Top Graduate At U.S. Coast Guard Academy Hails From Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The top graduate for the class of 2024 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy hails from Howard County.

Of the 1,855 students who completed applications to join the class of 2024 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, only about 23% were offered an appointment. Among the 266 young women and men who accepted those appointments were 11 high school valedictorians and eight salutatorians, including Madison Garrigus, a marine and environmental sciences major from Laurel.

Garrigus graduated from Atholton High School and racked up 10 first place finishes as a pole vaulter with her track team of which she also was captain. She also broke the county record in the girls pole vault at the 3A East Regional Championships Indoor 2020. She was chosen as the Howard County Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year and also as the Female Athlete of the Year for Atholton High School in 2020.

The daughter of Robert, who served in the Army, and Lisa Garrigus, Madison also has an aunt who retired from the Navy. She's been named the distinguished graduate of her class at the academy, which required her to earn the highest military precedence average that includes academic, military and athletic components of the entire 200-week program, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

“Over the past four years I have seen my mindset shift from looking to others for solutions to creating solutions," Garrigus said in a news release.

Additionally, Garrigus earned a 3.99 GPA and holds both the indoor facility and outdoor Academy records in the pole vault (11' 9.75" and 11' 8" respectively.) She served as captain of both the indoor and outdoor women’s track and field teams and is one of the fastest runners in Academy history, holding a top 10 time in the 60-meter dash after a meet earlier this year, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

She also won a series of academic awards, including the Class of 1931 Prize in Chemistry awarded to the cadet who attains the overall highest cumulative grade point average in multiple chemistry courses taken during the full course of instruction.

“She always wants to do her best,” Cmdr. Victoria Futch, associate dean for the School of Science, Mathematics and the Humanities, who also served as Garrigus’ academic advisor, said in a news release. “She really chases excellence and does not want to leave anything on the table.”

After graduation, Ensign Garrigus will report to the CGC Venturous homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla., as she and her classmates head out to their first Coast Guard assignments this summer.