Colorado Springs, Colorado. (May 29, 2025): In our last edition, we reported on the tortuous end of training as an Air Force Academy cadet is “the longest day of their lives.” In this photo by Dylan Smith, these same cadets enjoy the best day of their lives by graduating and receiving their commissions as second lieutenants. The nine hundred plus members of the Class of 2025 took their oaths of office at a ceremony held at Falcon Stadium on campus.

This year’s class consisted of 909 cadets, of whom 69% are men, and 31% are women. In all, 791 cadets were commissioned into the Air Force and ninety-three were commissioned into the Space Force. Once again, the Academy attracted the absolute best and brightest from U.S. high schools. The average high school GPA for the Class was 3.88 and their average SAT score was 669 in reading and writing and 688 mathematics.

The group was also quite diverse with 97 Hispanic/Latino, 70 Asian, 58 African American, 6 Pacific Islander, and four Native American cadets. This year’s crop of officers also has an international flavor with fourteen cadets coming from Guyana, Indonesia, Kosovo, Malaysia, Niger, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Tunisia. Finally, the Air Force Academy continues