Telephone calls
In the past, one of the hardest things parents of Midshipmen have to adjust to was the inability to pick up the phone and call their son or daughter. Fortunately there are now phones available in the rooms at Bancroft Hall to be use during the academic year (no phones during PLEBE SUMMER).
There is one telephone line in each room and is share by all midshipmen that are assign to that room. Local calls are free and long distance calls must be charge to a Phone Calling Card or regular Credit Card.
All Bancroft Room Calls (410) 990-1570, 1, xxxxx (room number)
You must get the room number from your midshipmen and remember that this is a privilege and all incoming calls must be keep to a minimum and call must me made during reasonable hours.
E-mailing Your Mid
Fortunately, with the modern wonders of computer technology, we have a way to communicate with the Midshipmen on a regular basis, through the use of a computer equipped with a modem. This is the way all Midshipmen communicate on a daily basis and a medium they soon adjust to. All grades, announcements, movement plans, orders and announcements are transferred to each Midshipman via his/her computer. Some parents "talk" on a daily basis with their Mid's, once Plebe summer is over. A program called ICQ or IM is great for this and it is presently free. Get it, try it, and your Mid will know whenever you are both on line at the same time.
Every Midshipman is issued a computer at the start of the academic year. If you have a computer communication package and modem at home, you can communicate with your Mid, too.
Every Midshipman has an E-Mail address: (m[alphacode] @usna.edu)
You can contact your midshipman by e-mail via computer, you can leave messages for your Mid any time, day or night. Your Mid will receive these messages when he/she checks their e-mail messages. Since most of the communication on the Yard is through computer, they will be checking their e-mail daily for messages from professors, other mids, high school friends now at other colleges, hair cut schedules, grades etc. Each time your Mid checks electronic mail, your letter will be retrieved as new mail. You can leave a message on a regular prearranged time schedule or just whenever you have the urge or need. You stand a much greater chance of receiving an e-mail message from your Mid than a letter. It's much easier for the Mid and you to communicate in this manner. You can send a message through CompuServe, America-On-Line, Prodigy, Microsoft Net, or any other means for "surfing the net". Your Mid's computer flashes them a message when they have mail waiting in their in-box. He or she then answers by the same medium or calls home on a telephone, whichever is appropriate. It takes just seconds for you to send or receive a message over the internet, and there are no long distance phone charges.
We strongly recommend this method of staying in touch with your Midshipman.
This is NOT a program for computer nerds only! Anyone who can turn on a computer and type should be able to use this medium for keeping up with the everyday life of your Mid. While a letter may also be sent it takes on the average three or four days for the Midshipmen to receive their mail at Bancroft, while an E-Mail message is there in about 27 seconds!!!
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