Not one Cadet attending classes on the Army and Navy Academy campus during the recently ended 2020-21 school year experienced COVID-19 illness or even symptoms of the pandemic disease, according to records maintained at the Academy’s Health Center.
The 111-year-old college preparatory boarding school for middle- and high-school age boys planned and executed an extensive set of safety guidelines and mandates to optimize the physical safety of its 230 Cadets who returned to attend in-person classes on its oceanfront campus last August.
The Academy’s classrooms, dormitories, dining hall, chapel, recreation room and other campus facilities were outfitted with sanitation stations. Cadets, faculty members, and others were required to wash their hands when entering the buildings, before eating or drinking, putting on or removing face coverings, using restrooms, being exposed to cleaning chemicals or equipment. Cadets were also taught personal hygiene and instructed to immediately report to the campus Health Center if not feeling well.
The heightened COVID-19 guidelines and protocols were in addition to the Academy’s existing campus security system that features electronically controlled gates, 100 video cameras along the perimeter and elsewhere to monitor the campus, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Retired Marine Col. Wayne Ward, the Academy’s Commandant of Cadets, who oversees the Cadet Life program said a committed Cadet leadership and adult staff as well as other safety protocols were largely responsible for maintaining a virus-free environment. Also, the Academy’s boarding school environment in which Cadets live on campus 24/7 not only enhances the Cadets’ personal development and academic achievement but minimizes exposure to the virus from outside the campus.
“We will continue to apply the appropriate level of safety measures going into the coming school year and beyond to maintain a highly safe campus environment for our Cadets,” Ward said.
