[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 184 (Monday, November 18, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1461-E1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 NEW HOME, NEW BYLAWS, SAME MISSION: WPAOG HISTORY PART IV (1996-2019) 
                               SECTION B

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN SHIMKUS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 18, 2019

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record 
Section B of the fourth and final installment of an article by Keith J. 
Hamel honoring the 150th Anniversary of the West Point Association of 
Graduates:


            2009-15: The For Us All Campaign Breaks Records

       ``In the summer of 2008, the Association and the Academy 
     began to consider a new comprehensive campaign for West 
     Point. The campaign, called For Us All: The Campaign for West 
     Point, officially launched in January 2009. By the time the 
     campaign ended on December 31, 2015, more than $420 million 
     had been either pledged or received, well exceeding the 
     original $350 million campaign goal.
       During the For Us All Campaign, WPAOG continued to achieve 
     new levels of support for the Academy and the Long Gray Line. 
     The average of total annual donations to West Point/WPAOG 
     rose to $40.7 million per year, more than 40 percent higher 
     than the average annual donations during the Bicentennial 
     Campaign. More impressively, 58 percent of living alumni made 
     one or more donations. Approximately 50,000 graduates, 
     families, and friends of West Point participated in the For 
     Us All Campaign. The priorities for the For Us All Campaign 
     were divided into five areas. With a goal of $200 million, 
     the largest category was designated as ``For the Cadets'' and 
     sought gifts to fund scholarships (from research through 
     Academic Individual Advanced Development or AIAD 
     opportunities), endowments (in support of academic 
     departments, cadet clubs and teams), and Academy Centers 
     (e.g., the Combating Terrorism Center and the Center for Oral 
     History).
       Individuals and classes also committed gifts to numerous 
     brick and mortar projects, including the Frederic V. Malek 
     West Point Visitors Center, the Foley Enners Nathe Lacrosse 
     Center, the West Point Cemetery Columbarium, and more. But, 
     as George Gilmore '71, one of the members of the For Us All 
     Campaign Cabinet said in 2013, ``We will see the effects of 
     this campaign not in new buildings or new playing fields but 
     rather in how well prepared our junior officers arrive in the 
     Army.'' Indeed, in a world of increasing threats to the 
     nation's security, economic stability, and fundamental 
     values, producing leaders of character became more important 
     than ever, and the For Us All Campaign, above all, was 
     focused on ensuring that the Academy had the resources 
     available to fully prepare the next generation of leaders for 
     the Army and the nation.
       Since the For Us All Campaign concluded in 2015, WPAOG has 
     continued to build on gains achieved, increasing donations to 
     an average of $49 million annually and raising graduate 
     participation to all-time highs, driven by innovative 
     initiatives such as the All-Academy Challenge. During this 
     period, WPAOG has also won the highest awards of recognition 
     for management practices and transparency from Charity 
     Navigator (four stars) and GuideStar (Platinum Seal of 
     Transparency), and the Development team has earned ``Overall 
     Performance'' and ``Sustained Excellence'' (a five-year award 
     won by only 16 colleges) in fundraising awards from the 
     Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), a 
     3,700-member global professional association focused on 
     advancing education.


                    Further Expanding WPAOG Services

       WPAOG continued to expand its Alumni Support activities and 
     services into the new millennium as well. Today, WPAOG 
     provides services to 82 classes, 141 West Point societies 
     worldwide, and to more than 53,000 individual graduates. 
     Since launching in 2011, WPAOG's comprehensive reunion 
     services have also proved popular with graduates: in 2019, 
     WPAOG hosted 29 class reunions for more than 14,700 returning 
     graduates and their guests. The WPAOG Gift Shop has steadily 
     expanded its unique product line and services to reunion 
     classes, graduates, cadets and their families, exceeding $1 
     million in annual sales for the first time in 2005, and 
     recently achieving $2 million in sales. Profits from the Gift 
     Shop support our alumni services.
       In September 2006, AOG premiered a new award initiative to 
     engage cadets with the presentation of the inaugural Nininger 
     Award for Valor at Arms to Major Ryan L. Worthan '97. 
     Conceived by E. Doug Kenna '45 and funded in perpetuity by 
     Kenna and his wife Jean, the award is named after First 
     Lieutenant Alexander ``Sandy'' Nininger '41, who was killed 
     in action in the Philippines during World War II and 
     posthumously received the Medal of Honor (the first American 
     army soldier to be so honored in the war). It is given to a 
     recent graduate who has displayed heroic action in battle. 
     Like AOG's Distinguished Graduate Award, the Nininger is an 
     award for which the recipient is meant to be representative 
     of a larger body; in this

