WEST POINT SOCIETY OF DENVER
Board of Directors Meeting
MINUTES OF MEETING – Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Meeting conducted remotely via Zoom
Call to order – Joel Martin at 11:40 AM
·
Six voting board members in attendance, a
quorum was not present.
·
Board members attending: Jace Johnson,
Shannon Sharrock, Mike Euperio, Steve Best, Sam Thiessen, and Joel Martin. Andy Benson joined by phone later and for the
remainder of the meeting, but after Shannon had to leave.
Annual Planning Meeting:
·
Tentatively, Tuesday evening, January 24, 2023,
at Heather Gardens
Founders Day Dinner prep discussion (Saturday, February
25, 2023):
·
Shannon confirmed an informal “yes” from the
Supe’s aide, as has the WPSPPR. Awaiting
letter/email confirmation.
·
Discussed speaker’s gift, noting $20 limit. A suggestion of a donation in his, and
possible too his wife’s, name was discussed.
No decisions.
·
Jace talked about his candidates/parents list
and how he considers who/when to invite based on number of seats
available. Jace said to email him with
additional questions if there were any.
(Shannon had to leave and shortly after she left, Andy
joined via phone. Still no quorum)
·
Andy discussed FD ticket prices. It was noted that this was dependent upon
sponsors/donations. Generally felt that
we’d keep the price the same as last year.
·
When to start registration was also discussed,
especially because the FD date is earlier this year than normal. Andy recommended starting the end of December
or early in January. No decision, but
generally thought right after the beginning of the New Year would get the best
notice
·
Paying for a photographer was discussed. Getting a sponsor for this function was
discussed, in the range of $400-$600 dollars.
Also need to consider when during the event and the length of time
they’re available to take photos.
Otherwise, perhaps just rely on volunteers/participants, not preferred.
·
Perhaps need an additional board meeting before
or after the Annual Planning Meeting for FD, because of our FD early date.
Candidate Recruiting:
·
Jace noted that it was too early to discuss the
issue much because applicant submissions had just gotten underway.
·
He noted that USAFA had barely met their
recruiting goals last year, though USMA had this past year. Colorado numbers last year we okay, but not
great.
·
He expects USMA/Colorado will be okay again this
year, but it might be a little tougher.
Leadership Conference (Wednesday, April 5, 2023)
·
There will be no USMA cadet support as in the
past
·
Middle school participants will not be invited
·
Maybe CPRC support
·
Expect or have procured two $5K donations for
the conference, one from the Denver Recruiting Bn and the other from the
Daniels Fund.
Army-Air Force Game in Denver/Empower Field at Mile High
(Saturday, November 4, 2023):
·
Steve noted that the USAFA/USMA AOG will be
handling ticket sales, per usual.
·
Good to tag team with the PP Society on the
effort, especially with their expertise in planning. They are the still the lead as the host
academy for the game.
·
Let Steve know if you want to be on the planning
committee.
·
Steve suggested perhaps hosting conducting a
STEM Workshop and candidate recruiting in conjunction with the game. Perhaps get USMA support in this effort.
·
Bob reported on his attending this years game in
Arlington TX. He attended the boxing
competition the night before the game, which Army won overall. Will it be here in Denver too?
·
Bob said FB game start time is a critical factor
that we don’t control and don’t know yet.
·
The need to keep planning local (between our two
Societies) and not get too involved with AOG support was discussed. This is probably not on the AOGs’ radar yet.
·
Bob will provide Air Force Tailgate contact info
to Steve.
Admissions
·
The following admissions report was provided
by Jace:
·
FD
Support (from
Andy's email):
* Parents' Club has announced it and has the event on their
calendar; one or more reps will be at the 5 pm Meet-&-Greet.
* Previous briefing room used is fine; water service only; long
table on raised portion on east side of room; theater style seating with middle
aisle; Jace to attend walkthrough.
*
MG Best to secure flag(s); also need US & CO there along with 3-star?
* We can flex the number of 2027 candidate invites based on how
much room in ballroom is available for dinner portion; need guidance from Board
on max candidates & parents; earlier than typical event puts downward
pressure to invite more "Offered" and/or "Accepted"
candidates versus years past, but we still want to have a decent crowd for the
Sup to address; WP Admissions will give me list of confidential names of high
potential "Offers" to invite/flex as necessary. Last year we had 21
candidates with another 19 parents/family.
·
WPLEC:
* I
am playing with MailChimp to get ready for mass emailing.
*
Polishing up "teaser" text for mass emailing.
* Colorado already has 70+ pre-candidate files open; will
have another 100+ files opened shortly after 1 Feb 2023 date when Class of 2028
cycle opens.
·
2023
Budget Input:
* I prefer to have same funds available for Admissions support
in 2023 Budget as last year; money no longer really needed for college fairs;
mainly need money to secure decent venues for WP only AIM events typically held
in April-May timeframes; maybe 1x big Denver metro college fair in the fall.
·
Class
of 2027 Update:
* 1 Offer pending, only CO-04 & -07 Districts have released
nominations; PRES NOM slates not full (7); 6 SDVE NOMs.
* 309 files opened across CO; 9% lower than 5 year run rate;
still higher than in 2016 and 2017 cycles.
* As a reminder, every year only about 50% of files opened are
competitive; Colorado averages about 125 total NOMs from all sources to about
100 candidates; of that, only 40% get fully qualified (Academic, CFA, Medical);
about 30 average "Offers" a year; then we average a net of about 25
"Accepted"; Navy averages about 15-20 Offers / year from CO.
* Some numbers from CO-06 process that I was involved with -
same dynamics exist across other districts:
- 40 total candidates interviewed
- 4 WP 1st preference (1 WP only)
- 8 Navy 1st preference (3 Navy only)
- 28 AFA 1st preference (9 AFA only)
·
Other:
* AFA the canary in the coal mine (not so in CO) across the
country; last year they had less than 9k files opened (Navy 11k+, WP 13k+); all
numbers continue to decline from highs of 16-18k just 4 & 5 years ago; AFA
struggled to 3Q 1,800 files to fill their class of 1.1k; all three academies
typically stop qualifying files after 2k when filling classes; WP confident
they can continue to fully qualify (3Q) enough candidates to draw upon to fill
diverse classes.
* Admissions continues to encourage societies and grads to serve
on congressional nominating panels; use common sense to prevent any optics of
conflict of interest when family members / children are applying; about 10% of
entering classes are now "legacy;" Admissions still does not like it
when Field Force grads drop out after their kids get in or are only involved
until a family member is accepted.
* Colorado continues to have a robust set of older and younger
grads supporting Field Force efforts.
Meeting was adjourned at 1245.
Submitted by: Sam Thiessen ‘73
