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Here’s my previous post about an introduction to the importance of the Congressional Interview to attending Military Academies. Thanks to the Structured Learning workbook on Building a Midshipman for this:

The final stage in your pursuit of a Congressional nomination to a United States Service Academy is a personal interview…” This letter, received April 30th of your Junior year, confirms that your Congressman remains aware of your continued interest in the Service Academy interview and nomination.

A year ago, at the Service Academy night, you listened to the presentations from each of the five Service Academies, and then introduced yourself to Congressman Cox’s assistant, Ms. Leslie Duvall, to let her know you would be applying for a nomination. She suggested you get in touch in spring for a packet. Interviews would be the following November. On April 30^th, you received a confirmation letter, outlining what the Congressional Nomination packet would include:

• a completed Application for Nomination
• a resume (based on an enclosed sample)
• a short essay discussing your reasons for seeking admission to a Service Academy
• a photo
• SAT examination results
• three letters of recommendation.

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The Congressional Interview is required for a high school student to apply for nomination to the USNA. Here’s how the Naval Academy website says it:

To receive an offer of appointment to the Naval Academy, an applicant must obtain a nomination from an official source. There are many nomination sources and applicants are encouraged to apply to all available sources. This normally includes a U.S. Representative, two U.S. Senators and the Vice President of the United States.

The nomination application process is similar to applying for a school, and being personally acquainted with the person from whom you are seeking a nomination is not required. 

The nomination process and your USNA application are separate processes, however they should be accomplished simultaneously.  DO NOT wait until you have received a nomination to begin your formal USNA application.  Many nomination notifications do not go out until early to mid January, even though nomination interviews are conducted much earlier. The deadline for your USNA application is January 31st.

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Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is a combined event that is annually observed in the United States on September 17. This event commemorates the formation and signing of the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787. It also recognizes all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become US citizens.

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The United States’ National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed across the nation on the third Friday of September each year. This year, that’s September 16, 2016. Many Americans take the time to remember those who were prisoners of war (POW) and those who are missing in action (MIA), as well as their families.

You will never be forgotten.

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9/11, a day of remembrance.

We won’t forget.

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Labor Day is a US holiday dedicated to workers across the country. The public holiday always falls on the first Monday in September. The first federal observation of the holiday occurred in 1894 however the first Labor Day observed in a state was in Oregon in 1887.

Today, I honor the warrior, his job to fight for America’s way of life, invisibly and heroically, across the globe.

Those who made the ultimate sacrifice

Cpl Dakota Meyer

Received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary actions

NATO forces, not Boatswain’s Mate (Fuels) 3rd Class Robert Wagner

Stephen Cochran 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force

First Steps:

Depending upon where you are in the process, you may have done some of the items on this list. Skip them. Be happy you’re done. Move on to the next:

If you’re serious about attending the USNA or any other military academy, buy a few books (or check them out of the library) on the process. It’s worth the investment because if you pursue this dream, you will be investing much more of your time and money before you achieve your goal. Better to make sure this is the direction you want to go.

Here are two books to get you started:

• Building a Midshipman: How to Crack the USNA Application—

From the perspective of a high school student who was accepted. Down-to earth, personal, definitely not dry, and should give confidence to any teen, male or female, considering a military academy as their college of choice.

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This day in USNA history:

Navy Colors Blue and Gold were born, 27 August 1802

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, and To Hunt a Sub, her debut thriller. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a tech columnist for TeachHUB, a program reviewer for ISTE, and freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Currently, she’s editing the sequel to To Hunt a Sub, which should be out next summer.

I wasn’t smart enough

Building a high school grad worthy of being anointed ‘USNA midshipman’ isn’t easy, but nothing worth your effort is. As President John F. Kennedy said,

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.

Still, many who are completely capable of qualifying will claim they can’t do it, using the most mundane overused excuses. Read these top five, and then say, Bring it on!

C students rule the world. John McCain finished almost last in his class. Smart isn’t the barometer for success in the world. Hard work, persistence, getting along with others, problem solving certainly makes any plan work better.

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What is 2-for-7? From the USNA Parent Network:

The “Point of No Return,” is called Two for Seven, meaning two years down and seven more years to serve – two more at the Academy and 5 more in the fleet after graduation. This is a big decision made at the beginning of the Second Class academic year. Many Mids consider both options – to stay and to leave. Midshipmen can leave at the end of their Second Class summer training without incurring any further military obligation. They walk away with two years of undergraduate study completed and no debt owed. However, the hardest years are behind them. They have seen and understand the many career options available to them and they have experienced the teamwork and pride of belonging to their company, their class and to the Navy. They sweat the committment to what seems to be a very long time in their young lives. Once the decision is made, they relax and feel comfortable with their choice, but crossing that line looms large for some.

