| At 10:28 a.m. Wednesday, midshipmen fourth class Augustus “Gus” Russo, 20, extended his arms to the top of the Herndon Monument, lost his footing and tumbled 21-feet into the hundreds of fellow plebes below. Less than five minutes later, at 10:32 a.m., the 6-foot-five-inch resident of Summit, New Jersey, removed the underclassman “Dixie Cup” hat and replaced it with a midshipman’s cover as cheers of “Plebes no more” erupted. “I’m so proud of all of you,” Russo, a member of 17th Company said after acknowledging his parents in the crowd. “We were out there at Sea Trials yesterday, I woke up exhausted, my arms were cramping, I couldn’t even do a sit-up out of bed. We still went out there and we conquered.” The annual Herndon Monument Climb is the culmination of plebe year at the Naval Academy. The event demonstrates the teamwork and perseverance that first-year midshipmen learned throughout their year at the academy. Plebes build a human pyramid around the 21-foot obelisk caked in vegetable shortening and replace the underclassman hat with an upperclassman’s hat. After the class of 2028 completed the task in two hours, 27 minutes and 31 seconds they are no longer considered plebes but “fourth class midshipmen.” “For all of the families and guests here, you should be so proud of your midshipmen fourth class,” Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette Davids said. “The class of 2028 has always, from the moment they came here, been very distinctive. They have been prepared mentally, morally and physically from the very beginning. I am not surprised that they did so well today.” |
