Thornton Photography is the official photographer for Plebe Summer and posts thousands of images per event. Finding your kid in there without a system takes forever. Here is how we actually do it, including how to split the searching with other parents from your Mid’s company.
- Find the USNA Plebe Summer gallery on thorntonphoto.com. Each year’s Plebe Summer is broken into folders by date and event. Folders are usually named Date, Company, Event, Photographer, for example “July 13, 1-36, Practice Parade, LT#1” for July 13th, Battalion 1, Companies 1 to 36, the Practice Parade.
- Know your Mid’s company number. You find out your Plebe’s company at I-Day. Write it down. Companies run 1 through 36 across battalions, and not every company appears in every folder.
- Use the event type to prioritize. Parade photos give you the best chance since everyone marches. Formal Dress Parade folders, usually weeks 5 to 6, have the clearest full-face shots. Fieldwork and obstacle course folders are harder, with covers and motion blur everywhere. Start with parades.
- Download and track your finds. Thornton uploads in batches, so check back every few days. Once you find your Mid in one folder, you’ll know what to look for next: their height in formation, their gait, their build. A simple spreadsheet of event name, folder and photo number keeps it organized.
- Connect with company parents for tag-teaming. The fastest way to find photos is to split the searching. Find parents from your Mid’s company, usually through the USNA class Facebook groups, and divide the folders. One parent finds your kid, everyone shares.
Looking for the rest of the Plebe Summer kit: the week-by-week timeline, the questionnaire generator, and what to send and when? See Plebe Summer Kit.
Last reviewed August 2026. Parent perspective. Verify current requirements with USNA.