Here are some images of Second Class Mids, recommitting to USNA:

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update

You’ve had the summer off to reflect and plan and now it’s time to start the most seminal period in your lifetime to date, the years that will decide what happens After High School. Do you get accepted to the college of your choice, a second-tier choice, or a safety school? Do you end up in vocational school following a technical dream, or do you end up thrown into a job market which is hopefully better in four years than it is now.

One bit of information I know about you is you are interested in the Naval Academy. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. With classes back (or almost there), I’ll make the following assumptions:

• You’re enrolled in the hardest classes possible for you. They might be honors, AP, IB–but it is the best you can do at this point in your education. If they aren’t AP, work towards those. If your school only offers honors, don’t worry about it. The Admissions Board only asks that you take the hardest courses available to you.
• You’re trying out for a challenging sport. It might be Varsity or JV. It might be a team sport or golf. Whatever it is, it’s the best you can do, and that’s good enough. The Navy likes physically-fit members, and the way they can judge that on the application is that you participate to the highest level possible.
• If you have a unique hobby, continue it. The Admissions people want to know you’re busy, pursuing a passion, striving for the best that you can be.

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update

If you didn’t like football before your child became a Mid, you will after. Football games are an experience, with the Mid’s march on (through Annapolis if it’s a home game), the stadium with its free food for Navy fans, the Mid section that never looses its enthusiasm, the fly-over by the Blue Angels for the Really Big Games. You’ll either attend or watch it on whatever station plays it, even if it’s an internet station. You’ll get good at sleuthing out those websites.

I’ll get you started. Here’s the 2009 schedule:

They’ve had an exciting team for years–they beat Notre Dame a few years ago and they have been invited to Bowl Games for over five years in a row. Here’s a YouTube of 2008 highlights:

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update

Here’s a summary of what your senior year in high school might resemble if your goal for college is USNA. This is based on the real experiences of a successful Naval Academy applicant, what she did

for the four years of high school to make sure she was offered a slot at the college of her choice:

• You spend a week at the Naval Academy’s Summer Seminar
• You spend a week at the Air Force’s Summer Seminar
• You take the mandatory health class—required to graduate (you sneak it in the eight days between NASS and UND Summer Science Program)
• You spend three weeks at the University of Notre Dame’s Summer Science program
• You spend a month with your UCI mentor completing background for your science project
• You complete the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology project—“Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation
• Between Brassica rapa Populations on the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate”
• You sign up for two more SAT examinations, giving you a last chance at the best score possible. And, you study as much as you can in your summer free time
• You get your driver’s license

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update

The physicality of plebe summer is over. Now that exercise moves to the brain. Reform is coming and classes will begin. You probably saw lots of videos of USNA’s weekend, but did you see West Point’s? Zoe wouldn’t consider any Academy other than USNA, but watch this. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s inspirational:

During Cadet Basic Training (CBT) also known as “Beast,” plebes have to memorize lots of different bits of information and military phrases, mottos, and quotes. One of them is the Soldier’s Creed. With no disrespect to the Soldier’s Creed, I thought that Plebes needed something of their own, so I changed up the words, and this is what turned out.
Hope you enjoy it.

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Great post on the mysteries of the Code Talkers, well-suited to August 14th, the day we honor these folks.

Pacific Paratrooper

During WWI, the Choctaw language had been used to transmit U.S. military messages. With this thought in mind, Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary grew up on a Navajo reservation and spoke the Diné tongue fluently, brought the suggestion of a similar code to General Clayton Vogel early in 1942. The Diné language has no alphabet, uses no symbols and one sound may hold an entire concept. The idea was tested and proved to be faster and more reliable than the mechanized methods. The language has more verbs than nouns, that helps to move the sentences along and makes it far more difficult for outsiders to learn – making it the most ingenious and successful code in military history.

