As Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber was named the first
Black female brigade commander for the United States Naval Academy in 2020. Barber,
a 2017 graduate of Lake Forest High School, will graduate in 2021 from the
Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. But
her accolades are not limited to her groundbreaking role as brigade commander.
As a Harry S. Truman Scholarship finalist, Barber was recognized for her
commitment to public service and academic excellence.

Barber moved to Lake Forest as a sophomore in high school.
But she had been part of the Lake Forest community from first grade on, through
the family’s attachments to Christ Church, while the family lived in Highland
Park. Barber credits much of her community involvement from her experiences in
Lake Forest and from the mission trips she participated in with Christ Church.

She explained, “Growing up in the northern suburbs, I would
compare myself with people around me and sometimes feel bad. It wasn’t until I
went and saw people who had absolutely nothing in terms of material things, but
who were so full and so happy and were constantly wanting to serve others, that
I realized that happiness isn’t tied to material things.”

Service was always top of mind in her thoughts about college
and career. She didn’t picture herself as an engineer or scientist in high
school at all. She loved foreign policy and the mission trips with the church.

Barber said, “It wasn’t until I got to the academy that I
found a love for math and science. The subjects always came naturally for me.
But they weren’t my favorites. But at the academy, there were a lot of opportunities
to apply it through engineering in interesting ways.”

At the Naval Academy, Barber gained extensive experience with
a variety of applications of her skills, including at an internship with the
Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

She volunteered with other undergraduate women from the
Academy at a local school in Annapolis. She recognized that there were
inequities in the school that were limiting those students’ access to higher
education. “I thought it was crazy that there was a great institution down the
road from this community, but because of the educational disparities in their
community, they don’t have the resources to come to the academy themselves,
especially given the limited resources for their math and science education.”

She and some of her track teammates decided to change that.
They worked to combine their tutoring program with STEM-based projects,
introducing fun activities that made science exciting. Barber explained that the goals were to
“introduce them to some of the things we were doing. We wanted to show them
that there was more out there and give them positive role models, particularly
as African American females. These girls had probably had never seen people who
look like them, who are in the fields of math and science.”

Barber also focused her efforts on developing legislative
strategies to address the education disparities in minority communities like
those that she was witnessing in Annapolis, work which fueled her selection as
a Truman Scholar national finalist.

Along with the academic achievements and the leadership
skills, Barber is an accomplished athlete. Barber credits her experience on the
high school track team with many of the opportunities she has had in college.
She was a sprinter and middle-distance runner, making it to state her senior
year, the first year she ran. Her natural abilities allowed her to be a walk-on
sprinter and hurdler for the Division 1 Navy Women’s Varsity Track and Field
team, where she lettered all three years of competing and holds an Academy
record for the outdoor 4x400m relay. She gives a specific callout to the girls
on her high school team for giving her the foundation of friendship and the
confidence to pursue big goals.

She said that her experiences in Lake Forest helped her
focus and find a direction. “I realized what makes you happy and defines your
purpose, it has to be more than your own success. It has to be about the
success of those around you and making the world a better place.”

“Lake Forest fostered in me a heart for service in me and a
love for giving more to the world than I was getting out of it. No matter what
career path I pursue, I want to work in service in some way. I fell in love
with the Academy, with people always focused on something bigger than
themselves. I met people at the Academy with a strong moral compass and that
helped push me to want to work in service of others.”