Approximately 300 graduates—the majority from the reunion classes of 1950, 1955, and 1970—marched to Thayer Statue on May 20 to take part in the annual alumni exercises at the Academy. COL (R) Ralph Pinto ’50, the oldest graduate present, placed a wreath at the statue’s base with assistance from CDT Caroline Robinson ’25, First Captain of the Corps of Cadets, to honor “Colonel Thayer, Father of the Military Academy.”
After the ceremony, the graduates lined up on the Plain for the 2025 Distinguished Graduate Award (DGA) medal presentation and Alumni Review. The Honorable Robert McDonald ’75, Chairman of the West Point Association of Graduates, presented DGA medals to five graduates: LTG (R) Dave Ohle ’68, LTC (R) Pete Selleck ’77, LTG (R) Dave Halverson ’79, GEN (R) Joe Votel ’80, and SEC Mark Esper ’86 (Kathy Mederis Widmer ’83 was also named a 2025 Distinguished Graduate, but she was unable to attend the ceremony). The Corps then passed in review to honor this latest group of Distinguished Graduates and all the graduates present on the Plain.
During a luncheon in the Mess Hall, LTG Steve Gilland ’90, the 61st Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, thanked the 2025 Distinguished Graduates for their “continual example of excellence, character, and selfless service to the nation.” Gilland then noted how the alumni exercises and DGA ceremony are part of the larger, weeklong celebration at West Point known as “Grad Week.” “As the outstanding young men and women from the Class of 2025 prepare to graduate and assume the mantel of leadership in our Army,” Gilland said, “what better way to send them off than to have them spend some of their final moments at West Point in the presence of some of the giants of the Long Gray Line.”
