USNA CLASS OF 2007

Classmates! The Class of 1957 -- our Link in the Chain partners -- are looking for someone that could assist them with maintaining their website. Currently the ask is for someone that is a little computer savvy to serve in a backup function in maintaining the website. The time commitment would be minimal and this would be a great opportunity to strengthen the bond with '57. Please send your Class Officers a message here or via email if you are interested. Thanks in advance and Go Navy!

Aught Seven,

Our class has been sponsoring 22nd Company alongside ‘57 since we graduated. It’s been a great "Link in the Chain" partnership with 1957 and in support of current Midshipmen. Annually, we present a joint check of $1000 to assist with wardroom dues / tailgates / etc.

The next check presentation is slated for Monday, 13 January. It’ll be a lunch in King Hall followed by a check presentation in 22nd Company spaces. We’re reaching out to gauge interest for any classmates who would like to be part of the check presentation and King Hall luncheon.

If you are interested, please reach out by 6 January by replying to this thread or sending us a message and we’ll then reach out individually.

Happy New Year!
USNA 07

Bert Bender shares the following:

Classmates,

The USNA AA's Philadelphia chapter is having its annual Parents Night dinner on May 9, where we will be presenting the annual Captain Brian T. Kennedy Memorial Award in honor of our classmate. The award recognizes the graduating Philadelphia area midshipman with the highest class MOM and last year we renamed the award in Brian's memory with his family's blessing.

If you are local to Philadelphia or able to make the trip, please consider attending as we remember Brian and welcome the incoming Class of 2028 into the Naval Academy community.

The dinner is May 9 at 1830 at Sandy Run Country Club, Oreland, PA 19075. If you are able to attend, please contact Bert Bender at [email protected] or 215-740-6094 for details.

Aught Seven,

As most of you know, our Class jointly with the Class of 1957 sponsor the Spartans of the 22nd Company’s Wardroom. We are going to be presenting a check to the 22nd Company on October 23rd at their Noon Meal Formation and then heading down to King Hall for lunch (Cannon Ball run anyone???). If any member of the Class is in the Annapolis area and wants to join me and likely some members of the Class of 1957 you are welcome. Please reach out to me via the Class‘s FB Messenger for specific details. I look forward to seeing a few of you there!

Go Navy!
Patrick Sullivan
Class of 2007 Treasurer

Aught Seven - our very own Tom Royals is running for Congress in Maryland’s 6th District! Here’s a message from Tom:

“Hi 2007, I’m running to represent Maryland and I’ll be hosting a virtual reception with fellow USNA grads on September 18th at 7pm EST to help kickstart my campaign and raise support. I’d love to share more about my reason for running and passion for serving. You can RVSP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tom-royals-for-congress-campaign-fundraiser-september-18th-2023-tickets-711714195317?aff=oddtdtcreator. Also – if you can’t make it, but would like to support my campaign, you can do so at: https://secure.anedot.com/tom-royals-for-congress/2024donate.”

Aught Seven - wanted to share some info on Tyler Tidwell. As many of you know, he is a fellow Classmate, Marine, and has been battling ALS. Unfortunately - it sounds like the disease has taken a turn for the worse. Thomas Upchurch has put together a GoFundMe page with additional details.

Let's support Tyler and his family both in our prayers and in any way we can. For those interested in supporting financially or simply reading more about what the Tidwells are going through or any needs they have, please visit:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/t7bhwy-the-tidwell-family?fbclid=IwAR1qV11Kiv_R9ykRsRqTSBG8hfQMBUnceMpLMpBzTsl2I5Wb-I1oPRFzy5Y

The Tidwell Family, organized by Thomas Upchurch 3 years ago, Tyler Tidwell was preparing to deploy for the 4th time in service to his country as an… Thomas Upchurch needs your support for The Tidwell Family

Aught Seven - we had a blast catching up and seeing everyone at our 15 Year Reunion! We had just about 1,000 of us in attendance and we blew numbers out of the water.

