Top Feel-Good Story Of The Weekend: Annapolis Grad Becomes First Black Female To Receive Three-Star Rank

Graduating from one of the military academies is an accomplishment in itself, but being the first black female graduate of Annapolis to earn a three-star mark is quite an amazing accolade.

Vice Adm. Michelle Janine Howard, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1982, can add this to her already impressive resume, as she just accepted a new position as deputy commander of U.S. Fleet Forces command in Virginia. This may seem cool to you, but Howard is used to making good things happen. In 1999, she became the first black woman to control a United States Navy warship. Seven years later, she was the first female Annapolis grad to get the rank of rear admiral. Last but most definitely not least, she is also the first black female to run an Expeditionary Strike Group on the water. She’s a hero if there ever was one! Howard said of the new job:

“When you look at where society was at the time, this was before there was even a woman on the Supreme Court, before Sally Ride was an astronaut. It was also only five or six years after we became an all volunteer force in the military, so our society was still going through a lot of changes.”

There are surely a lot of women who want to emulate her path, and here is advice for them:

“You have to keep your sense of humor. You have to develop stamina and you need to be adaptable. Finally, you need to stay connected to women. It’s important to be able to share experiences and to be able to tap into those shared experiences.”

Day = made.

[Capital Gazette]

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