Plebes No More: SPHS Class Of ’25 Grads Complete Herndon Climb, First Year At USNA

It’s a grueling finale to a grueling year: Members of the United States Naval Academy’s (USNA) fourth class form a human pyramid to climb a greased 21-foot obelisk with the objective of replacing a plebe summer hat with an upperclassman’s hat at the top. The Herndon Climb has been a tradition since 1940 and marks the official end of plebe year for academy freshmen.

The USNA class of 2029 completed the task in 2 hours and 17 minutes the day after Sea Trials, a 14-hour training exercise that pushes physical and mental challenges to their limits. Two Severna Park High School (SPHS) class of 2025 graduates were among the plebes to complete these feats in mid-May.

One of those former Falcons, Cooper Alahverdian, said he had a lot of fun working with friends and classmates during the Herndon Climb.

“It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “I was second row up. I was holding some people up and (being held) up. I fell a couple times. … I think it was a good culmination of everything we learned this year with teamwork and just grinding through.”

Friend and fellow SPHS grad Colin Marsh sustained an injury and pushed his hip flexors too far during Sea Trials, so he played a support role during the Herndon Climb, helping participants strategize from the sideline.

“I played my part the day prior for my company, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do something that I’ve looked forward to my entire year, but it is what it is,” Marsh said. “Everyone plays their part.”

Alahverdian and Marsh have known each other since middle school and became closer friends during high school. Because they were in different companies at the Naval Academy, they didn’t have many opportunities to interact during plebe year but nonetheless were in it together from day one. Marsh shared that they were in line together on Induction Day.

Plebe summer and the ensuing year are notoriously challenging as first-year students are indoctrinated in the traditions of the Naval Academy and balance rigorous coursework with tireless drills and stringent restrictions for day-to-day life.

Glad to have the year behind them, Alahverdian and Marsh are grateful for what they’ve learned and are looking forward to the years ahead.

“I think I grew a lot in character and as a person, in my values,” Alahverdian said, adding that at times he felt lonely and missed his family and his church, St. John the Evangelist.

“I had church on the weekends (at the academy) and that was the best part of my week, just to go to church … (because) I didn’t have everything else I usually had at home. So, God was what made me feel like me. That was just really powerful for me,” Alahverdian shared, adding, “It made me realize how much I rely on my family and how much I love them.”

At the beginning of his plebe year, Marsh said he had a lot going on in his life and not a lot of people with whom to process those things. “Going into next year and the years after that, I’m really looking forward to just being someone that is there for the plebes – and not necessarily like I’m going to ream them out about some little thing, like still hold them to the standards – but have them genuinely know that I’m there for them and for anything that they ever need,” he said.

Alahverdian and Marsh came to the academy from different backgrounds and for different reasons, but they share a common goal upon commissioning.

Marsh’s father and uncle are USNA class of 1994 and 1996 graduates, respectively. His uncle was a submarine officer then became a JAG (Judge Advocate General’s Corps), and his father has spent his career as a helicopter pilot, flying “Bravo” and “Romeo” Seahawks. Having grown up around the Navy, Marsh always knew that he wanted to be involved as well.

Though no one in Alahverdian’s immediate family was in the military, his great-grandfather served in World War II and his grandfather flew planes, sparking Alahverdian’s lifelong aspiration to fly.

“My family on my dad’s side, and my mom’s side partly, were immigrants and then my dad’s parents escaped communism in Bulgaria and Armenia and came here,” Alahverdian shared. “I have a really deep patriotism and wanted to serve. I wanted to be able to give back, and I felt in debt to how much they had to go through to be able to give me the freedom that I enjoy.”

Both midshipmen have fond memories of growing up in Severna Park and attending SPHS. Alahverdian is originally from Long Island, though he’s lived in Severna Park since he was 4 years old. Marsh moved to the area from Florida during fourth grade.

At SPHS they both participated in Project Lead The Way, an engineering track that Marsh said helped prepare him for the academy. He was on the Falcons’ cross country, indoor track and tennis teams.

Alahverdian also participated in athletics, playing JV soccer and being a cross country and track runner as well. He shared one of the things he’s most proud of during his years at SPHS is helping start a chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

This summer Marsh is teaching STEM camp at the academy and will spend a month in San Diego, California, for PROTRAMID, a training program in which he will spend a week each rotating through submarines, aviation, the Marine Corps, and surface warfare on ships. Alahverdian has already begun summer training on ships in Virginia and Georgia.

Though they have a long road ahead before commissioning, they both hope to take to the skies one day.

“I 1,000% want to go aviation right now,” Marsh said.

Alahverdian echoed, “I want to be a Navy pilot, definitely. That’s my number-one thing.”

Acknowledging the difficulty of becoming a pilot, he’s optimistic. “In the end, I think if I work hard enough and hopefully, you know, God’s on my side, I can achieve that,” he said.