Academy success: Shaw graduates Naval Academy, studying at Naval Postgraduate School
Jack “JD” Shaw accepted a fully-qualified appointment in 2020 and graduated in May. Shaw, the son of James and Ruth Shaw, graduated as a cryptology officer.
“They sent me directly to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey,” he told the Times Observer. “I’m here working on my masters. After that, I’ll go out and do my time in the Navy as a cryptology officer.”
There’s no doubt in his mind that the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., was the right choice for him.
“It’s tough when you’re there,” he said. “I wouldn’t have rather gone anywhere else. It’s a great place to look back on.”
What’s a typical day look like at the Academy?
Shaw said some days start with a 5:30 a.m. workout with the final reveille at 6:30 a.m.
Formation is held at 7 a.m. where midshipmen are inspected in uniform before breakfast. Shaw said that the Academy has “one giant dining hall” where all 4,000 students eat together.
From there, midshipmen go to class in what is “pretty normal for a college experience, pretty much like any other class” except that they’re in uniform and many of the professors are officers.
There’s another formation prior to lunch with more class time in the afternoon. There’s then a two-hour window set aside for exercise before dinner. 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. is a “designated study period” before lights out at 11 p.m.
Shaw called it a “pretty structured schedule” with “not a ton of free time.”
While there’s more of that free time available at the Naval Postgraduate School, Shaw explained the lessons he took away from the structure of the academy.
“Definitely one of the things I learned well at the academy is how to manage time,” he said. “(You) get really good at structuring your own schedule and then handling whatever time you have, making it so that it counts.
“Now that I’m somewhere less rigorous, I really relish free time.”
Graduation – part of “Commissioning Week” – was held on May 24.
A total of 1,040 midshipmen graduated in the Class of 2024 – 725 men and 315 women.
That total included 13 international graduates from 11 countries – Cameroon, Fiji, Georgia, Korea, Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Peru, Philippines, Poland and Sri Lanka.
The keynote address was given by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and included a fly-over by the Blue Angels.
About 91,000 midshipmen have graduated since the Naval Academy was founded in 1845.
Attending the Naval Academy brings a service commitment after graduation.
Shaw isn’t sure whether that commitment will turn into a career in the Navy.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I have to do a little bit longer time because of my grad school commitment. I’ll probably think about it more about the time I’m eight or 10 years in,” he said. “I’ll still see if I’m having fun at 10 (years) and figure it out from there.”