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BICENTENNIAL SUPPORT
The introduction to this handbook states that West Point Societies exist to further public understanding and support of the Military Academy by promoting the Academy’s aims, ideals, standards, and achievements. Ultimately, this understanding and support will lead to qualified applicants for the Academy, a Corps of Cadets held in high esteem by the American Public, and finally, a professional and dedicated Officer Corps for the United States Army.
As we approach 2002 and our Bicentennial, the 100-plus West Point Societies offer the Academy a unique opportunity to have our message of Duty, Honor, Country heard throughout the country and around the globe. Therefore, we have established the overall objective of our Society Bicentennial Activities to be the development and strengthening of an awareness of West Point’s contributions to the nation and the world.
In order to accomplish our objective and get our message out, the Alumni Support Office hopes that every Society will participate in some way. Given the size of some of our Societies and their geographic regions, we welcome joint efforts. As of the publication of this handbook, all Societies have appointed a Bicentennial Point-of-Contact. Some of the larger ones have established committees, and in some cases, formal plans have already been drawn up. Information on planned society activities and links to related sites appear on the AOG Bicentennial Web Site.
As a result of a recent Presidents’ Conference and based upon a large number of Society inputs, we are asking each Society to build a Bicentennial Program around the following “Core Elements”:
Involvement with local High Schools — this could range from making short visits to local career counselors to developing honor and leadership programs for the schools.
Local Media Support — early establishment of contacts with local TV, radio, and newspaper offices will aid in getting out the message.
Local Government Contacts — contact with City and State government officials will also be productive. We hope that many Cities and States will declare Founders’ Day 2002 as a special West Point Day.
Founders’ Day Support — the Academy’s Bicentennial Celebration Office will be arranging for television broadcast of the Founder’s Day Celebration from West Point on Saturday, 16 March 2002. All societies will also be invited to send a representative to the Dinner at West Point.
Essay and Engineering Contest Support — West Point will be sponsoring a high school–level academic engineering design contest. It will be conducted on the World Wide Web, and publicity support from societies will be helpful.
West Point Parent Club/ MALO Involvement — All Societies should coordinate plans with regional Parents’ Clubs and MALOs and use whatever support and assistance they might offer.
These “core” activities should be the starting points for each Society in developing a Bicentennial Plan. (This plan and the resultant activities earn Distinguished Society award points.) We fully understand and realize the limitations faced by many Societies because of membership numbers and geography. We hope that some of this can be overcome by combining the efforts of nearby Societies.
In order to aid Socities in conducting their activities, the AOG has funded the production of a Bicentennial Community Outreach Kit for each society. It will contain a host of items useful for developing programs in support of the core elements. The kits will be issued in August 2001.
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