors. Um you just need to then walk through the door, take advantage of it, and and and build the house, right? And so uh with to me, that's been the most powerful, incredible thing is that there's a desire to help, and if you pour into the experience, you will see it.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

So Isaac, as you um, as you have now progressed both in and out of uniform as a midshipman, as a leader, a volunteer leader for your class, um, you know, same question I asked Jason. You know, what what what nuggets started getting embedded in you here on day one or the first weekend, or maybe, you know, by the time you saw the fireworks on July 4th and maybe had some hope again, you know, only to have it dashed the next morning because PEP was going on. Um, you know, from you know from late June to mid-August, how did you change? You know, what was your perspective and and and you know, how how much do you want to share about that?

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

So personally for myself, like I said, I came in thinking I was prepared, but I'll still say coachable. I'll try and learn as much as I can. And I've got to say, there was still so much to learn, right? You may go to NASA, you may go to foundation school and think, all right, I've got this down. There will always be something more for you to learn. And so going through plebe summer, uh, I really I thought the physical aspect, all right, this is all right, this is good. Like I'm used to this stuff. They taught us this, I am prepared. I may have been part of submarine squadron, six, you know, are uh non-swimmers for PE, but hey, that's all right. I learned and I grew from that. And so uh really the biggest thing I took away was not swim class, but it was actually uh really how to be, as mentioned earlier, I mean that servant leader. When you see your classmates struggling, when you see them having a tough time, uh, you this place teaches you to feel more than empathy for them, right? It teaches you this connection, this bond that says, this is my teammate, it I am responsible for them. And so I I loved that I walked away from that. In fact, I love that that grew in me not just during Plebe Summer, but for the full four years. And I really took that uh to be a serious aspect of my life throughout the time in the hall. I realized, hey, I'm part of this great community now, I'm part of this great class. Let me go talk to this person who I haven't met yet. Let me go see who this person who's amazing at physics is and see if they can give me some of their wisdom. And so, but just the idea of not only borrowing from them, but also saying, hey, who needs help right now? Who does not know how to make a rack or whatever I'm an expert at? Uh, and how can I help them out? So servant leadership, but also just that sense of pulling from my classmates and seeing what kind of strength I can gather from them. Uh, I pulled that and that that just that really taught me so much. And I'll also make a plug uh for the class of 2017 and 2016. I mean, they were excellent leaders. Like it was great to learn from them to see, hey, uh, here is what their expectations are, and even to watch them grow just a little bit as we went through the years was pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Yeah, that's my one question is uh who who was your favorite detailer? Who are your favorite detailers? What did the what did the class of 2017 do really well in your development as a young man? This is easy for me. All right.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

So sorry, Grant, you were not my favorite detailer, but you remember this guy. Uh favorite detailer by far, and it's for a damn good reason. Was uh was first class Blanchard. Yeah. Yeah, you remember the guy. You remember him, he's my best friend. Oh, yeah. So we had a first class, super motivated, uh, a hard there uh go-getter, right? This guy had an amazing attitude. First class Blanchard. If he's out there listening to this, I have huge respect for him. Uh it was not just for the leadership that he gave, but the fact that he remained a person of character throughout every moment that I saw him. It was not just when he was in the hallway, it was not just when he was teaching us, it was when he was going through tough times and we could see it as underclassmen, and we were thinking, you know, what is this? You know, how can we help out? And so uh being able to see our first class go through tough times, still be a leader, still keep that consistent character. I that that wowed me. I was surprised. I thought I saw this guy's life get flipped upside down and saw the resilience that he still carried through. And I thought, wow, I need to grow to be like that. That is the goal.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Yeah. And that's not a persona, that's who he is. It is. Um, for those of you who haven't listened to the the episode about what what is commonly dubbed as the golden handshake here in Annapolis, that is Christian Blanchard. That is who we just talked about, the guest on that episode. I encourage you to go listen to it because he kind of tells his story, and I think you'll glean uh everything that Isaac just said about him. He's an incredible guy.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Well, I'll use that as a plug to for all the parents in the room, for all the parents listening on this podcast, I'll use it as a plug to stay

Tools For Parents And Key Dates

SPEAKER_02 39:16

informed. And the best uh medium that we use to stay informed uh or to keep our parents and and alums informed is our daily shipmate newsletter. Uh right back here, Emily Lute on uh my staff runs what I think is the most informative and helpful uh daily news dump that you can have. It's not, you know, it's not a really tough read. It's like a it's like a Twitter feed of highlight things that uh highlight stories impacting the Naval Academy, impacting the Alumni Association and Foundation, impacting other uh uh service academies, and also the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps, the very Department of the Marine Corps um that your Navy and Marine Corps that your sons and daughters will enter in after four years here. So please subscribe to the Daily Shipmate, get on to usna.com, check that out. Uh please check out our plebe parent photo program, or we'll continue. This dedicated staff here will continue to upload photos throughout the summer, uh, you know, and and go from there. What's out, uh Lori? And uh what date is the plebe parent mixer, Lori Coogan? Thursday, August 6th at the Flugal Alumni Center. And again, if you're a parent uh in town, you know, please uh please swing by uh the Flugel Alumni Center. But yeah, Thursday, August 6th from 4 to 6 p.m. It's prior to noon meal or evening meal formation on 6 August before uh uh plead parent weekend. Please swing by the Flugel Alumni Center. Please register. It is going to be so great. We had 200 plus, maybe 300 plus last year, Isaac. It was outrageous. Uh so uh really good opportunity for you guys to stay informed, not only through usna.com or my USNA, but through the parents' clubs in your towns, uh, through our information that Lori runs on our parent website and everything else that we got going on. Please stay informed and follow us on those channels. Grant, uh, it is about yeah, 10 of 2, and these parents are gonna want to start meandering here at around 2 p.m.

