Midshipmen received their diplomas and were commissioned as officers at the U.S. Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony. Graduates were tested mentally and physically over last four years, receiving an education from one of the best institutions in the world. They converged Friday morning at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to be sworn into the Navy as ensigns or into the Marine Corps as second lieutenants. “I’m super excited, really happy to be graduating with all my classmates. It’s been a long four years, but it’s worth it,” U.S. Navy Ensign Stelios Boyaci told 11 News. “I just wanted a very interesting challenge in my life and do fun and gritty things while I’m young,” U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Peter Lee told 11 News. Many of the graduates with whom 11 News spoke said they’re excited to serve the nation. “I love to help people. I like making people happy, so serving my country, I feel, is the best way to do that,” U.S. Navy Ensign Bryanna Chaname told 11 News. “I love America, I love everything about it, and I wanted to serve. I’m prior enlisted, so I was on a ship, and I served before. I’ve been on deployment. So, I’m ready to get out there and serve. For family members, this is a moment of great pride,” U.S. Navy Ensign Yasmin Latham told 11 News. “I love culminating events. This is a milestone that I have been counting on for so long; it makes the whole journey worth it, this day, and I’m so excited to go and serve,” U.S. Navy Ensign Tara Thompson told 11 News. Friends and family attended the ceremony beaming with pride. Thompson’s family is attending the ceremony from Massachusetts. “She was one of the 2020 COVID kids, and just to see her now, graduating, is just a dream come true,” said Thompson’s mother, Sandra-Lee Thompson. “I’m so proud. The words can’t describe, there aren’t words, I’m just so proud of them,” said Mitzi Manuel, a parent.
A ceremony steeped in tradition
Held each year on the Friday before Memorial Day, the Blue Angels flyover is part of ceremony’s many traditions, and the military is very traditional. The graduates heard remarks from U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids and Navy Secretary John C. Phelan. This year’s commencement speaker was Vice President JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who enlisted in high school. The vice president told graduates they will develop tools and lead in a new century in which the country will adjust to a new warfare. Vance told graduates: “It will be you, the graduates gathered here today, who will lead the way for the rest of us. Your service will bring new challenges and environments, including ones unfamiliar even to those who served before you. You will deploy new equipment, new systems, and new technology. And, through those experiences, it is you who will learn, who will teach others and will help our services and our entire country adapt to the future we’re confronting.” This marked Vance’s first remarks as vice president to one of the military service academies. “The extraordinary education you received is an investment by the American people, an investment not only in your courage, but in the strength of your minds and the promise of your leadership because your nation rests easier knowing that we have the most brilliant strategists and tacticians standing guard,” Vance said.
By the numbers: 1,049 graduates comprise USNA Class of 2025
The Class of 2025 consists of 1,049 graduates — 751 men and 298 women. One member of the class graduated but was not commissioned Friday. Instead, Navy football safety Rayuan Lane III, of Jessup, was among the
Marylanders considered — and selected — in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected the Gilman alum in the sixth round. “I’m excited and thankful that the Jacksonville Jaguars believed in me as a person and football player to give me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lane said in a
statement released by Navy Football in April . “I want to thank my family, my teammates and coaches at both the Gilman School and the Naval Academy and everybody else who has helped me through this journey. I am excited for the opportunity to be both a Jacksonville Jaguar and a Marine Corps officer.” Lane is the fourth Navy football player to be drafted in the last 11 years and the first defensive player to be drafted since Bob Kuberski was selected in the seventh round by the Green Bay Packers in 1993. There are also 14 foreign national students graduating who are from Egypt, Fiji, Georgia, Indonesia, Jordan, Maldives, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Tunisia. Since the academy’s founding in 1845, approximately 92,000 midshipmen have graduated from the Naval Academy, including the Class of 2025. Maj. Geoff Ball, Pierre Deverne and Sondra Duplantis are honorary members of the Class of 2025.
