For a second consecutive year, the Naval Academy has admitted its most diverse class, and its work isn’t done.
Sixty years after graduating its fi rst Black midshipman, Wesley Brown, the U.S. Naval Academy has admitted its most diverse class, which boasts the largest numbers and percentages of African-Americans and Hispanics ever to enter Annapolis.
The academy has touted the racial and ethnic composition of the class of 2013 as the result of aggressive outreach and as a future benefi t to the Navy, which has a stated priority of diversifying its offi cer corps to match its enlisted ranks and the country’s changing demographics. The class is 35 percent minority.
That level of diversity tops the previous record, set a year ago. This year, the number of minority applicants jumped 57 percent, even more than the 40 percent increase in the overall applicant pool. Naval Academy officials say the 15,432 applications received were the most since 1988, when the movie “Top Gun” inspired a rush to get into Annapolis.
“Our depth of talent this year was pretty substantial,” says Bruce Latta, dean of admissions and a retired Navy captain.
To reach the record level of diversity, recruiters went into high schools whose minority graduates might make good prospects.
“There’s talent in every community in the nation, and we have to look for it,” Latta says. “Often we find they don’t know about us until we approach them.”