[[Page E1462]]

     case, of ``all West Point-commissioned officers who have 
     heroically led Soldiers in combat.'' However, unlike the DGA, 
     which has been historically presented to senior members of 
     the Long Gray Line, the recipient of the Nininger Award must 
     be ``a decorated and relatively recent graduate on Active 
     Duty,'' according to the award's criteria. ``Age is what 
     makes the Nininger Award special,'' said Captain Anthony 
     Fuscellaro '05, the 2013 recipient. ``Cadets have an easier 
     time connecting with the Nininger Award winners because they 
     could be in their boots soon and see a lot of the same things 
     they have seen.''
       There have been four board chairmen, Ted Stroup '62, Jodie 
     Glore '69, Larry Jordan '68 and the current chair, Joe 
     DeFrancisco '65, since the new governance model was adopted 
     in 2006. These dedicated alumni servants, along with the 
     WPAOG Board, have provided WPAOG with strong leadership and 
     oversight that has allowed for a consistent upward trajectory 
     in its service to both West Point and the Long Gray Line. 
     Other major initiatives introduced by WPAOG in the last 
     decade include the Dettre Memorial Assistance Program, 
     started in 2008 upon a donation from Mrs. Betty Dettre in 
     honor of her late husband, Major General Rexford H. Dettre 
     '43JAN, which supports graduate burials at West Point 
     cemetery; comprehensive reunion support services as 
     previously mentioned, which debuted in 2011; and the 
     Rockbound Highland Home Program, which launched in 2017 and 
     offers personal benefits through its ``Grad Pass,'' ``Grad 
     Perks,'' and ``Grad Insider Tour'' options so that each 
     graduate who returns to West Point feels warmly welcomed 
     back. A year later, the Rockbound Highland Home Program won 
     two CASE ``Gold'' Awards in the categories of ``Alumni 
     Relations'' and ``Alumni Relations Events and Affinity 
     Programs.''
       Just recently, WPAOG has unveiled a new, enhanced Career 
     Services Program, which is designed to equip all West Point 
     graduates with the confidence to successfully navigate each 
     phase of their post-military career transition; Grad Link, a 
     mobile app which expands upon the popular ``Find a Grad'' 
     feature on WPAOG's website to offer the easiest and most 
     powerful way to network with fellow grads; and Sallyport, a 
     secure online portal that provides West Point Societies with 
     three primary services; membership management, 
     communications, and event management.


                        Preparing for the Future

       Over the course of its 150-year existence, the Association 
     of Graduates of the United States Military Academy has 
     evolved into a truly one of a kind organization, one that is 
     simultaneously an independent alumni association serving 
     graduates with services and programs, and also a foundation 
     that solicits and manages funds on behalf of the institution 
     it supports. At many universities, alumni support is a subset 
     of a that school's development operation and staffed by 
     employees of the school. A few are independent organizations 
     with their own board of directors, but they neither solicit 
     nor manage money for their alma mater.
       The delicate balance between the foundation side of AOG and 
     its alumni support operations had been an issue of great 
     concern for Robert Lamb '46, Secretary-Treasurer for AOG 
     (1970-72) and then its first Executive Vice President (1972-
     90) in his 1990 essay ``Two Decades of Change,'' but after 
     reviewing the last two-plus decades of AOG history it is 
     clear that the fundraising-fraternal fellowship duality of 
     WPAOG's evolved nature has proved symbiotic: the more that 
     bonds between members of the Long Gray Line are strengthened 
     by WPAOG, the more graduates support their alma mater; and 
     the more generously graduates give of their time, talent, and 
     treasure, the more services WPAOG is able to offer to help 
     make the Long Gray Line the most highly connected alumni body 
     in the world.
       With its new expansion of Alumni Support and communications 
     to keep graduates connected and engaged, today's WPAOG stands 
     poised to lead support for both graduates and West Point well 
     into the 21st century. Or, going back to Anderson's original 
     principles when he proposed the idea of an Association of 
     Graduates in 1869 in his letter to Thayer: ``to perfect and 
     perpetuate this truly national institution'' and ``for the 
     promotion of social and fraternal intercourse,'' later 
     resolved in the Association's preliminary meeting in which he 
     participated.''

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