{"id":17674,"date":"2020-11-10T08:12:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T14:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=17674"},"modified":"2020-11-10T08:12:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T14:12:34","slug":"sydney-sydney-barber-will-be-first-black-woman-to-serve-as-us-naval-academy-brigade-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=17674","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sydney Barber will be first Black woman to serve as US Naval Academy brigade commander"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber will be the first Black woman to serve as brigade commander at the U.S. Naval Academy, officials announced Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Commandant Capt. Thomas Buchanan announced Barber\u2019s position, as well as other midshipmen leadership roles, on Friday, according to a statement released Monday by the academy. Barber will take over as brigade commander in the spring, assuming the position from 1st Class Midshipman Ryan Chapman. Barber currently serves as the 1st regiment executive officer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Barber, of Lake Forest, Illinois, is a mechanical engineering major who plans to commission into the Marine Corps following graduation. She is a part of the Navy Women\u2019s Varsity Track and Field Team and currently holds a record for the outdoor 4x400m relay, according to the release. She also serves as the co-president of the Navy Fellowship of Christian Athletes Club and secretary of the National Society of Black Engineers. Barber belongs to the gospel choir and the Midshipman Black Studies Club.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"\u201cThe reason I\u2019m so proud to go to the Naval Academy is because of the context of my history, and knowing for nearly 20 years after USNA was established in 1845, Annapolis was still an active slave port. But now 150 years later, the status of someone who looks like me evolved from a slave to now a midshipman and soon to be officer,\u201d Barber said in a video<\/a> produced by the team.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Barber will hold the highest leadership position within the brigade for the spring semester, the 16th woman to hold the position since women were allowed to attend the Naval Academy beginning in 1976. The first female brigade commander was then-Midshipman 1st Class\u00a0Juliane Gallina in 1992.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEarning the title of brigade commander speaks volumes, but the title itself is not nearly as significant as the opportunity it brings to lead a team in doing something I believe will be truly special,\u201d Barber said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cI am humbled to play a small role in this momentous season of American history.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"a\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Barber, of\u00a0Lake Forest, Illinois, is studying mechanical engineering and hopes to become a\u00a0Marine Corps ground officer, officials said. She created a STEM mentorship program for young girls of color and organized a networking breakfast to connect current Black midshipmen with alumni.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a video<\/a>, Barber said women like Janie Mines, the first Black woman to graduate from the Naval Academy, motivate\u00a0her to “follow her footsteps and be her wildest dream.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mines congratulated Barber<\/a> on social media, saying: “You are my wildest dream.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis bought me to tears,” Mines said on LinkedIn<\/a>. “40 years later. Thank you Sydney! Love you!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Janie Mines on LinkedIn: This bought me to tears. This young woman, Midshipman Sydney Barber | 676 comments<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The bridge commander is selected\u00a0by senior leadership and the commandant’s staff.\u00a0Midshipman 1st Class\u00a0Ryan Chapman currently holds the semester-long position.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a catalyst for action, a visionary, a listener, a doer\u00a0and a person driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of passion and heart full of love,\u201d Chapman said in a statement. \u201cSydney is the perfect person to lead the brigade.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barber has also interned with the\u00a0Department of Energy\u2019s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She was named a 2020 Truman Scholar national finalist for\u00a0her research on\u00a0developing legislative strategies to address education disparities in communities of color.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSydney stands out amongst her peers, for not only her exemplary record, but for her clear vision of how she intends to make the world a better place and her accompanying bias for action,”\u00a0Lt. Cmdr. Darby Yeager\u00a0said in a statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barber is not the only Black woman to make history this year in military promotions.\u00a0Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle in July became the U.S. Navy’s\u00a0first Black female tactical fighter pilot<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The news of Swegle’s achievement came\u00a0the same day a\u00a0female soldier graduated from the Army’s elite Special Forces course,\u00a0becoming the first woman to join<\/a> a Green Beret team. The Army does not release the identities of its service members “due to unique missions assigned upon graduation.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

2020-21 Women’s Track & Field\u00a0 “NEW BRIGADE COMMANDER”<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Career Honors:<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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2019 Second Team All-Patriot League (4x400m Relay \u2013 Outdoor)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

2019-20 (Junior Season): INDOOR: Recorded a season-best time of 58.95 in the preliminaries of the 400m dash at the Patriot League Indoor Championship \u2026 Notched a top performance of 1:16.89 in the 500m at the Navy Invitational II, while registering a season-best time of 2:21.29 in the 800m run at the Wesley A. Brown Invitational \u2026 Member of the distance medley relay team that clocked the second-fastest time of the season (12:30.49) at the Darius Dixon Invitational \u2026 OUTDOOR: Competed in Navy\u2019s one meet during the outdoor season, which was shortened by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) \u2026 Posted a time of 59.33 in the 400m dash and 1:04.32 in the 400m hurdles at the San Diego Collegiate Challenge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2018-19 (Sophomore Season): HONORS: Second Team All-Patriot League (4x400m Relay \u2013 Outdoor) \u2026 INDOOR: Ran the second leg of the distance medley relay that registered as season-best time of 12:14.90 at the PL Indoor Championship \u2026 Posted a season-best time of 58.16 in the 400m at the PL Indoor Championship, while notching a top performance of 1:17.06 in the 500m at the Army-Navy Indoor Star Series Meet \u2026 OUTDOOR: Member of the 4x400m relay team that finished second at the Patriot League Outdoor Championship with a season-best time of 3:43.18 to earn Second Team All-Patriot League honors \u2026 During the outdoor season, clocked a season-best time of 58.01 in the 400m at the Virginia Challenge, while posting a top time of 1:02.23 in the 400m hurdles at the Navy Spring Invitational.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2017-18 (Freshman Season): INDOOR: Posted a season-best time in the 500m at the Wesley Brown Invitational, clocking a time of 1:16.91 \u2026 OUTDOOR: Registered a top time of 57.36 in the 400m at the Ross and Sharon Irwin Meet out in San Diego, Calif. \u2026 Clocked a season-best time of 1:04.54 at the Larry Ellis Invitational in the 400m hurdles.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber will be the first Black woman to serve as brigade commander at the U.S. Naval Academy, officials announced Monday. Commandant Capt. Thomas Buchanan announced Barber\u2019s position, as well as other midshipmen leadership roles, on Friday, according to a statement released Monday by the academy. Barber will take over as brigade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2405,11,8,1314,1456,1156,13,2404,14,1,12,7,89,9,10],"tags":[3217,807,3218],"class_list":["post-17674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-business","category-entertainment","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-global-sports","category-health","category-high-school-sports","category-most-commented","category-news","category-scitech","category-sports","category-track-field","category-us","category-world","tag-brigade-commander-at-the-u-s-naval-academy","tag-naval-academy","tag-sydney-barber","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}