[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 184 (Monday, November 18, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1461-E1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NEW HOME, NEW BYLAWS, SAME MISSION: WPAOG HISTORY PART IV (1996-2019)
SECTION B
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HON. JOHN SHIMKUS
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Monday, November 18, 2019
Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record
Section B of the fourth and final installment of an article by Keith J.
Hamel honoring the 150th Anniversary of the West Point Association of
Graduates:
2009-15: The For Us All Campaign Breaks Records
``In the summer of 2008, the Association and the Academy
began to consider a new comprehensive campaign for West
Point. The campaign, called For Us All: The Campaign for West
Point, officially launched in January 2009. By the time the
campaign ended on December 31, 2015, more than $420 million
had been either pledged or received, well exceeding the
original $350 million campaign goal.
During the For Us All Campaign, WPAOG continued to achieve
new levels of support for the Academy and the Long Gray Line.
The average of total annual donations to West Point/WPAOG
rose to $40.7 million per year, more than 40 percent higher
than the average annual donations during the Bicentennial
Campaign. More impressively, 58 percent of living alumni made
one or more donations. Approximately 50,000 graduates,
families, and friends of West Point participated in the For
Us All Campaign. The priorities for the For Us All Campaign
were divided into five areas. With a goal of $200 million,
the largest category was designated as ``For the Cadets'' and
sought gifts to fund scholarships (from research through
Academic Individual Advanced Development or AIAD
opportunities), endowments (in support of academic
departments, cadet clubs and teams), and Academy Centers
(e.g., the Combating Terrorism Center and the Center for Oral
History).
Individuals and classes also committed gifts to numerous
brick and mortar projects, including the Frederic V. Malek
West Point Visitors Center, the Foley Enners Nathe Lacrosse
Center, the West Point Cemetery Columbarium, and more. But,
as George Gilmore '71, one of the members of the For Us All
Campaign Cabinet said in 2013, ``We will see the effects of
this campaign not in new buildings or new playing fields but
rather in how well prepared our junior officers arrive in the
Army.'' Indeed, in a world of increasing threats to the
nation's security, economic stability, and fundamental
values, producing leaders of character became more important
than ever, and the For Us All Campaign, above all, was
focused on ensuring that the Academy had the resources
available to fully prepare the next generation of leaders for
the Army and the nation.
Since the For Us All Campaign concluded in 2015, WPAOG has
continued to build on gains achieved, increasing donations to
an average of $49 million annually and raising graduate
participation to all-time highs, driven by innovative
initiatives such as the All-Academy Challenge. During this
period, WPAOG has also won the highest awards of recognition
for management practices and transparency from Charity
Navigator (four stars) and GuideStar (Platinum Seal of
Transparency), and the Development team has earned ``Overall
Performance'' and ``Sustained Excellence'' (a five-year award
won by only 16 colleges) in fundraising awards from the
Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), a
3,700-member global professional association focused on
advancing education.
Further Expanding WPAOG Services
WPAOG continued to expand its Alumni Support activities and
services into the new millennium as well. Today, WPAOG
provides services to 82 classes, 141 West Point societies
worldwide, and to more than 53,000 individual graduates.
Since launching in 2011, WPAOG's comprehensive reunion
services have also proved popular with graduates: in 2019,
WPAOG hosted 29 class reunions for more than 14,700 returning
graduates and their guests. The WPAOG Gift Shop has steadily
expanded its unique product line and services to reunion
classes, graduates, cadets and their families, exceeding $1
million in annual sales for the first time in 2005, and
recently achieving $2 million in sales. Profits from the Gift
Shop support our alumni services.
In September 2006, AOG premiered a new award initiative to
engage cadets with the presentation of the inaugural Nininger
Award for Valor at Arms to Major Ryan L. Worthan '97.
Conceived by E. Doug Kenna '45 and funded in perpetuity by
Kenna and his wife Jean, the award is named after First
Lieutenant Alexander ``Sandy'' Nininger '41, who was killed
in action in the Philippines during World War II and
posthumously received the Medal of Honor (the first American
army soldier to be so honored in the war). It is given to a
recent graduate who has displayed heroic action in battle.
