U.S. Naval Academy freshmen climb greased monument to shed "plebes" status

The 2022 "plebe" class from the U.S. Naval Academy celebrates after successfully placing an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument in the annual tradition in Annapolis, Maryland on May 20, 2019. Plebes, or freshmen, must use teamwork to scale the monument greased with about 50 pounds of vegetable shortening to remove a traditional plebe cap and replace it with the upperclassman's cap. The tradition dates back more than 70 years and concludes the plebe year for Naval Academy students. [Photo: VCG]