US Army Colonel and H-F Alumna Shares Story With High School Students

Sylvia Moran has a lot going for her. She is a Colonel of the U.S. Army, a West Point graduate and a current employee at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

However, on Thursday afternoon when Col. Moran dropped by to speak to an Honors U.S. history class, she embraced another title: H-F High School alumna.

"I graduated from H-F High School in '76," said Moran. "I started my basic training a few weeks later."

Moran spoke to the high school history class not only about her 35 years of familiarity with the Middle-East, but also her challenges and achievements as a member of the first class of women admitted to West Point Military Academy.

"I really, mainly talked to them about what it was like to be a cadet at West Point and I tried to get them in the mindset of the '70s," Moran said.

Moran said she applied to both West Point and the Air Force Academy as soon as it was announced in 1975 that military academies were to open to women. West Point responded to Moran, an H-F High School senior at the time. They said she was one of the top 25 girls in the country to be considered for admittance.

"She is a very strong lady to have been in the first class at West Point," said Jasmine Lacey, a junior at H-F High School.

Moran credits her experience at H-F High for being instrumental in helping her push forward during her first year at West Point. 

"There were guys cat calling and yelling things like, 'go home,' and, 'we don't want you here,' and, 'you don't belong here,'" Moran said. "I didn't think too much of it, especially since I ran on the Boy's Cross Country team at H-F so I had kind of gotten used to… going to different schools and hearing comments made about, 'what's that girl doing here?'"

Moran also explained to the class about some of the dangers she has faced as a member of the U.S. military. She talked of an illness that forced her absence during the 1998 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which resulted in the death of three of her office members.

In 2001, Moran narrowly avoided catastrophe during the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Only one floor separated her from the impact of the plane.

"I was standing … at the window, and I just felt this huge explosion," Moran said. "The guy who was two cubicles over said he saw the flames go past my head out the window."

When teacher Paul Kolimas brought up the recent death of Osama bin Laden, Moran described her emotional response upon hearing the news.

"(I felt) a sense of relief," Moran said. "I think it is a victory."

Although she covered a number of topics while speaking with the class at H-F High School, Col. Moran's visit from the Pentagon had an underlying message that she wanted each of the students to take away from it.

"When you make up your mind that you want to do something, or that you can do something, you can," Moran said.

Col. Moran will be retiring from the military next Tuesday, May 31. Look for the H-F Patch feature next Tuesday.