ABOUT CADET
CADET is an independent magazine, online retailer and digital community celebrating the heritage and tradition of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the creativity of its cadets and graduates.
THE ORIGIN STORY
CADET started nearly 20 years ago when CADET co-founder Chris Pestel was in his cow (junior) year at West Point. Back then CADET was just an idea in a notebook, a doodle in the middle of Ancient Philosophy notes.
Then it became the topic of a paper in his Contemporary Creativity class.
Over the years this idea evolved into a online shop of West Point prints, and then in 2014 Chris published a photo essay, on Jeff Monken’s first Army-Navy Game, was published on Medium..
From there a third West Point photo essay on Army Boxing brought Chris together with his now-wife Caroline (USMA ‘10) in a serendipitous and impactful way (TL;DR - a one way flight to a rendezvous at Wrigley Field to see Pearl Jam, leads to marriage).
Together they created Homegrwn Creative - a boutique creative agency providing photography, social media content, and website design for restaurants, small business, and entrepreneurs. Their first project was to bring CADET to life (which they did in the spring of 2017 as a soft launch website). They published VOL I of CADET in December of 2017 and began building the CADET community that lives today on social media and over email.
VOL I was solely the work of Caroline + Chris. VOL II saw contributions from 11 West Pointers and VOL III blew the doors open with 21 contributors from across 6 decades of the Long Gray Line and 5 contributors from the greater West Point community.
CADET has now grown to include a strong daily social media presence, a weekly blog, a monthly newsletter, a bi-annual print magazine and a community including hundreds of patrons, an online community of well over 10,000, and an "in-real-life" community spanning West Point Societies, Alumni Groups, Reunion committees, Parent Clubs, Sports teams, current cadets, AOG, Admissions, and on and on and on.
CADET takes its inspiration from several existing or extinct media: Victory Journal, The Pointer, 99% Invisible. Three West Point books played a large role in the story of CADET: Marcia Lippman’s 2002 masterpiece “West Point”, the spectacular 2005 monograph “Athlete/Warrior” by Jonathon Anderson and Edwin Low, and the wildly unexpected “West Point Sketch Book” from 1976 by MAJ Ernie Webb, CPT John D. Hart and 1LT James E. Foley.
ABOUT US
the OPTIMIST
CAROLINE
USMA '10 | TRACK+FIELD | x00058
Managing Editor
Civil servant at the U.S. Department of Defense, Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, the co-founder of Homegrwn Creative, and a photographer at CarolinePestel.com.
From Medford, New Jersey
Was #8 because of Cal Ripken, Jr.
Loves Elvis and Field Hockey
Captain of the Army Women’s Track Team
Served 7 years active duty as an Military Intelligence Officer
Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University
Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations
the PESSIMIST
CHRIS
USMA '03 | FOOTBALL | x35527
Editor-in-Chief
Seeks stories to be told. Neither too young or old. Loves Helvetica Bold. From Chicago, it's mostly cold. Might bend, will never fold. Rocks the black-gold.
From Lombard, Illinois
Was #19 because of Lance Allworth
Loves Elvis and Baseball
Wide Reciever for Army Football
Served 5 years active duty as a Field Artillery Officer
Professional Independent Photographer for 12+ years (Nike, ESPN and many others)
Former Photo Editor and Page Designer for Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
