Bell Ringing 2023

Idk what any of that means, but I saw very happy Midshipman ringing that bell with passion!!

Congrats to the entire class!
 
It used to be a lot more, shall we say, loose, with no required uniforms, lots of drinking, use your imagination. A few years ago, the KP administration put rules in place for bell ringing. The old guard laments the uber control of everything at KP and I see their point. It is still a joyous occasion.
 
kpmom2013 said:
It used to be a lot more, shall we say, loose, with no required uniforms, lots of drinking, use your imagination. A few years ago, the KP administration put rules in place for bell ringing. The old guard laments the uber control of everything at KP and I see their point. It is still a joyous occasion.
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I swear I saw someone drink champagne from a shoe last year. This year I think the two flips were about the most daring and a ukulele being played.
 
The bell ringing ceremony is garbage. It took away what was ours personally after going through 4 yrs of hell. It was the one moment we could acknowledge for ourselves the personal accomplishment and for ourselves only. The helicopter parent age has taken that all away with everything livestreamed, birthday cakes in Delano, Cookie Cafe. Is this a military academy or Club Shangri-La?
 
KPEngnr90 said:
The bell ringing ceremony is garbage. It took away what was ours personally after going through 4 yrs of hell. It was the one moment we could acknowledge for ourselves the personal accomplishment and for ourselves only. The helicopter parent age has taken that all away with everything livestreamed, birthday cakes in Delano, Cookie Cafe. Is this a military academy or Club Shangri-La?
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Not sure I understand your comments; 212 grads seemed to certainly enjoy participating in the ceremony.
 
It is technically a Maritime Academy, not a military academy. And while I agree that birthday cakes in Delano is over the top, Ive never heard of any Mid complaining about cookie cafe, BTW, Cookie cafe was started by the wife of a KP professor, not a parent. And to JohnPak65's point the Mids that rang the bell sure as hell enjoyed it and I doubt they cared whether it was livestreamed or not.
 
CAT5 said:
I doubt they cared whether it was livestreamed or not.
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It's not the livestreaming that most alumni object to, it is the formality and "regimentation" of it. It used to be a celebration and tradition started and maintained entirely by Midshipmen. As KPEngnr90 said it was ours personally. Now that it is a formal event, to many of us, it just isn't the same.

I applaud those 212 shiny new alumni on the accomplishment of both earning their license and graduating/surviving the hardest US Service Academy to graduate from.
 
His comment came across as more of a "stay off my lawn" kinda comment. I think they've done a fairly good job at KP of balancing openness to parents and maintaining a service academy atmosphere. But KP isnt like the other service academy's so I dont think we should expect the same rigidness. There are other changes coming also. In case no one noticed, the Anchopr was not involved in graduation this year and going forward I heard it will be eliminated from the graduation ceremony and done on Friday as part of awards invocation.
 
Alumni in general do not care about the balance of openness to parents and the service academy atmosphere. What we DO care about very deeply are non-alumni in senior positions at the Academy and in Washington DC who appear to show little to no regard for the genesis of our traditions or an interest in maintaining them and the uniqueness of KP associated with them.
 
Well the last supe was an alumni, and much of what your complaining about was instituted by him.
 
Just an FYI, the bell ringing ceremony seems to have existed at least as far back as May 31st 2013. The Regimental Commander at that time issued orders for the ceremony and other activities. At the time James A. Helis was the superintendent. IMO, he was not one of our more stellar superintendents and as best I recall was somewhat adverse to many of our traditions.

BELLRINGING CEREMONY 31 MAY 2013
 
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