uscga badge
Search
Close this search box.
uscga badge
Search
Close this search box.
Home / What I Learned from Parent’s Weekend

What I Learned from Parent’s Weekend

Monty Rickey

Hi everyone! The month of October has been crazy busy, filled with Columbus Day Weekend, Midterms, Parents’ Weekend, and of course, Halloween. It’s crazy to think that I am already half way through the semester, especially because it seems like forever ago that I reported in on July 1st. After the first few weeks of school, you start to get into a rhythm and daily schedule that you stick to. However, seeing my parents on Parents’ Weekend removed me from the day-to-day grind of the Academy. Parents’ Weekend not only was a great opportunity to show my parents the Academy and bring them to my classes, but also gave me a chance to reflect on my time here and what I want to do in the future. I came into the Academy unsure of what I wanted to do when I graduated, but open to trying new things and living new experiences. Some cadets know what they want to do when they graduate and focus specifically on what they need to do to meet that goal. While others, like me, have some long-term goals, but really have no idea what they want to do when they graduate. I’m hoping the next four years will give me the chance to try out new things and see what I’m interested in.

Over Parents’ Weekend, I not only got to spend time with my parents, but I also was able to talk over different opportunities at the Academy with my parents- especially what I want to major in and how that affects my future. Currently, I’m an ORCA major (Operations Research and Computer Analysis), which is a fancy way of saying math, which I love, but I’m also interested in Cyber Systems. For me, I know I eventually want to go to graduate school, that’s the long-term goal. Cyber is a fairly new major and I wanted to keep my options open before fully committing to my major. With my parents, we talked about each major in terms of the jobs and how it affects grad school. At the Academy, it’s easy to focus on the day-to-day events, because your schedule is always busy, but it is also nice to have that break and think about future goals for yourself. I hadn’t really thought much about my major, until I started discussing it with my parents, and realized that I wanted to keep both options, ORCA and Cyber, open. That was the most important thing, other than spending time with my family, that I got out of Parents’ Weekend—taking time to think about future goals.

Apply Now

Sponsor Family Application

Thank you for submitting your application to be part of the Sponsor Family Program. Your application will be processed in the upcoming week. Coast Guard Academy’s policy on background screening now requires all adults (everyone 18 and older living in the home) who volunteer to mentor, teach, coach or sponsor cadets, whether on or off Coast Guard Academy grounds, to be screened every 5 years. They are required to provide personal information (name, birth date and social security number) for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check.

The Security Officer at the Coast Guard Academy, CWO2 Gina Polkowski, is overseeing this process. Her email is: Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.

Sponsor Family designations fall into several different categories. Below are the guidelines to help you determine how best to meet the background screening requirement:

  1. If you are Coast Guard active duty you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
  2. If you are a Civilian working for the Coast Guard you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
  3. If you are non-Coast Guard Active Duty, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at  Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
  4. If you are non-Coast Guard civilian who has a current security clearance or National Agency check, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at  Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
  5. All civilians in the families who are 18 years or older and do not have a security clearance or a National Agency Check are required to be vetted through Mind Your Business, the third party vendor hired by the Coast Guard Academy for the vetting process.

After you complete your application, please e-mail the Sponsor Family Program Coordinator at CadetFamilySponsorProgram@uscga.edu. In your e-mail, you must include the e-mail address and phone number of every adult living in the home. The Sponsor Family Coordinator will then initiate the background check process and you will receive an email with further instructions.

Important things to note:

There is a Sponsor Family Training that is a one-hour training which we ask sponsors to attend once every four years. This training is designed to give you an overview of the program, what is expected of you as a sponsor, and what you can expect from your cadets. This training will also help familiarize you with the cadet regulations onboard CGA. You will be notified via e-mail once the training is scheduled.

The matching process of swabs to families will occur during July and August. Please bear with us and remain flexible through this process. There will be a meet and greet scheduled on Campus, typically in late August. This will give families an opportunity to formally meet their cadet if they have not already done so. Details on this will also be via email.

CGA Badge
Links from these pages to non-Coast Guard sites are provided as a customer service and do not represent any implicit or explicit endorsement by the United States Coast Guard of any commercial or private issues or products presented there.
learn more