Video of USAFA Women 50 Yr Celebration
-
Recorded Live April 23-26, 2026 in Colorado Springs, CO
On June 28, 1976, 157 women walked up the ramp into the United States Air Force Academy, joining the Long Blue Line and beginning a new chapter in the Academy's story. 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of women being allowed to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. This video montage honors the trailblazers of the Class of 1980, the generations of women who came after them, and the legacy still being written today.
Friday morning session 0815–0900 on April 24, 2026 at Phil Long Music Hall
PIONEER PANEL - Witness history through the voices of those who made it: three trailblazers from the U.S. Air Force Academy classes of 1980, 1981, and 1982 share their firsthand accounts of the integration of women into the cadet wing. Featuring: - General (Ret.) Janet Wolfenbarger '80, the Air Force's first woman four-star general - Lieutenant General (Ret.) Michelle Johnson '81, the first woman Superintendent of the Academy - Major General (Ret.) Suzanne Vautrinot '82, a pioneering leader in a cyber domain that didn't even exist when she entered the Academy - Moderator: Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 On June 28, 1976, the first women cadets walked up the ramp beneath the iconic "Bring Me Men..." inscription to join the Long Blue Line of the United States Air Force Academy. In this Pioneer Panel, three of the women who lived it tell the story of integration: the personal challenges, the institutional challenges, the classmates who became family, and the enduring impact of service before self. Recorded live on April 24, 2026, in Colorado Springs, their conversation is candid, funny, and deeply moving. A story told by the women at the center of it.
Friday morning session 0910-0955 on April 24, 2026 at Phil Long Music Hall
FOUNDATIONS of LEGACY. Witness history through the voices of those who shaped it: the first women Air Training Officers (ATOs) and two Academy staff members share their firsthand accounts of what it was really like at the Air Force Academy in 1976. Featuring: - Lieutenant General (Ret.) Terry Gabreski, one of the first women Air Training Officers (ATO) - Dr. Yardley Nelson Hunter, one of the first women Air Training Officers (ATO) - Colonel (Ret.) Larry Bagley USAFA '66, Air Officer Commanding, CS-09, 1978 to 1981 - Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Bill Riley USAFA '66, mathematics faculty member during the integration - Moderator: Major General (Ret.) Linda Urrutia-Varhall '84 Before the first women cadets arrived, the Air Training Officers (ATOs) broke the ground beneath them. Hand-picked from a pool of 600 young women Air Force officers, 15 lieutenants were selected to do something no woman had ever done at USAFA: live through cadet training themselves so they could become the upperclass role models the first women cadets would otherwise never have had. From January to June 1976, they completed an accelerated cadet experience led by male cadets, surviving basic training, Jacks Valley, the obstacle course, the assault course, living in Sijan Hall, and the daily institutional skepticism. By the time the Class of 1980 walked up the ramp on June 28, twelve of them were standing on the terrazzo as surrogate female upperclassmen, having already changed minds, rewritten training plans, and proven the standard could be met. Recorded live on April 24, 2026, in Colorado Springs, this panel brings together two of those ATOs and two men who served on the Academy staff during that era, a squadron AOC and a faculty member, to share what they saw from inside the institution and bridge the first class of women with the generations that followed. Their discussion answers the question many have asked for fifty years: What was it really like in 1976?
Friday morning session 1005-1045 on April 24, 2026 at Phil Long Music Hall
LAUNCHING INTO SPACE ADN BEYOND. . Two Falcons, two trailblazers, an out-of-this-world legacy. Lt Gen (Ret) Susan Helms ’80, the first U.S. military woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and Lt Gen (Ret) Nina Armagno ’88, the first Director of Staff for the Space Force, shared their extraordinary journeys from the Academy to the stars.
Friday Evening Dinner Celebration
April 24, 2026 at Hotel Polaris
Set in the elegant surroundings of Hotel Polaris, this dinner served as a highlight of the 50-Year Celebration, a gathering to reflect, reconnect, and honor an extraordinary legacy. The mother-daughter pair of Brig Gen (Ret) Dana Born ’83 and Capt Hanna Born ’20 emceed, a living testament to the legacy being celebrated, while Lt Col (Ret) Naviere Walkewicz ’99 led the celebration. After welcome remarks from Association & Foundation CEO Mark Hille and a seated dinner, Kathleen Kornahrens ’80, author of “Bring Me Men…” Brought Women: Marching with the First Female Cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, delivered the first keynote, speaking to what becomes possible when a community of women refuses to ask for a lower bar and earns their place by rising to meet the institution rather than changing it. Tanji Johnson-Bridgeman ’97 closed the evening. A former cadet leader, Honor Guard member, and varsity cheerleader, she went on to build an 18-year career as an elite fitness coach, earn 11 international bodybuilding championship titles, and gain national recognition as “Stealth” on American Gladiator in 2008. Her message on grit, resilience, and the “Power of Expansion” brought the night to a close.
Saturday Morning, April 25, 2026
Welcome & USAFA HERitage Saturday’s program opened with a brief welcome from Marianne Rommerdahl ’04, Celebration Project Lead, followed by a featured talk from Lt Col (Ret) Steve Simon ’77 tracing fifty years of women’s history at USAFA. The session closed with an overview from Lt Col (Ret) Christina Bell ’91 and Col (Ret) Kim Pratt ’83 of the USAFA HERitage committee’s work to archive the careers and stories of USAFA women veterans for the Library of Congress.
