WATCH REPLAY: Air Force Academy class of 2023 graduation

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (KKTV) - As with the last three classes, “perseverance” may be the word that best describes the Air Force Academy class of 2023.

When they drove through the gates for the first time in summer 2019, the incoming freshmen would never have guessed the rigors of training would be the easy part.

A global pandemic, of course, would disrupt life on campus before their first year was even over.

But though their college years unfolded under the shadow of COVID-19, the class of more than 900 ends their time at the Academy on a high note, with the first graduation opened to the public in four years -- and a visit from the president of the United States!

This remarkable class of 2023 by the numbers:

- 1,155 men and women were inducted into the Air Force Academy in 2019. Of those, 921 will graduate.

- More than a quarter of the cadets (270) are women.

- Nearly a third of the graduates (285) are minorities. Of those cadets, 106 are Hispanic/Latino, 76 are multi-racial, 105 are Asian, 70 are Black, 17 are Pacific Islanders, and 5 are Native American.

- 12 cadets are from other countries: Cambodia, Jordan, Malaysia, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Tunisia

- 49 had a parent graduate

- 6 had both parents graduate

- 54 are the second child in their family to graduate (excluding twins)

- 4 are the third child in their family to graduate

- 3 sets of twins is graduating

- Including the class of 2023, 55,643 cadets have graduated from the academy since its first class in 1959.

- Including the class of 2023, 7,197 female cadets have graduated from the academy since 1980 (the first class to admit women).

- Including the class of 2023, 54,736 have been commissioned into the military. This breaks down to 54,018 in the Air Force, 391 in the Space Force, 138 in the Army, 102 in the Navy, and 89 in the Marines.

- 398 graduates have been selected for pilot training

- 12 have been selected for remotely piloted aircraft training

- 5 have been selected for combat systems officer training

- 4 have been selected for air battle manager training

- 93 have been assigned to Space Force

Click here for the graduation program!