A first-year U.S. Naval Academy student has stood victorious on classmates' shoulders and placed an upperclassman’s cap atop the Herndon Monument after a grueling, slippery struggle. The Class of 2027 worked together Wednesday to scale the 21-foot obelisk covered in vegetable shortening to replace a white plebe “Dixie cup hat” with an upperclassman’s hat. After the climb is complete, they’re called fourth class midshipmen. This year the climb took two hours, 19 minutes and 11 seconds. The shortest time for is believed to be 1 minute, 30 seconds in 1969. The monument wasn't greased that year. The longest was more than four hours in 1995. Upperclassmen glued down the Dixie cup that year. Read MoreA greasy, monumental ritual at the Naval Academy ends after more than 2 hours

Dorothy Jean Tillman's participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest step on a higher-education journey the Chicago teen started when she took her first college course at age 10. In between came associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. When Tillman successfully defended her dissertation in December at age 17, she became the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State. While being homeschooled, Tillman's mother enrolled her in the College of Lake County in Illinois. In 2018, Tillman earned a bachelor’s in humanities from New York’s Excelsior College. About two years later, she earned her master’s from Unity College in Maine. Read MoreA Chicago teen entered college at 10. At 17, she earned a doctorate from Arizona State

BERNBEUREN, Germany (AP) — Despite the threat of dislocated fingers and strained muscles, over 150 Bavarian men came together Sunday to compete in Germany's unique national championship of "Fingerhakeln," or finger wrestling. Read MoreGerman men with the strongest fingers compete in Bavaria's 'Fingerhakeln' wrestling championship