Sydney Motherway remembers being in first grade the first time she told someone else her dad, David, was cool. And she was in fourth or fifth grade when she first thought of attending the Coast Guard Academy, too, as David did.

David, a 1986 Stonington High School graduate, was commissioned as a Coast Guard officer in 1991, having played football at the academy. Sydney, a member of the sailing team, just finished her freshman year and is set to help sail Coast Guard's barque Eagle from Iceland to Bermuda.

"I could see the friendships he had (with fellow Coast Guard grads). I was friends with all their kids," Sydney said of her dad, now a civilian working for athenahealth. "He was always talking to people ... all of the friendships he has 20 years later.

"... I think just being able to help people while being on the water, those are the two biggest things I love the most (about Coast Guard). I'm so grateful to be there. I went where I wanted to go my whole life."

Sydney began on the water when the family lived in Vermont. They also lived in Virginia before David and his wife Kathie moved the family back to Stonington. All three children, Sydney, Erin and Leo, chose to attend the Marine Science Magnet School in Groton while playing sports for Stonington.

This spring, Sydney was part of the Coast Guard sailing team which competed in the Women's National Championship, hosted by the Naval Academy, May 19-20. The Bears qualified for nationals by finishing second in New England. At the nationals, Sydney, an alternate, crewed in the A Division on the second day of the regatta.

She is a naval architecture and marine engineering major who was the first member of Coast Guard's Class of 2024 to sign her appointment.

Said Sydney of David: "We have always had a good relationship. He supports me in everything I do."