Superintendent Brief And Getting To Oath

SPEAKER_02 41:22

to get to alumni hall for the 3 p.m. uh uh briefing from the superintendent. I think you've seen this briefing or at least heard of it. You know, uh Isaac, I know you and I have seen what the soup talks about, but what can parents expect to hear at this briefing and what should they do between now and six p.m. to get ready for the big moment?

SPEAKER_01 41:41

The the soup is gonna just tell you that he's gonna take care of your sons and daughters. Uh taking taking care of uh has a weird connotation in the the context of plebe summer. Um but uh again, I think more than anything, there's a um my family has made a uh a running joke when I was uh plebe uh over getting ready for plebe parents weekend, actually, they went to a parents club event that was hosted at the O Club on the yard, and there was a gentleman by the name of Steve Reinemann who gave uh the address to the Parents Club. Uh if you have not yet been to the Flugel Alumni Center, uh Reinemann is a name that you'll see all over the place in there. Uh he's a very impressive person. And um, you know, obviously, for those of you who know who know my story, I had a rough plea summer and my mom was about ready to yank me out of there over plea parents weekend. Um and yet it was that conversation that Steve Reineman had. He went up and he gave a talk to all the parents. And my mom walked away and she was like, if my son ends up anywhere near that, ends up like that human being, then this is where I want him to be. And so when you go into this conversation with the superintendent, I want you to look at the superintendent, I want you to look at the Commandant, I want you to see how they hold themselves, see the poise in which they talk, the strength in which they portray, and just try and take away the Rheinemann effect and realize that you may be nervous, you may have these things, but you are on the pathway that allows you to arrive to be a person like him or like her and like them. And so, like, that's my takeaway for you. Go there and just appreciate it, soak in the atmosphere uh for my Gen Z folks, soak in the aura, the aura of the event, and uh, and just really appreciate it. Uh, and then after that, just like try and try and chill, man, try and uh decompress, uh, you get a quick 15-minute power nap, whatever it is, to be ready for 6 p.m. This is an exhausting day, a lot of emotions. So um just get ready for for the oath.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

And yeah, you all should feel lucky that unlike years past, it is not a hundred degrees with 95% humidity today. Like, this is an absolutely idyllic scenario for I Day, uh, not typically as hot as it usually is. So uh enjoy the town after the oath. I certainly recommend going up and down Main Street here in Annapolis. You're gonna be coming back a lot. Uh so uh yeah, please you know familiarize yourself with the town haunts. Uh start making plans to come back, not only for uh plead parent weekend, August uh 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, but also take a look at the football schedule. For every home football game, you can expect an alumni association and foundation presence, particularly the first home game of the year, Labor Day weekend, uh, we'll be having a welcome home event or a uh pregame social at the Flugel Alumni Center. You'll get to hear these sweet dulcet tones one more time in a uh pregame podcast when we usually talk to some coaches and some alums uh in town. And that's a big weekend because we'll be inducting four new distinguished graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy on that day or on that weekend. So uh the only the best way to find out about all this is to receive the Daily Shipmate and follow us on our social media channels. Please do that. Isaac Phillips, um, any last words of advice from you before we take

Final Parent Advice And Closing

SPEAKER_02 45:08

this baby out?

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Just one last piece of advice I I'd have to give to all the parents. Uh I'll give a shout out to my parents because they were amazing to me as I went through plebe summer. They constantly told me, stay humble and do the best that you can do. But I will say, my parents were exactly what I needed them to be at every moment in plebe summer. If I was anxious, they were that calm voice. If I was feeling discouraged, they were the one to push me on. But they never showed their own anxiety to me, which I truly do appreciate because I know how tough that is. So uh be the parent that your plebe needs and trust that the process will work for them.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Well, Isaac, thank you so much for your perspective. Grant, thank you so much for coming back. Uh, please listen to the Academy Insider Podcast and track all of our podcasts uh on usna.com. Uh go to the media page and check out the fleet of podcasts that bring you information from sports to alumni stories uh to parent information and everywhere in between. For Jason Salada from the great class in '94, shout out to his great bride, Tisha, for coming. For Isaac Phillips and Grand Premier. I am John Schofield. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you to you, the parents, for being great parents to your kids and congratulations on an amazing day dropping them off for i Day. We will see you next time on the Sing Second podcast. We are, as we like to say, out of the