Like AOG's Distinguished Graduate Award, the Nininger is an
award for which the recipient is meant to be representative
of a larger body; in this
[[Page E1462]]
case, of ``all West Point-commissioned officers who have
heroically led Soldiers in combat.'' However, unlike the DGA,
which has been historically presented to senior members of
the Long Gray Line, the recipient of the Nininger Award must
be ``a decorated and relatively recent graduate on Active
Duty,'' according to the award's criteria. ``Age is what
makes the Nininger Award special,'' said Captain Anthony
Fuscellaro '05, the 2013 recipient. ``Cadets have an easier
time connecting with the Nininger Award winners because they
could be in their boots soon and see a lot of the same things
they have seen.''
There have been four board chairmen, Ted Stroup '62, Jodie
Glore '69, Larry Jordan '68 and the current chair, Joe
DeFrancisco '65, since the new governance model was adopted
in 2006. These dedicated alumni servants, along with the
WPAOG Board, have provided WPAOG with strong leadership and
oversight that has allowed for a consistent upward trajectory
in its service to both West Point and the Long Gray Line.
Other major initiatives introduced by WPAOG in the last
decade include the Dettre Memorial Assistance Program,
started in 2008 upon a donation from Mrs. Betty Dettre in
honor of her late husband, Major General Rexford H. Dettre
'43JAN, which supports graduate burials at West Point
cemetery; comprehensive reunion support services as
previously mentioned, which debuted in 2011; and the
Rockbound Highland Home Program, which launched in 2017 and
offers personal benefits through its ``Grad Pass,'' ``Grad
Perks,'' and ``Grad Insider Tour'' options so that each
graduate who returns to West Point feels warmly welcomed
back. A year later, the Rockbound Highland Home Program won
two CASE ``Gold'' Awards in the categories of ``Alumni
Relations'' and ``Alumni Relations Events and Affinity
Programs.''
Just recently, WPAOG has unveiled a new, enhanced Career
Services Program, which is designed to equip all West Point
graduates with the confidence to successfully navigate each
phase of their post-military career transition; Grad Link, a
mobile app which expands upon the popular ``Find a Grad''
feature on WPAOG's website to offer the easiest and most
powerful way to network with fellow grads; and Sallyport, a
secure online portal that provides West Point Societies with
three primary services; membership management,
communications, and event management.
Preparing for the Future
Over the course of its 150-year existence, the Association
of Graduates of the United States Military Academy has
evolved into a truly one of a kind organization, one that is
simultaneously an independent alumni association serving
graduates with services and programs, and also a foundation
that solicits and manages funds on behalf of the institution
it supports. At many universities, alumni support is a subset
of a that school's development operation and staffed by
employees of the school. A few are independent organizations
with their own board of directors, but they neither solicit
nor manage money for their alma mater.
The delicate balance between the foundation side of AOG and
its alumni support operations had been an issue of great
concern for Robert Lamb '46, Secretary-Treasurer for AOG
(1970-72) and then its first Executive Vice President (1972-
90) in his 1990 essay ``Two Decades of Change,'' but after
reviewing the last two-plus decades of AOG history it is
clear that the fundraising-fraternal fellowship duality of
WPAOG's evolved nature has proved symbiotic: the more that
bonds between members of the Long Gray Line are strengthened
by WPAOG, the more graduates support their alma mater; and
the more generously graduates give of their time, talent, and
treasure, the more services WPAOG is able to offer to help
make the Long Gray Line the most highly connected alumni body
in the world.
With its new expansion of Alumni Support and communications
to keep graduates connected and engaged, today's WPAOG stands
poised to lead support for both graduates and West Point well
into the 21st century. Or, going back to Anderson's original
principles when he proposed the idea of an Association of
Graduates in 1869 in his letter to Thayer: ``to perfect and
perpetuate this truly national institution'' and ``for the
promotion of social and fraternal intercourse,'' later
resolved in the Association's preliminary meeting in which he
participated.''
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