Parents Club: none around here

Dad2020

5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2015
Messages
165
The nearest parents club, according to usna.com, is based in a city about 6 hours, round trip, from our home. It's disappointing to say the least. We were hoping to meet parents from our area who have kids at the academy. Now it seems like there may be very few.
 
Try contacting that club and asking if there is a parents club closer to you. The list on usna.com may not be up-to-date. Or ask your DS/DDs BGO (s/he may know about other appointees in your area). Another alternative is to Skype in to that club's meetings. That way you'll at least meet some people and learn their names so that when you are at USNA for events you can meet them. (Clubs are also a good resource for asking questions about travel issues, what's going on in each class, etc.) Our WP parents club has Skyped in a group of parents that are 3 hrs away during the last 2 meetings.
 
The nearest parents club, according to usna.com, is based in a city about 6 hours, round trip, from our home. It's disappointing to say the least. We were hoping to meet parents from our area who have kids at the academy. Now it seems like there may be very few.

We have the same issue in South Dakota. Our parent club president is on the west side of the state (fortunately, I am too). It's hard to plan get togethers with those from the east side of the state. Six or seven hours is just too far to travel to get together with other parents. There's also no great place to do things in the center of the state.
 
Contact the parents club and they might be able to help you locate some parents nearby and you guys can have your own smaller satillite group. Then maybe every few months take a mini vacation for a meet up with the actual parents group!!
 
Time to start.

Seriously.

If you want to keep informed, and also stay in touch with your plebe, then social media can be a big help.
My DD's husband is deployed in Iraq, and without the occasional Facebook chats with him, I think she would have gone insane.
 
Dad2020, my parents were in the same boat. I have younger siblings and my parents bought a property with a few houses on it when I left for USNA. Even if there was one close, my parents wouldn't have joined. Here is the thing, SAs have existed a long time. Plenty of us went through without social media, parent's groups, FaceTime, cell phones and we all survived just fine. My 1/C year I discovered one of our new Plebes was from my neighboring town. I always checked in on him and provided his parent's phone number to my mom and she called to check in and see if the had questions. That mom then knew of another young man who went to USAFA who graduated with her son. They met about once a month for coffee just to say hi and see if she had any questions about this all. Even though they were USNA, it provided USAFA mom someone who understood and could ask questions. The closest parent's group will keep a roster and should be able to provide some names for those closest to you. You can sort of create your own sub-group.
 
Dad2020, my parents were in the same boat. I have younger siblings and my parents bought a property with a few houses on it when I left for USNA. Even if there was one close, my parents wouldn't have joined. Here is the thing, SAs have existed a long time. Plenty of us went through without social media, parent's groups, FaceTime, cell phones and we all survived just fine. My 1/C year I discovered one of our new Plebes was from my neighboring town. I always checked in on him and provided his parent's phone number to my mom and she called to check in and see if the had questions. That mom then knew of another young man who went to USAFA who graduated with her son. They met about once a month for coffee just to say hi and see if she had any questions about this all. Even though they were USNA, it provided USAFA mom someone who understood and could ask questions. The closest parent's group will keep a roster and should be able to provide some names for those closest to you. You can sort of create your own sub-group.
Sounds like what we are planning to do, so thank you.
 
Trust me you really want to join Facebook--at least for plebe year. Thousands of photos from multiple sources will be posted in many different formats on the web--Facebook is one of those sources. I spent the entire plebe summer "waldo watching" sifting thousands of photos in search for my "Waldo" I found 100's!! Be prepared to do nothing but spend those 6 weeks scanning photos! It is a great past time!
 
No facebook here either. There is a parents e-mail blog that you are usually hooked into near the beginning of Plebe summer. That is what I lived by that first year. Did they look for parents club by state or radius. Might be another States closer to you.
 
I am curious why the anti Facebook? Is it a security thing? Only people that have provided a copy of their child's appointment certificate are allowed on the page. There is extremely valuable information provided from parents
who know, for the particular academy your child is appointed to. Much easier to navigate than this forum.
 
I agree, fifi. I joined Facebook right before my son's plebe summer and I would highly recommend it for any USNA mid parent. So much important information is transferred on those pages and many parent friendships begin with those contacts. Except for occasional football ticket purchases or sales, the e-mail list serve is not very helpful.
 
My DS is a stickler for minimizing his internet footprint or fingerprint or whatever he calls it. He doesn't want his name searchable. He compete is cyber security competitions and it's something he developed as a habit from what he learned. So we agreed.

Started a dummy account with the name Butch Ferguson but it won't let me claim the ladder wells of Bancroft as my home. So sad.
 
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