Three quick things:

1) Save the Date: our 20 year reunion is tentatively slated and registered with the Alumni Association for 2 October 2027. It's one of the few games we actually know about for the 2027 season: Navy v Air Force!

2) Feedback: if you have feedback - please send to Ben ([email protected]), Brady, ([email protected]), Dan ([email protected]), and Patrick ([email protected])! Let us know what worked well, what could be improved, or anything that could be added to make our 20 year reunion extra awesome. Our initial plan is to find a large venue on Friday for a class social after the Parade and to reserve the N* room for game day!

3) SWAG: Ashley (Efird) Pribble put together some CustomInk T-Shirt and Tank Top options for anyone looking for some sweet '07 gear. The order window is open until 25 November. If you'd like to order, check the links out below. You can buy and have shipped straight to your house. Thank you Ashley!

- Shirt Option: https://www.customink.com/g/mne0-00cp-7j71

- Tank Option: https://www.customink.com/g/mne0-00cp-7uu4

Beat Army,
Ben

USNA 15 Yr Tank Group Order Form - Sign Up Today! 2007 tanks to commemorate our 15 year reunion!

Final Update - See You This Week!

Aught Seven - our reunion hasn't even kicked off and we might be setting an all-time record on attendance! We have an incredible turnout and we are going to have a blast! We have had to close registration as we are bursting at the seams on our venues!?!

- We have over 950 attending our reunion! With 616 Adults and 352 kiddos registered, this is going to be an AWESOME reunion!

- Do we have any family options? Of course! We’re not sure if it’s a trend for 15 year reunions, but a third of our attendees are our kids – which is AWESOME! We have a magician planned for our Friday Night Drill Chill, a Face Painter for our Saturday Tailgate, Arts/Crafts for both of these events, and a family area at our Tailgate where one of the screens will be playing kids movies (crossing my fingers that all of the A/V equipment works as planned!)

- We hope you have a great and wonderful time!!! We've made every attempt to make this a memorable experience and we are looking forward to seeing everyone.

For our Friday evening Drill Chill at the Alumni House (just outside Gate 3 at 247 King George Street) we will need to be aware of how big we get. As a result, we’re opening the $2007 bar tab in DTA (get your wristband at our Drill Chill) at 1800 to help balance .

USNA07 Reunion ‘Top Ten’!

1. Our Memorial Service on Friday will be in Memorial Hall at 1100. Please join us as we honor and remember our fallen classmates and their families. We will have multiple Gold Star families in attendance and of all our reunion events, this is one of our most important. Of note – the class of ’82 is also holding their Memorial Service in Memorial Hall and directly before us from 1000-1100. They anticipate being done around 1050 so we can enter Memorial Hall promptly at 1100. As a heads up – if you show up to Memorial Hall early, please standby until the Class of 1982 has concluded their service.

2. Formal Dress P-RADE goes at 1600 on Friday and is followed by our Drill Chill at the Alumni House (247 King George Street) from 1700-1900. This is the ultimate post P-RADE drill chill. Please come by, grab some grub and a beer and drill chill before heading into DTA! The food lineup includes cheese, pepperoni, and hawaiian pizza from Papa Johns, cookies, bottled water and Yuengling! We will also have a magician for the kids that will start at 1740, arts and crafts setup for those interested, and some co****le! As a heads up – this is an event the Alumni House has told us we need to be super aware of our size. If the Alumni House tells us we’re getting too big, we may need to ask folks to move along. The good news – if we need folks to move along – then hit up our $2007 bar tab in town!

3. $2007 Bar Tab in DTA: Looking for the ‘07 DTA linkup location on Friday night? We’re putting $2007 on the bar tab to celebrate! Hit up O’Briens or the Federal House. This will be a ‘no host’ linkup location. However, you will need to pick-up a reunion wristband at our Alumni House ‘Drill Chill’ if you want to get access to the $2007 bar tab. Once the tab runs out … it’s out!

