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Teamwork, discipline help plebes get to the top

Plebes end their first year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis by attempting a longtime tradition: scaling the 21-foot-tall Herndon Monument (which has been coated with lard for the day) and replacing the plebe’s hat there with a midshipman’s hat. The climb to the top took about two hours.

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May 21, 2012

Members of the U.S. Naval Academy's freshman class climb the Herndon Monument in Annapolis. Each year, in celebration of the end of their first year at the academy, the plebes climb the lard-covered, 21-foot-tall monument to grab a plebe’s hat that had been placed there and replace it with an upperclassman's hat.

Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post

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