Cadet Olivia Raykhman admitted that in the past, when she thought of the military, “I just pictured a man with a gun; now, I realize it’s so much more than that.” 

Raykhman, who grew up in Manhattan Beach, is the first woman from her community to attend the United States Military Academy (USMA), situated in West Point, New York, regarded as one of the most prestigious service academies in the country. 

“I’m always going to feel like I am paving a path for the women that are going to come after me,” Raykhman told the Brooklyn Eagle. “Even though so many women leaders have come before me.” 

USMA/West Point was initially founded by President Thomas Jefferson to train officers for the rapidly expanding army. More than 80,000 men and women have graduated from the academy since its inception in 1802. Every year, approximately 10,000 students start the application process, but only a little over 1,000 are admitted.

Serving the community

Inspired by her parents’ harrowing escape from life-threatening antisemitism in the Soviet Union and their journey to establish a new life in the U.S., Raykhman was driven to pursue a path of service.

“Discipline and focus were always big in my family,” Raykhman said. “It’s been instilled in me since I was young. My family has always encouraged me and my brothers to serve the community in some way.” 

Raykhman, 20, started her tenure at West Point in 2021 and is slated to graduate in May 2025. 

Raykhman is a squad leader in Company H-3. This summer, she assumed the position of Summer Leaders Experience platoon leader. She has also founded and heads the Cadet Ambassador Program, is a captain for the Cyber Policy Team, and is cadet leader of the Combating Terrorism Center.

Motivated by the threat of internet-enabled terrorism, she aspires to serve as an army cyber officer after graduation.

‘A dream come true’

Nominations to West Point are competitive and typically awarded by members of congress. Congressional nominations account for approximately three-fourths of all appointments. Individual members of congress determine their own selection criteria and application procedures.  

Raykhman was appointed in fall 2020 by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a U.S. representative for New York’s eighth congressional district, which she recalled as “a dream come true.”

“I feel like I am checking all the boxes that I’d always imagined for myself. Every day I learn something new at West Point,” Raykhman said. “You learn how to be a leader, how to follow directions and when not to speak, not just when to speak. There is really no other place that so challenges its students and cadets to the fullest.” 

But the hardest thing about West Point, Raykhman pointed out, is not the physical, the training, or the academic aspects; it’s the mental ones.

“Being able to overcome your own ego — people yelling at you, pointing out your flaws and failures, but at the same time not quitting — that is the real challenge,” Raykhman said, adding that Brooklyn taught her the “grit” she needed to rise above such things. 

Brooklyn through and through

Raykhman, who grew up in a predominantly Russian-speaking community, attended Stuyvesant High School for her freshman year before moving on to the American Hebrew Academy in North Carolina and eventually graduating from Pomfret School in Connecticut. 

“I truly consider myself a Brooklynite through and through,” Raykhman said. “The exposure to various cultures and communities — that diversity that many others who have come to West Point may not have been exposed to — I am very grateful for.”

“That’s why it’s important for me when I come back to Brooklyn to make people aware of this as a career path,” Raykhman said. “I discuss the many benefits the military and this academy has to offer, and also my experiences at West Point, to potential cadets.”

According to Raykhman, young people today are not as exposed to joining the military as to becoming a doctor, lawyer or accountant.

“So many people reached out to me the summer before their senior year and asked me how they could apply to West Point,” Raykhman said. “I was always told by them that they wish they would have known about the academy sooner.” 

Raykhman’s best advice to someone entering a military career is to ask them why; specifically, what is their reason for attending?

“Yes, there is the opportunity for free college and to have things paid for,” Raykhman said. “But there must be a reason, a vision or a higher purpose behind that. If you don’t have one, then you probably won’t get through it.”