What are must see events for parents of West Point first years?

Mlt852 said:
You're probably in a tough spot, because I don't think they finalized the 2020 calendar until spring this year.

I live in California so the journey to West Point is not an easy one. My DS is in 2020 and have had the privilege of attending R-day and A-day, we're looking forward to Parent Weekend this coming weekend, check in with me next week. Both visits are emotional. R-day is a day to walk around in a funk. My DS has the last SSN of 0, so we had to be there a 0 dark 30 (it was tough getting up early, but didn't have to wait in the enormous line). Did our 60 second goodbye and wandered in a haze. Wrote a letter to DS and comforted mama bear. Walked around the incredible campus seeing the sites. Went to swearing in ceremony and endured the rain, swelled with pride watching them march into Washington Hall. A very long day, glad I went, but if you must choose, skip Rday. If you can afford it, stay at the Thayer, we stayed in Montgomery, about 30 min north. It wasn't convenient to go back to the room to wait for the swearing in ceremony.

Unfortunately, I could not afford to attend marchback and stay for the week. Went to A-day and was great experience watching them accepted into the Corps of Cadets. (I couldn't find DS until I reviewed the pictures of his company later at home on my computer.) We were excited to see him, and he was thrilled to see us. We stayed in Fishkill about 30 min north of campus, near some restaurants and a Walmart. Hungout and napped in hotel room. Wife seemed happy to be doing his laundry. Ate and shopped for supplies (and a Keurig) at Walmart. Even went to a minigolf Sat evening. Had to be back by Taps Sat. nite, picked him up Sunday for another day together. So happy we went. DS was happy to be off campus and away from upper classmen. For that reason DON'T stay at the Thayer. DS wanted to be away from campus in general, upper classmen in particular, plus he wanted to shop for school/dorm supplies and there's nothing like that in Highland Falls.

We have splurged for Plebe Parent Weekend in March 2017, making a reservation at the Thayer.

Best of luck to your DS. My DS went to NW Prep in California and really helped him for the academic rigors of the academy. It's a roller coaster and our ride has barely started.
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Thank you for your time and energy to help me and our family make plans. I sent one of my four sons off to boot camp(4 years ago) with very little knowledge of where he was or what he was in for. He was barely 18 and for 4 years and 24 months of them deployed, we seldom knew what his world looked like. Much of his time we were unable to visit. I am choosing to drop my DS, my youngest son for R-day only because if it is possible I want to see where he will be walking, jogging, studying and growing for the next four years and feel the energy of his amazing accomplishment. I laughed out loud when I read
the loving term "mama bear", that is what my family calls me on occasion. My daughter, our youngest is only 11 and LOL as well!

I wish your DS the very best of luck and appreciate your time and effort to assist me and my family through this process.
Hopeful mom of 2021!
 
Back from Parent Weekend and another great experience. It's amazing to watch the transformation of my 2020 in just a few short months, his maturity is growing at exponential rates. I've been fortunate enough to attend R-Day, A-Day, and Parent Weekend. Depending on your situation with finances and vacation time, If you have to miss one, I'd miss R-Day. We got to walk around campus with our plebe Friday and attend one of his classes, we got to go to Arvin and watch a obstacle course demonstration, and see cadets going about their activities. You get to walk around a lot on R-day, but the campus is a ghost town except for areas of cadet activities. Best of luck to your kid. If I can be of any assistance don't hesitate to PM me.
 
Mlt852 said:
Back from Parent Weekend and another great experience. It's amazing to watch the transformation of my 2020 in just a few short months, his maturity is growing at exponential rates. I've been fortunate enough to attend R-Day, A-Day, and Parent Weekend. Depending on your situation with finances and vacation time, If you have to miss one, I'd miss R-Day. We got to walk around campus with our plebe Friday and attend one of his classes, we got to go to Arvin and watch a obstacle course demonstration, and see cadets going about their activities. You get to walk around a lot on R-day, but the campus is a ghost town except for areas of cadet activities. Best of luck to your kid. If I can be of any assistance don't hesitate to PM me.
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Thank you again for the great information, I so appreciate any little scrap. Please continue to add to this thread as you feel pertinent. I would PM(private message?) you however I am not sure what that involves, or how to do it from this forum.

I am a fireman, not very tech savvy.
 
My wife and I attended this Parent Weekend too, and enjoyed it. We also went to Arvin, and actually got to watch our son navigate the obstacles in his military Movement class. It was real cool. We also ran into his Chemistry professor as our son was giving us a tour of his favorite academic building. The professor chatted with us for a half hour, and was great.

We come from the middle of Michigan, and it is an 11 hour plus drive, but so far we have been to R-Day, A-Day, Rice football weekend, Parents Weekend, and one other weekend. We would visit WP even if our son wasn't attending, and will continue even after he graduates. Of course we love seeing our son, and catching up, as we really do not have a lot of communication with him, beyond maybe a brief text or two during an average day, and one phone call a week.

After being there this past weekend, I highly recommend visiting at least once during this time of year. The place is absolutely breathtaking! Honestly, although no one should attend a school for its campus, it would be hard to go elsewhere after being here in late October. I have seen some beautiful places, and there are so many spectacular campuses in this country, but there is no place that touches West Point in terms of combination of natural landscape, architectural, and other pure splendor; not to mention the history.

My wife and I were told by other parents whose kids graduated from WP that time goes by fast, and to take every opportunity to visit whenever we can. We have tried to do that, and so far we have loved every visit.
 
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