The inspiration for First10Forward came over casual conversation at the 2016 KP golf outing in Las Vegas. This idea, of empowering women as a collective, gained momentum during a meeting of like minds during Homecoming at USMMA in the fall of 2016.
Thanks to the hard work of a few determined women, the first meeting of the organization was held in July of 2017 in St. Croix. Over the course of that weekend, First10Forward and it’s guiding principles begin to take shape.
Fourteen women Kings Point graduates, 83’ – ’87, flew to the Island of St. Croix to play golf, do yoga, share sea stories and laugh. While doing so, we explored further our shared interest in helping girls and women achieve their non-traditional professional goals and continuing to nurture our shared experiences and resulting relationships. We established First10Forward and, through it, committed to on-going participation in a fun, annual weekend retreat to celebrate our own accomplishments and assist in others’ on-going achievements. If you are eligible, please join us! If your class is not yet eligible, please stay tuned. We look forward to inviting each year’s class to join us as they reach the point in their careers and lives generally when space and time permit them to put their own goals aside momentarily, to celebrate their accomplishments and focus on helping others.
The name First10Forward is derived from the initial professional training of the women of this organization. All of these women were graduates of Kings Point during the first 10 years that the academy admitted women (Classes of 1978-1987). One of the five federal service academies, Kings Point was the first to accept women into its Regiment of Midshipmen in 1974, two years before any other federal service academy. There were only a few brave women in the first Kings Point classes that accepted women. To this day, the female attendance rate at Kings Point hovers around 15%.
Not only were these women brave enough to attend, as a small minority, a premier learning institution with an all-male, military tradition, a challenge in and of itself, but they also signed up to go to sea aboard merchant vessels as professional merchant mariners, in the United States Merchant Marine. A year of their training included sailing aboard merchant vessels to far flung foreign seaports, learning to navigate and load ships, as well as to maintain and operate the vessels’ engines. Rarely did they ever encounter other women onboard these ships beyond their Kings Point sailing partner. These gals were fierce from the get go!
These women graduated with degrees in Marine Transportation and/or Marine Engineering; Commissions in the United States Naval Reserve (or in lieu of that commissions as Active or Reserve Officers in any of the other military service branches); and a United States Coast Guard License to serve as Officers aboard United States merchant vessels of unlimited tonnage and horsepower, in all oceans of the world.
Since graduating, many of these women have achieved the highest positions in their respective fields and plotted courses through uncharted waters for women coming up after them. From serving as officers aboard merchant vessels up to the highest ranks of Captain and Chief Engineer, to Harbor Pilots, Port Engineers, Senior Officers in most military branches, to doctors, lawyers, senior executives both in and out of the maritime industry, senior shipyard management and even as President of the largest shipbuilder in the US!
30 to 40 years after graduating from Kings Point, these women recognize that, as a group, they have the desire, the wisdom and the means to financially and spiritually support other girls and women in their non-traditional professional aspirations.
Fourteen women Kings Point graduates, 83’ – ’87, flew to the Island of St. Croix to play golf, do yoga, share sea stories and laugh. While doing so, we explored further our shared interest in helping girls and women achieve their non-traditional professional goals and continuing to nurture our shared experiences and resulting relationships. We established First10Forward and, through it, committed to on-going participation in a fun, annual weekend retreat to celebrate our own accomplishments and assist in others’ on-going achievements. If you are eligible, please join us! If your class is not yet eligible, please stay tuned. We look forward to inviting each year’s class to join us as they reach the point in their careers and lives generally when space and time permit them to put their own goals aside momentarily, to celebrate their accomplishments and focus on helping others.
The name First10Forward is derived from the initial professional training of the women of this organization. All of these women were graduates of Kings Point during the first 10 years that the academy admitted women (Classes of 1978-1987). One of the five federal service academies, Kings Point was the first to accept women into its Regiment of Midshipmen in 1974, two years before any other federal service academy. There were only a few brave women in the first Kings Point classes that accepted women. To this day, the female attendance rate at Kings Point hovers around 15%.
These women graduated with degrees in Marine Transportation and/or Marine Engineering; Commissions in the United States Naval Reserve (or in lieu of that commissions as Active or Reserve Officers in any of the other military service branches); and a United States Coast Guard License to serve as Officers aboard United States merchant vessels of unlimited tonnage and horsepower, in all oceans of the world.