Parents’ Weekend without family
International students at the Naval Academy have their time off far from home
“Wow! You’re from farther than we are!” exclaims an Oklahoma mom walking with a family from Seattle.
Throngs of parents rush toward twin grandstands set up in front of Bancroft Hall, eager to see their children for the first time since they arrived at the Naval Academy six weeks ago.
The plebes march out in formation. The August sun soaks into a sea of navy and gold for a few quiet seconds. And then a cheer goes up. The plebes are free.
For most of the new midshipmen, this Plebe Parents’ Weekend means a day reuniting with family. But for 14 plebes from across the globe, the day is different.
Plebes in the Naval Academy’s International Program rarely have visitors during Plebe Parents’ Weekend. But the August tradition still marks a kind of homecoming for the international plebes, who will spend time with their newfound friends in the program, getting to know sponsor parents and catching up by phone with family members in home countries, many farther away than Seattle.
“I’m spending the whole day talking with them,” said Biran Senghore, 19, one of the academy’s first two students from The Gambia. Senghore is “very close” to his family, especially his 12-year-old sister, Ndella, he said.
The International Program began in 1863, when the academy hosted its first and only student from France. International students spend four years at the academy but graduate to serve in their home countries’ navies. The Naval Academy has educated 520 midshipmen from 71 countries to date. This year’s plebe class includes students from Cambodia, Cameroon, Egypt, The Gambia, South Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Romania, Taiwan and Thailand.
Countries can nominate up to six students, though the academy will only host three per country across all classes at any one time. Program director Timothy Disher. says the academy accepts about 15 new students a year.
International students arrive earlier than other plebes to get adjusted to the time difference and the culture here.
“There’s a coordinated program where we expose them to the Naval Academy and give them a sense of what is expected and after day three of the orientation, we start taking them out for physical exercise because in some cultures, physical exercise isn’t something that would be the norm,” Disher said. “And what I tell our officers is don’t break them because they’re about to start a very intensive program beginning on Induction Day.”
Mohamed Abdul Azim Ahmed Muhammad, originally from Egypt, said the 140 hours of physical education training of Plebe Summer — including more than 3,000 push-ups and sit-ups and 100 miles of distance and interval training — was “easy.”
Ahmed Muhammad had previous training experience in Egypt, as did classmate Alhagie Bubacarr Gaye.
“People were complaining about the heat,” said Gaye, who is from The Gambia, “but we’re used to it.”
Gaye said he planned on spending the rest of the day chatting with his sponsor family to get to know them better. Most plebes don’t meet their sponsor families until the weekend before Plebe Parents’ Weekend, but international students meet the sponsors before Induction Day “so they have another person looking out for them, sending them care packages,” Disher said.
Judy Buddensick has been one of those sponsor parents for 20 years, hosting 24 international midshipmen from 17 countries in the last decade. Buddensick, who will host Ahmed Muhammad and Cambodian student Chantrea Pich, started hosting mids strictly by referral from friends and family, but began taking in international students after her mother died. She will also house mids from California and Texas this year.
Her mother, a Polish immigrant, would take in other travelers throughout Buddensick’s childhood. When the academy accepted a plebe from Poland right after her mother died, Buddensick knew she had to sponsor the new student. “After all these years my mother would roll over in her grave and kick me in the butt if I didn’t take in this young woman from Poland,” she said.
Devoid of tear-streaked hugs between loved ones, the newly freed plebes nevertheless have a relaxing day, usually spent with each other. “They’ll come home, relax, eat,” Buddensick said. “They’ll sit poolside and they can not get yelled at for a day.”