Bancroft

MaryMom

5-Year Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
21
Quick question... do the parents get to walk their new plebe to Bancroft Hall to see their new room and meet the roommates? Is there anytime to do this after the ceremony. I remember reading somewhere that there are two chances to see their room during their entire stay at USNA.
 
As I understand it, you can see the room at PPW and at 2nd Class Parent's Weekend.

Subject to change by the new Supe/Dant.

Janet
 
Nope! None of that will happen on I-Day. 1st chance you get is PPW and then during 2/C weekend if your MIDN will let you! :eek:

:worship: GO NAVY!
 
Quick question... do the parents get to walk their new plebe to Bancroft Hall to see their new room and meet the roommates? Is there anytime to do this after the ceremony. I remember reading somewhere that there are two chances to see their room during their entire stay at USNA.

Typically one is PPW and the other is what used to be 1/C PW and is now 2/C PW. By commissioning week, the mid has moved out.:smile: Of course, visitation is always at the discretion of the Supe and/or Dant.

You can visit the sample plebe room in Bancroft Hall. It will give you a pretty good idea of what your mid's room will look like.

In terms of meeting roommates, that will also wait until PPW. Your plebe will barely have a chance to meet his/her roommate(s) that first day. After plebe summer, you'll have many opportunities to see your mid's roommate(s).
 
I-Day

I might be a little cynical about I-Day, but in all honesty, once you drop Joey or Sally off at Alumni Hall, you might - stress might - get a glimpse of him/her coming out the back end of the building and getting onto the bus heading for Bancroft Hall after 4 hours.

You might also get to see him/her unloading laundry bags full of issued gear before hitting "red beach" over the Mid Store where they wait in formation while reading Reef Points. You won't see your little darling again until after swearing in in T-Court around 1830(ish) - barring inclement weather.

Then, you get 30-40 mins with them along Stribling Walk for some cookies/lemonade, or whatever you haul in your cooler. One last kiss and hug goodbye, and it's 6 weeks until you get to see him/her again.

We did it two years in a row in '06 and '07, and if it hadn't been for my darling wife - who was not part of my Academy experience as a Mid - I doubt I'd have stayed after dropoff at 6:30 AM. She wanted to see the whole thing. We only live about 2 hours from USNA, BTW. We came for all the Plebe Summer P-rades just to catch a glimpse of the boys.

If you've never been to USNA, it's a nice day to get acquainted, but if you live a long way away, you might just want to wait until PPW. A typical late June/early July day in Crabtown is brutally hot and sticky, so if you're dragging rugrats like we were, it can be a long, whiny, painful day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't feel badly if you can't make it. You really won't see much of the new Mid once you leave her/him at the front door of Alumni Hall.

Of course, I'm not a "mom" either... :)

My two cents' worth
 
I must disagree ... if you can afford it at all ... go to I-Day ... we did last year ... we have no military background ... and this was our eldest going away ... the folks at USNA were terrific during the parent orientation at Alumni Hall ... something that didn't happen during PPW ... they told us so much about what would happen ... and why they were committed to each kid ... really, it helped us feel part of the experience ... which we are ... in our limited but incredibly important supporting role ... your plebe has to do it ... but having you there (even in just letters) to help ... really does make a difference.

In our case too, our plebe was not one who "sailed through" the day. He really, really needed to see us before going in for the duration ...

If you can not afford to go, there are people from local parent's clubs and others who will look out for your inductee ...
I wouldn't have missed it ... even though it took quite a while to pay off ...
 
BTW, MaryMom, your Mid may change roommates after plebe summer (I'm told that varies by company).

My Mid just didn't connect w/ his plebe roommates, but when they changed @ summer's end, was able to live w/ two others who had become friends. The three of them are still together as they enter 1/C year. One is getting married right after Commissioning, and the other two will be co-best men!

So the roommates you want to meet are the ones after plebe summer, which you can probably accomplish @ PPW.
 
We were not permitted to visit rooms during our PPW. Our first and only chance will be in Sep at 2/C parents weekend. I say chance, because that could be changed again.
 
We were not permitted to visit rooms during our PPW.

Well that sucks. Did they give a reason why? :confused:

In my day, Parents had the run of Bancroft Hall for about 4 hours on Saturday morning....
 
Well that sucks. Did they give a reason why? :confused:

You mean we could have asked why? It wasn't on the schedule, therefore, we didn't visit the rooms. I'm sure we would have been told that it was a security measure. We are looking forward to it this year. DS tells us that he has a "huge" room this year. I guess that is one of the perks of moving up in the ranks. It will be interesting to see what "huge" looks like. It is larger than the past ones and he only has one roommate. I'm sure it feels like a palace in comparison. We will see.
 
Silly me. I guess I've been out too long. :redface:

Next thing you know, I'll be daring to question the government! :cool:
 
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't feel badly if you can't make it. You really won't see much of the new Mid once you leave her/him at the front door of Alumni Hall.

Of course, I'm not a "mom" either... :)

My two cents' worth

Ha Ha Ha - you know you weren't going to get away with that! Moms know this is their last opportunity to "mom" for awhile. We "ain't" gonna miss a thing!:smile:
 
I know, I know... :)

That's why I wrote the caveat "I'm not a mom"...

