When reflecting on her childhood, Dr. Aundrea Matthews recalls time spent at the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point. She was raised outside its historic walls in the Village of Highland Falls, New York. Beyond being close to West Point, her grandfather, Sergeant (Ret.) Sanders Haygood Matthews, was a member of the academy’s esteemed Buffalo Soldiers.
“I got to spend the majority of my time on West Point hanging around them, listening to old stories,” she shares. “They always got together. They talked about horses, horses they liked, and who they trained and how many cadets. My grandfather used to say all the time, anything you can do ...