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The Appalachian mountains, my mountains. The glorious and magnificent work of nature stretches from my home in Kentucky to the most prestigious military academy in the world. Looking out the window on my flight back to Louisville and seeing the incredible mountain range that connects an entire section of our nation made me realize just how special my week had been. I spent the past four days as a delegate to the Russia table for the Student Conference of US Affairs at West Point Military Academy. The purpose of the conference was to essentially bridge the gap between domestic and foreign politics. More importantly, the conference was meant to facilitate discussion between the military and civilian populations. When I was a senior in high school, I received a letter that invited me to apply to West Point. I thought about it for a long time but eventually said, “why would they ever pick me? I am nowhere near qualified enough.” So what did I do? I did not even send in my semi-filled application. My perception of West Point was that it held a whole different spectrum of people. I thought cadets at West Point were exclusively serious and regimented. This notion could not be further from the truth.
Upon arrival, we were assigned to our barracks and met with members of our roundtable. I went into the evening not knowing what to expect. As it turns out, the barracks are very similar to dorms. There are communal bathrooms and everyone is very close. At night, cadets would hang out with each other and venture into one another’s rooms until they had to be back in their own rooms for taps. My roommates were absolutely amazing. We talked about a variety of different topics ranging from serious campus conversations to funny stories from high school. One night, we were talking about West Point and what makes it different from the “typical college experience”. One of my roommates said, “we are like any other university students except we’re under a different set of rules.” They have rituals and favorite spots to eat. There is the same appetite for Chick-fil-a. 'Truth Hurts' is a very popular dance song at the Firstie. Yes, we have different sets of rules and a different dress code, but we are all students nonetheless.
During my time at SCUSA, I met so many cadets from incredibly different backgrounds. There are cadets with military bloodlines, cadets that love the military and wanted to join, and there are cadets that went to West Point because they wanted an unmatched educational experience. Just like civilian students, West Point cadets join for various reasons and everyone’s experiences are what they make of it. There were ranging attitudes about school and campus, but every cadet that I talked with had the same determination to learn. The different perspectives held throughout the conference fostered an incredible environment for productive and genuine conversation. Our roundtable immediately hit it off at dinner and held amazing discussions during the entire conference. The Russia table had 13 civilian delegates, 4 West Point cadets, and 2 co-chairs. All of our conversations flowed naturally and the relationships we made were truly incredible. As there were both civilian and West Point delegates, I came into the conference with the idea that we would have majorly conflicting views. Early into SCUSA, I realized that we agreed on a lot of issues especially pertaining to Russia. Each table had to write a policy paper that was to be presented at the end of our 4 days and the goal of our paper was to protect America’s democratic process, especially relating to Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Not only were we able to come to a concise and effective consensus, but we all worked together to create an informative and entertaining presentation where we acted out a Russian cyber-interference scenario.
During our free time, we explored parts of the campus. Walking around West Point was surreal, to say the least. History was alive in every corner of the Academy. Everywhere you looked was a landmark of some sort, be it the famous George Washington statue or Thayer Hall. On our way to and from the Firstie, we would pass by various statues of Generals like it was a normal, everyday sighting. One of my favorite memories from the conference was when my roundtable toured the academic buildings (guided by our cadets) and ventured into the classrooms and science labs. To this day, I cannot believe I walked the same halls and grounds as Eisenhower and MacArthur. I again had to remind myself that the cadets are still students and have to take classes just like any other university student. However, at West Point, there is a good chance that you are taking classes in the same building that provided educations for some of the world’s greatest leaders.
I came into this conference thinking I would only find a dialogue between the military and civilian populations when talking about our roundtable topic or politics. However, what I came to realize was better than I could have ever asked for. Now I know the purpose of SCUSA was essentially to facilitate conversation between the military and civilian populations in many different aspects of life. Not only did it do this, but it also showed me that the two groups are not that different at all. While we may have a different set of rules and different daily routines, we are all students and are much more connected than merely our political conversations. We all struggle with issues that hit every college campus and are working our way through them. We are all working towards an incredible educational experience and, be it a military or civilian population, we are all striving to make the world a better and safer place.
Isabella Martin is a McConnell Scholar in the Class of 2021. She is studying political science, economics, Russian studies, and international business at the University of Louisville.