Cadets look to the future at 100s Night celebration

Cadets 1st Class Isaac Stewart, left, Noah Lewis and Blaze Williams receive notifications of their base assignments on 100s Night in Mitchell Hall Feb. 15, 2024. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Justin Pacheco)

By Randy Roughton
U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – First-class cadets celebrated reaching the final 100 days before their graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a traditional formal dinner in Mitchell Hall Feb. 15.

At the conclusion of the 100s Night Dining-in, Class of 2024 members learned of their post-graduation U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force base assignments.

An annual reminder of upcoming changes

“100s Weekend is a signal to all classes to be prepared for change,” said Cadet 1st Class Helen Works. “The weekend shows that the freshmen are close to Recognition Day. The sophomores are nearer to being in the upper two classes. The juniors will soon take the lead as the new firstie class, and the seniors look forward to the next part of life. 100s Weekend signals to all classes that it is time to step up and be prepared for the next phase of their lives.”

Works, a Mechanical Engineering major, will attend graduate school next year before she moves on to her first assignment.

U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Helen Works poses with Cadet 1st Class Christian Posner, at the 100s Night Dining-in at Mitchell Hall Feb. 15, 2024. (Courtesy photo provided by Cadet 1st Class Harvey Regin)

100s Night highlights

Keynote speaker, Lt. Col. Caitlin Riley, was the first woman to receive the Jabara Award for her role as a combat pilot in the Global War on Terrorism. The annual award, named for Col. James Jabara, the first American jet ace, is presented to Academy graduates whose accomplishments demonstrate superior performance in fields directly involved with aerospace vehicles. Riley’s message was that the new class of Airmen and Guardians are prepared to handle the challenges of the future fight.

On 100s Night, the legacy class joins the firsties at the formal dinner. The Legacy Class program pairs the most recent class of cadets with the class that graduated 50 years earlier. Each legacy class’s role is to engage and support a current class of cadets throughout their four years at the Academy. The 2024 legacy class is the Class of 1974.

Looking back as well as forward

The night was a combination of “nail-biting anticipation” for seniors waiting to hear where they would be headed, but also a celebration of all they have accomplished, Cadet 1st Class John Olson said.

“For firsties, this was a night of celebration, reflection and camaraderie,” Olson said. “It symbolizes the beginning of the end and marks a final push toward graduation. Beyond the event itself, there was a similar atmosphere for the Cadet Wing that showcased the unity across all the classes.”

For Cadet 1st Class Holly Boudreau, a Legal Studies major, 100s Night was more than a milestone marking the last three months of her Academy journey. As much as she looked forward to the last 100 days, she also recalled other major events in her past four years, she said.

“Something that is special about the Academy is the evolution of events over the years,” Boudreau said. “The 100s Night dinner reminded me of our Recognition Dinner as freshmen, and the Commitment and Ring Dance dinners as sophomores and juniors. It is surreal that we are already at 100s Night and a reminder that time flies at the Academy. We must take in every little moment, good or bad, because we have such limited time left here. Someday I will wish I was back.”

U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Adedapo Adeboyejo, Class of 2024 Class President, at the 100s Night Dining-in at Mitchell Hall Feb. 15, 2024. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Justin Pacheco)

For more photos of 100s Night, see Flickr.