4. Our Tailgate is at the N*star room at the Stadium at 1330 at You Must Have a Football Game Ticket to Get Access. 550 Taylor Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401. Where is the N* Room you might ask? Go to Gate C/D on the Blue Side parking lot and the foyer is immediately inside the gate to your right. It’s the largest indoor location at the stadium. You will receive a wristband that will allow you access to and from the tailgate. Game time is 1530. Kid friendly activities include: facepainter, arts/crafts, and a family seating area where one of the screens will be playing a movie. You will need to buy a football ticket to get access to our Tailgate, use promo code ‘2007’ at this link: https://navysports.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/EVExecMacro?linkID=navy&evm=prmo&RSRC&RDAT&caller=PR&fbclid=IwAR3eu_kQ8BMt-ffD6cuOJiE-j0QE4iC-jqZthsvhNYcqqBsrcBnLE9IjLoQ

5. Swag will be handed out SATURDAY at the Tailgate. We have a coozie and USNA07 bottle opener for all registered adults! For those of you downright dedicated Shipmates looking for more swag and decorations for your house, Class of 2007 swag can be found on this website run by a Class of '08 grad: www.foreverfirstie.com.

6. King Hall breakfast on Sunday is a prepaid event.... for those who have already purchased tickets, entry to King Hall for breakfast on Sunday occurs at the entrance in front of Mitscher Hall on Cooper Road.

7. Parking – please plan for extra time when looking for parking. Most of us will need to park in DTA as the parking on the Yard that many of us remember, no longer exists!

8. Access to MidStore -- tell them you are part of the 2007 Reunion. If you are one of those dutiful classmates that still know where their Lifetime Alumni Association Card is or prints it off from your Alumni Association account - well done!

9. Nametags. Nametags will be available at our Friday Drill Chill at the Alumni House (247 King George Street) and again (new ones) at our Saturday Tailgate Event.

10. Capture the weekend on Social Media and use the hashtag . (full disclosure -- anything posted can and will be used in future Shipmate Articles!)

See below for picture location of N* Room!

Aught Seven,

As we all know – time, tide, and formation – wait for no one. Apparently, with how many of us are attending our 15 year reunion – we may need to add reunion registration to that list!

We are 30 people shy of being at full capacity for our N* room tailgate. We are also going to be a pretty big group at our Friday Drill Chill at the Alumni House and we're opening our DTA bar tab early to help load balance our numbers. For our Drill Chill, it’ll be awesome with pizza, beer, water, cookies kid friendly arts/crafts, and a MAGICIAN!

However, due to our size, we are needing to close reunion registration earlier than expected. There will not be a 'walk-in' option. For any last minuters or fence sitters – Friday, 14 October is the last day to register. If you want one of those last slots – get them before they are gone. If you want to add on King Hall breakfast - please also do that by Friday.

https://signupnow.events/Default.aspx?OrgId=1005&eid=1094&OrgName=USNA2007&fbclid=IwAR087NT4uKAm6I9J3xXtHgHoPM2zXI3C5jYtkjc-maeaUyoNJrtAIyKLIkI

See you in roughly 2 weeks!

Ben

’07 – Friends and Family

First off, we’re looking forward to seeing everyone for our 15 Year Reunion with our kickoff events starting on October 28th!!!

• We hope you have a great and wonderful time!!! We made every attempt to be good stewards of our class funds while providing a memorable experience.

• Good news! We have over 900 attending our reunion! With 592 Adults (of which 357 are classmates) and 352 kiddos registered, this is going to be an AWESOME reunion!

• Do we have any family options? Of course! We’re not sure if it’s a trend for 15 year reunions, but a third of our attendees are our kids – which is AWESOME! We have a magician planned for our Friday Night Drill Chill, a Face Painter for our Saturday Tailgate, Arts/Crafts for both of these events, and a family area at our Tailgate where one of the screens will be playing kids movies (crossing my fingers that all of the A/V equipment works as planned!)

