It is a significant step for West Point. “Simone looks like America,” said Pat Walter Locke, the first African-American woman to graduate from West Point and one of Simone’s mentors. “And that made her feel like a queen.”The accolades continued at West Point: a successful walk-on member of the West Point crew team, an Air Assault graduate and a record score in field training. The mother is nervous about the pressure she knows her daughter will put on herself, aware of the spotlight she’s under at West Point. Having followed and supported Cadet Askew’s path to West Point since the beginning of the application process, Ms. Locke knew there was a possibility that Cadet Askew was poised to break the leadership barrier.

Source: New York Times August 14, 2017 18:26 UTC