Saturday Morning, April 25, 2026
Memorial Service: Gone But Not Forgotten This memorial service honored USAFA women graduates who have gone before us, offering a shared moment of remembrance, reflection, and gratitude. Through music, spoken tribute, the honor bell, and quiet presence, the gathering recognized lives of service and sacrifice that remain part of the Long Blue Line. The service was supported by the USAFA Women Memorial Committee (Pauleta Hendrickson ’85, Kate L. Smith ’82, Isabella Horning, Cathy Goodwin ’82, Cindy Norman ’83, and Andrea E. H. Trudeau ’20), with help from the AOG Rampart Range Chapter. To close out the ceremony, Laura Joyce-Hubbard ’90, Highland Park Poet Laureate, read an original poem she wrote exclusively for the 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Saturday Breakout Session, April 25, 2026
Command Your Mindset Drawing on the science of human performance and her hard-won experience as a combat veteran and Air Force commander, Lt Col (Ret) Dr. Jannell MacAulay '98 explores what sustainable high performance actually looks like and how to achieve it. Introduced by her niece, Kylie McElroy '26, this session delivers practical tools you can put to work immediately. Her message is simple: peak performance rests on three pillars — body, craft, and mind. We all know how to build the body through physical activity and our craft through training. But how do you build a stronger mind to meet life's challenges? In this talk, Jannell shares tangible, ready-to-use strategies for training the one skill most of us were never taught to develop: our mental fitness. A pioneer in her field, Dr MacAuley was the first leader to introduce mindfulness as a proactive performance strategy within the U.S. military and is co-founder of Warrior's Edge High-Performance Mindset Training. Watch to learn how to build mental skills for sustainable high performance.
Saturday Breakout Session, April 25, 2026
Excellence in Entrepreneurship This panel of alumnae from across the decades explored how their military foundations of discipline, leadership, resilience, and adaptability shaped their success as small business owners. SES (Ret) Dawn Bizub Androsky ’83, Susan Hunter ’83, Col Laurel (Huber) Chiaramonte ’03, and Alicia (Bouges) Powers ’10 offered insights into starting, acquiring, and building businesses, navigating challenges, and leading with purpose beyond active duty, demonstrating how the lessons of service continue to fuel innovation and growth in civilian life.
Saturday Breakout Session, April 25, 2026
Firsts in Flight Two trailblazing aviators shared the leadership and life lessons they earned at the edge of flight. Col (Ret) Samantha “Combo” Weeks ’97, the first woman solo Thunderbird pilot, described how flying 18 inches from another aircraft at airshow speeds taught her things no leadership course could, and how she has carried that philosophy from the flight line to the boardroom. Lt Col (Ret) Rochelle “Lex” Kimbrell ’98, the first Black woman fighter pilot, shared the success principles behind her “Dare To Dream” speaking platform. The session was moderated by Gen (Ret) Jacqueline Van Ovost ’88.
Saturday Breakout Session, April 25, 2026
Foundations of Service Service Before Self is more than a core value; for these two women, it has been a way of life. Lt Madison Marsh-Morris ’23 stepped into the national spotlight as Miss America 2024 not to wear a crown, but to carry a mission. She arrived at USAFA having just lost her mother to cancer and, rather than letting that loss define her, let it drive her as she founded the Whitney Marsh Foundation in her mother’s honor. Lt Col (Ret) Naviere Walkewicz ’99 brought that same fire to her title of Ms. Veteran America 2019, channeling her USAFA career into an unrelenting commitment to her community and the Long Blue Line. Col (Ret) Mo Barrett ’93 moderated the panel.
Saturday Session, April 25, 2026
Necessary Turbulence - The Story and the Book We Built Together For fifty years, an extraordinary story has been hiding in plain sight. Yours. What you may not yet see is the full arc of what USAFA women created across five decades. Featuring the all-graduate co-authors and many of the book’s 108 contributors, this session unveils for the first time this major literary work told in a powerful collective “we” narrative. More than a presentation, it’s a rare chance to hear excerpts prior to the book’s release and see and meet the women who brought Necessary Turbulence to life.
Saturday Session, April 25, 2026
USAFA OVERCOMERS Three women, three paths through adversity. Lt Col Christy (Wise) Kinsey ’09 became the first woman amputee to return to the cockpit and fly the C-130 after a serious boating accident. Maj Stephanie (Sarabia) Burgess ’16 left USAFA during an unexpected pregnancy, returned to graduate, and built a mil-mil family and a career as a Weapons Officer while navigating custody battles along the way. Col (Ret) DeAnna Franks ’99, the first Air Force Reserve AOC and Stephanie’s former AOC, rounded out the panel, discussing the bridge to the Air Reserve Component and piloting in a commander’s life as a single mother.
Saturday Session, April 25, 2026
Bring Us Women is a podcast celebrating the real, raw, and powerful stories of women shaped by military life. Hosted by Lt Isa Horning ’22, this live session featured a conversation about the women behind the rank and their impact across generations, celebrating her triumphs, her challenges, and her legacy, together.