The mixed news being that we are getting so big – is that we are starting to hit capacity limits for our venues!?! As a result, we may need to start limiting registration for some of our big events - yikes! Also – for our Friday evening Drill Chill at the Alumni House (just outside Gate 3) we will need to be aware of how big we get. As a result, we’re opening the bar tab in DTA earlier than planned to help balance between events. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ben [[email protected]], Brady [[email protected]], Dan [[email protected]] or Patrick [[email protected]].

*****USNA07 Reunion ‘Top Ten’!*****

1. Our Memorial Service on Friday will be in Memorial Hall at 1100. Please join us as we honor our fallen classmates. Multiple USNA07 Gold Star families will be in attendance. Of note – the class of ’82 is also holding their Memorial Service in Memorial Hall and directly before us from 1000-1100. They anticipate being done around 1050 so we can enter Memorial Hall promptly at 1100. As a heads up – if you show up to Memorial Hall early, please standby until the Class of 1982 has concluded their service.

2. Formal Dress P-RADE goes at 1600 on Friday and is followed by our Drill Chill at the Alumni House (247 King George Street) from 1700-1900. This is the ultimate post P-RADE drill chill. Please come by, grab some grub and a beer and drill chill before heading into DTA! The food lineup includes cheese, pepperoni, and hawaiian pizza from Papa Johns, cookies, bottled water and Yuengling! We will also have a magician for the kids that will start at 1715, arts and crafts setup for those interested, and some co****le! As a heads up – this is an event the Alumni House has told us we need to be super aware of our size. If the Alumni House tells us we’re getting too big, we may need to ask folks to move along. The good news – if we need folks to move along – then hit up our $2007 bar tab in town!

3. $2007 Bar Tab in DTA: Looking for the ‘07 DTA linkup location on Friday night? We’re putting $2007 on the bar tab to celebrate! Hit up O’Briens or the Federal House. This will be a ‘no host’ linkup location. However, you will need to pick-up a reunion wristband at our Alumni House ‘Drill Chill’ if you want to get access to the $2007 bar tab. Once the tab runs out … it’s out!

4. Our Tailgate is at the N*star room at the Stadium at 1330 at You Must Have a Football Game Ticket to Get Access. 550 Taylor Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401. Where is the N* Room you might ask? Go to Gate C/D and the foyer is immediately inside the gate to your right. It’s the largest indoor location at the stadium. You will receive a wristband that will allow you access to and from the tailgate. Game time is 1530. Kid friendly activities include: facepainter, arts/crafts, and a family seating area where one of the screens will be playing a movie. If you need to buy a football ticket, use promo code ‘2007’ at this link: https://navysports.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/EVExecMacro?linkID=navy&evm=prmo&RSRC=&RDAT=&caller=PR

5. Swag will be handed out SATURDAY at the Tailgate. Help us help you. We have a coozie and USNA07 bottle opener for all registered adults! For those of you downright dedicated Shipmates looking for more swag and decorations for your house, Class of 2007 swag can be found on this website run by a Class of '08 grad: www.foreverfirstie.com.Tailgate -- you will need football tickets to enter the game and thereafter enter the tailgate. Standing room tickets are still available!

6. Don’t forget -- King Hall breakfast on Sunday is a prepaid event...if you still want to get chow...go to our registration page and buy! Entry to King Hall for breakfast on Sunday occurs at the entrance in front of Mitscher Hall on Cooper Road.

7. Parking – please plan for extra time when looking for parking. Most of us will need to park in DTA as the parking on the Yard that many of us remember, no longer exists!

8. Access to MidStore -- tell them you are part of the 2007 Reunion. If you are one of those dutiful classmates that still knows where their Lifetime Alumni Association Card is - well done!

9. Nametags. Nametags will be available at our Friday Drill Chill at the Alumni House (247 King George Street) and again (new ones) at our Saturday Tailgate Event.

10. Capture the weekend on Social Media and use the hashtag . (full disclosure -- anything posted can and will be used in future Shipmate Articles!)

Navy Sports Online Ticket Office