The Cadet Sponsor Program builds a professional mentoring relationship and provides a home away from home for cadets on a permanent basis during their time at the Academy. Sponsors are composed of active-duty, retired and reserve officers, senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs), Academy alumni, civil servants and select local citizens. The program is offered for all four years at the Academy, and cadets and sponsors may make by-name requests which the Cadet Sponsor Office will attempt to honor. If by-name requests are not made, common interests, hobbies or preferences are used as matching criteria. Sponsors often develop lifelong relationships with their cadets, and many cadets come to consider their sponsors as family.