Future Aspirations Vincent Michael Errichiello

From a young age, I knew the career path I wanted to pursue. During the tenth grade, my mother mentioned working on the F-15 for Northrop as part of the team that was redesigning electronic countermeasure hardware. She told me about another team member with whom she had attended college; this man had previously served on a nuclear submarine in the Navy. She spoke highly of him and said that he commanded the utmost respect for everyone he worked with, yet humbly helped those who requested assistance.

That was not the first time I had heard of those qualities in a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. As I deepened my search for additional information, I was put into contact with Mr. Gary Ebanks, the father of my swimming coach, who went out of his way to speak to me about his experience at the Academy. His interest in electrical engineering led to discussions about the difficult course work. More importantly, he spoke to me about what it means to be part of the Naval Academy as well as about the classmates you meet who become family. Now this isn’t about just what those people have done for me, but rather what they have shown me about being a Naval Academy graduate. They are special people: humble, intelligent, and...