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President Obama To Deliver Commencement Address At West Point Graduation Ceremony

WEST POINT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- President Barack Obama will visit New York to give the commencement address at the graduation ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy.

The president will address West Point's Class of 2014 on Wednesday, when he's expected to fill in details of his Afghanistan plan. More than 1,000 cadets are expected to graduate and be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army after completing their four years at West Point.

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One of those graduating this year is Steve Zachensky of Sleepy Hollow, whose interest in coming to West Point took root when he was in the fifth grade after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Steve Zachensky
Steve Zachensky (credit: Peter Haskell/ WCBS 880)

"Living so close to the city I remember 9/11 very vividly," Zachensky told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell. " I was driving over the Tappan Zee Bridge that day and I can remember looking up to the north towards West Point and how beautiful of a day it was then looking south and the sky was just black and it was chaotic."

"I just remember the spirit of the country coming together in such a tragedy and then the force which we responded," Zachensky  added.

The economics major will soon be heading into an Infantry Unit, Haskell reported.

Wednesday will mark Obama's third visit to New York this month.

The presidents was in New York two weeks ago, making a speech at the Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown in a pitch to Congress to spend more money on the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Afterward he headed to New York City for a pair of Democratic fundraisers and the dedication ceremony for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Last Thursday, the president was in Cooperstown to talk about the nation's tourism industry.

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