Jeff Petrie – USNA Out

Top photo: USNA Out members Jeff Petrie ’89
Joe Soto ’83 & Eric Shangle ’97
with SUPT VADM Fowler
^{USNA Alumni Assn photo by Debbie Latta}

Four members of USNA Out — Steve Clark Hall ’75, Joe Soto ’83, Eric Shangle ’97 and Jeff Petrie ’89, attended the USNA Foundation’s 2008 President’s Circle Weekend in Annapolis. In addition to an awesome comeback win by Navy over Temple in football, all four attendees agreed that we had a truly successful weekend and a great time!

This was the third straight year in which USNA Out Members attended the President’s Circle Weekend events. Eric Shangle ’97 and his classmate Thomas were the only two attendees who had graduated in the past 15 years. Because of our relative youth among the participants, USNA Out members stood “OUT” in the crowd.

USNA Out member Eric Shangle ’97
with Classmate Thomas Strenge ’97
at the Halloween reception in the
new Westly Brown Field House
USNA Alumni Assn photo by Debbie Latta

The events of the weekend serve to recognize and thank major donors the the USNA Foundation. The ambitious schedule included business meetings, cocktail receptions, tours of facilities, the final Fall Formal Dress Parade, and a delightful “Halloween Concert” in the chapel featuring the Naval Academy choruses performing to the accompaniment of the mighty M.P. Möller pipe organ.

USNA Out members Joe Soto ’83 and
Jeff Petrie ’89 with Thomas Strenge ’97
at the Navy-Temple gamC

All USNA Out members who have the financial resources to join the USNA Foundation’s President’s Circle are strongly encouraged to do so. By attending events such as the President’s Circle Weekend, we demonstrate that our commitment to excellence at the academy is as strong as (or stronger than) that of our contemporaries. And by doing so, we put a very positive face on who we really are here at USNA Out.

USNA Out members Jeff Petrie ’89,
Steve Clark Hall ’75, Eric Shangle ’97
USNA Out friend Thomas Strenge ’97
and Joe Soto ’83 had front
row seats for USNA Halloween Concert

In early May 2008 the Naval Academy hosted its 10th Annual Admissions Outreach Conference. The title of this year’s event was, “Diversity: Built on a Solid Foundation, Forging a Stronger Future.” Disappointingly, still today gay and lesbian midshipmen are forced to compromise their honor and integrity on a daily basis — as required by the military’s embarrassing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — and create a heterosexual facade lest their truth be discovered, resulting in shameful separation from USNA. No one at the Academy dares to take a leadership role in changing the outdated policy that is an embarrassment to our nation. In the past, Academy leaders have pretended that we do not exist within the Brigade of Midshipmen. In the hopes of bringing a mature perspective to a childish personnel policy, two of us USNA Out members attended the Admissions Outreach Conference. What follows is our account of how the two days unfolded:

Continue reading “Naval Academy Admissions Outreach Conference”

Author: Jeff Petrie

USNA Out Members Attend the “President’s Circle Weekend”

Naval Academy Admissions Outreach Conference