My point is you shouldn't feel like attending I-Day is a necessity, and anyone who's been through it knows that you don't get to walk that walk in Alumni Hall on I-Day with your son/daughter as they become Midshipmen.

You can and should provide all the support you can during the four years at USNA, but you won't always be "there" with them - except perhaps in spirit. It's tough to let go (even for dads), and I think the President of the Class of '08 or '09 said it best in his graduation address - "What's the difference between a USNA mom and a pitbull? The pitbull will eventually let go..." :shake: :yllol:

Don't forget there are a lot of people out here, myself included, who will take care of your kids when they need a place to go to get away from USNA. I think over the past four years, we have had scores of Mids over for weekends, holidays and even weeks at a time between training when going home wasn't feasible or affordable. We've got one of the best networks in the country for taking care of those who live far away, and the bonds are lifelong.

I'll put myself in timeout now... :smile:
 
I might be a little cynical about I-Day, but in all honesty, once you drop Joey or Sally off at Alumni Hall, you might - stress might - get a glimpse of him/her coming out the back end of the building and getting onto the bus heading for Bancroft Hall after 4 hours.

You might also get to see him/her unloading laundry bags full of issued gear before hitting "red beach" over the Mid Store where they wait in formation while reading Reef Points. You won't see your little darling again until after swearing in in T-Court around 1830(ish) - barring inclement weather.

Then, you get 30-40 mins with them along Stribling Walk for some cookies/lemonade, or whatever you haul in your cooler. One last kiss and hug goodbye, and it's 6 weeks until you get to see him/her again.

We did it two years in a row in '06 and '07, and if it hadn't been for my darling wife - who was not part of my Academy experience as a Mid - I doubt I'd have stayed after dropoff at 6:30 AM. She wanted to see the whole thing. We only live about 2 hours from USNA, BTW. We came for all the Plebe Summer P-rades just to catch a glimpse of the boys.

If you've never been to USNA, it's a nice day to get acquainted, but if you live a long way away, you might just want to wait until PPW. A typical late June/early July day in Crabtown is brutally hot and sticky, so if you're dragging rugrats like we were, it can be a long, whiny, painful day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't feel badly if you can't make it. You really won't see much of the new Mid once you leave her/him at the front door of Alumni Hall.

Of course, I'm not a "mom" either... :)

My two cents' worth

Nobody came to my I-Day and I was scarred for life. :smile:

Seriously, though - I agree with you. On a scale from 1-to-10, where 1 is least desirable to attend and 10 is most desirable to attend - Parents Weekend is a 10 and I-Day is only a 3.

If it's convenient and affordable, and you've never seen the Naval Academy before, it's worth the trip. Other than that, your mid will quickly recover from the "trauma" of not seeing you for the allotted 30 minutes that day. There will be many new Plebes who will have nobody there.
 
Couldn't agree more...

My mom dropped me off at Logan Airport on July 7th, 1980 and said, "See you in 6 weeks."

All I remember is a Napster in my company telling me just before swearing-in in Halsey Field House was, "Are your mom and dad here?"

Me: "No."

Him: "Good. When the swearing in is done, get back to your room as fast as you can. The s**t is gonna hit the fan about 20 minutes after the swearing in."

We didn't form up and march back to Bancroft Hall - at least not that year.

So, I ran - literally ran - back to my room up on 5-4 and waited. I sweated, panted and recovered my breath and senses. It was quiet for about 10 minutes. Then, the bells began ringing and the screaming and yelling began.

Ah, memories...

"Welcome back, my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside..." :beer1:
 
My mom dropped me off at Logan Airport on July 7th, 1980 and said, "See you in 6 weeks."

All I remember is a Napster in my company telling me just before swearing-in in Halsey Field House was, "Are your mom and dad here?"

Me: "No."

Him: "Good. When the swearing in is done, get back to your room as fast as you can. The s**t is gonna hit the fan about 20 minutes after the swearing in."

We didn't form up and march back to Bancroft Hall - at least not that year.

So, I ran - literally ran - back to my room up on 5-4 and waited. I sweated, panted and recovered my breath and senses. It was quiet for about 10 minutes. Then, the bells began ringing and the screaming and yelling began.

Ah, memories...

"Welcome back, my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside..." :beer1:

I remember saying goodbye to my parents by the doors that are located between 4th and 6th wings. I went in a little early, simply because my parents wanted to get a head-start on the road and, as a NAPSter myself, I already knew this drill. I entered, cut right, and off to 8-0 I went. The S was already beginning to H the F by then.

Now, when it REALLY got surreal was the day the parents left after PPW. That night, we ate in absolute silence. Not a single rate. Not a single correction. NOTHING.

We went back to the company area, and the lights were out. Dead silence. Waited. Waited. Waited...

BOOM! ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!

We ended up with EVERYTHING, even our MATTRESSES, out in the P-Way before it was over. We were hoarse for three days.

Ah, fun times! :thumb:
 
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