A Reagan Forum "Sydney Barber"

n this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back to our March 11, 2021 virtual event with Midshipman 1^st Class Sydney Barber. In December 2020 Sydney Barber was appointed as the brigade commander for the United States Naval Academy – the first black female brigade commander at the academy. In an interview with The Capital Gazette about the appointment, Sydney said, “I see it more as a responsibility and a privilege and an honor to be able to be someone to pave the way. I feel extremely blessed that I have this opportunity to open doors for people who are coming after me.” The brigade commander — who serves for a semester — is selected by the academy's senior leadership through an application and interview process. The role was previously held by 1st Class Ryan Chapman, who called Barber a "catalyst for action, a visionary, a listener, a doer, and a person driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of passion and heart full of love." Barber, who is a mechanical engineering major, joined the Reagan Foundation’s Chief Learning Officer Tony Pennay in a conversation about her role. Let’s listen.