2LT Teryon Lowery, ‘24
Teryon, an International History major and a native of Newark, New Jersey earned West Point’s Henry O. Flipper Award this year. The Award, given every February, honors the legacy of LT Henry O. Flipper, the first African American to graduate from West Point in 1877. Each year, the award recognizes a cadet who has demonstrated the highest qualities of leadership, self-discipline, and perseverance in the face of adversity. Teryon’s journey to receiving the Flipper Award is a testament to his resilience and commitment to service. Despite early challenges caring for his autistic brothers, Teryon excelled as an athlete, earned a spot at Dickinson College for track and field, and later enlisted in the Army to support his family during his mother’s battle with breast cancer.
At Fort Bliss, he served as a Licensed Practical and Vocational Nurse earning two Army Achievement Medals for acts of heroism and peer support. Undeterred by obstacles, Lowery pursued admission to West Point. He participated in the virtual Beitler trip during his plebe year and attended several iterations of the JSAMAPS during his time at West Point. He served on the COVID Response team during the pandemic, demonstrating his adaptability and dedication to duty. In his senior year, Teryon was the Cadet-in-Charge of West Point’s Diversity Forum. His greatest impact was serving as Brigade Prevention Captain for West Point’s Corps of Cadets. He was the first cadet to hold this position and was responsible for coordinating and overseeing all prevention initiatives pertaining to sexual assault and harassment, including all programming meant to address harmful behaviors, create positive climates, and teach holistic health. In addition to winning the Flipper Award, Teryon is a recipient of the General Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr. Memorial Award for Military Cadet Achievement by the Kappa Alpha Fraternity, a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. Teryon took all the courses supported by the Resnick Center, including Dr. Frey’s HI 463, “Race, Ethnicity, Nation, & Gender” and HI 498, “Honors Thesis Seminar in Antisemitism,” as well as Dr. Geheran’s XH 415, Genocide and Mass Atrocity and XH 405, The Holocaust and Its Legacy. In those courses, he explored the many ways racism and other forms of discrimination operate. Like 2LT Alexix Bradstreet (above) and 2LT Isabella Sullivan (below), Teryon was a 2021 CHGS/US Army War College summer intern. In the AWC’s Center for Strategic Leadership, he researched and reviewed wargames currently used by the US military to determine where Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) principles already exist and where they could be included. He so impressed his mentor that the mentor wrote to the Department of History Head to say that Teryon was the best intern he ever had. Teryon applied many of the ideas he studied in his role as Brigade Prevention Captain. He commissioned into the Adjutant General’s Corps this May. You can listen to 2LT Lowery tell his incredible story here.
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