Ensuring West Point Represents the Nation: An Admissions Officer Reaches Out

Betty Myrthil grew up in a single parent household in Miami, Florida, and planned on joining the military as a way of getting out of the inner city. Before coming to West Point, she attended the United States Military Academy Prep School. One of her most humbling experiences was Prep School academics because she had never struggled in school before. It was a wakeup call and motivated her to always do her best. At West Point, she was very involved in a wide variety of activities, and served as a Cadet Battalion Commander as a senior. When she graduated, she became a Military Intelligence Officer, and her first assignment was Korea. While deployed to Iraq with First Cavalry Division, she rose to the challenge of being the Operations Officer for her Support Battalion. Her most recent assignment was the Diversity Admissions Officer for West Point. She returned to the Academy in 2012, and is responsible for ensuring underrepresented minority groups are afforded the opportunity to attend USMA. In this interview, she talks about her experiences at West Point, her deployments to Korea and Iraq, and her family life. She discusses her successes as the Diversity Admissions Officer and the critical importance of her mission. West Point needs to represent the nation, and Betty Myrthil’s efforts help ensure that the Military Academy is as inclusive as possible. At the end of the interview, she provides her recollections of being a Firstie when the September 11 attacks occurred.