LANDMARK

Record Number of Black Female Cadets to Graduate From West Point

The 34 women still comprise a small percentage of the approximately 1,000 cadets in the class of 2019.

A record 34 black women will graduate in the approximately 1,000-student class of 2019 at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, on Saturday. The increasingly diverse class of cadets is the result of an ongoing effort to update the mostly white and male school, according to the Associated Press. “We’re beginning to see the fruits of our labors,” Col. Deborah McDonald, the school’s director of admissions, told the news agency. In total, the class has 110 African-American cadets and 88 Latino cadets. Senior cadet Stephanie Riley told the news agency: “I can show other little girls that yes, you can come to West Point. Yes, you can do something that maybe the rest of your peers aren’t actually doing. And yes, you can be different from the rest of the group.”