The 382nd Platoon, USMC

The original class, the 382d Platoon, Navajo Communication Specialists, USMC, developed their code at Camp Pendleton. Once a unit of code talkers were trained, they were…

View original post 281 more words

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Here’s a summary of what your junior year in high school might resemble if your goal for college is USNA. This is based on the real experiences of a successful Naval Academy applicant, what she did for 

the four years of high school to make sure she was offered a slot at the college of her choice:

Half way there! As much time remains to reweave the frayed edges of your goals as you’ve had to unravel them. Two more years! You’re tired of studying, but feel good about what you’ve accomplished. This is the year you commit yourself to the IB program (and you’ll have to apply for a scholarship to pay for it). Your schedule for this summer:

• Finish your IB Spanish requirement by taking summer school at the local community college. By July, you realize that it’s not as bad as you thought it would be.
• Take Economics—a required course to graduate high school. This will help with Academic Decathlon next year and free up your senior year schedule (you already have eight classes scheduled for first semester).
• No surprise that your friends take both Economics and IB Spanish with you—everyone trying to make room for classes.
• No soccer—you retired. Too many classes.
• Practice your violin. Another academic year of insufficient violining. By the end of this summer, after putting lots and lots of practice time in, you must decide if there’s a chance to pursue violin at the college level.
• Find a mentor for your science project. You meet with one of the University of California biology department heads, and he agrees to assist. Now you must collect the required raw data, and determine the workability of your project. You are surprised that none of your friends attempt this prestigious competition. It’s not only the opportunity to accomplish independent research; it’s the chance to be noticed by the outstanding universities that participate in the judging.  As you work on this project, you hear from an acquaintance attending the California Institute of Technology.  He tells you that most incoming Cal Tech freshmen completed independent science research in high school and he wishes he had.

Junior year summer, decisions must be made. You assess where you stand in meeting your goals:

• On track for the Naval Academy 
• On track for the University of Notre Dame
• On track for other top college choices

 You visit a lot of colleges to cull what you like and dislike about the college experience. Tradition is important, as well as quality of professors, class size, and availability of up-to-date teaching materials. You want a residential approach—where most students live on campus all four years. And, it’s important that you can get a job at the completion. Do corporations respect the quality of graduate, and/or does the college market their graduates to the business community? Because of your family’s experiences, unemployment has become a great motivator.

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Plebe Parents’ Weekend is designed to offer parents, family members and guests an opportunity to visit with their Midshipman and experience a taste of the traditions, academics, and atmosphere unique to the Naval Academy prior to the start of the Fall Term. This year, Plebe Parent Weekend is August 11-14, 2016. I can only imagine the excitement of those who are packing, planning, ready to see their Plebes after a long summer. How much will your child change? Will they still be excited about the USNA choice? Will they want to talk or sleep? I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s comments.

For more information, visit the USNA website.

Approximately 3,000 family members and friends are expected to visit the Academy for this event. Parents will have an opportunity to learn about their child’s new life as a midshipmen at the Naval Academy. Parents can participate in activities such as:

• Touring the dorm rooms in Bancroft Hall,
• Eating a meal in the midshipmen cafeteria, King Hall
• Watch a dress parade on Worden Field
• Tour the Yard
• Meet with Naval Academy faculty and staff members.

First Steps:

Depending upon where you are in the process, you may have done some of the items on this list. Skip them. Be

happy you’re done. Move on to the next.

If you’re serious about attending the USNA or any other military academy, buy a few books (or check them out of the library) on the process. It’s worth the investment because if you pursue this dream, you will be investing much more of your time and money before you achieve your goal. Better to make sure this is the direction you want to go.

Here are two books to get you started:

• Building a Midshipman: How to Crack the USNA Application—

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Here’s a summary of what your sophomore year in high school might resemble if your goal for college is USNA. This is based on the real experiences of a successful Naval Academy applicant, what she did

for the four years of high school to make sure she was offered a slot at the college of her choice:

You review lessons from freshman year. High school, as expected, proved a daunting experience. So many students, everyone with their own agenda. Too many activities, each important in its own way. And teachers have their own divergent instructional methods with sometimes oxymoronic rules. So much coal to dig through to find the diamonds. Your problems started with questioning what you couldn’t change:

“Why do I have to do it that way?”

You may have been right, but the teacher ignored a poorly presented incursion into his/her teaching techniques by a fourteen-year-old high school freshman with too much attitude. The ill-fated conclusion became either:

• a) The teacher got annoyed with you and ended up not liking you
• b) Oops—you turned out to be wrong, and this truth dawned too late to save your grade, or
• c) You got frustrated with the whole process and gave up.

Well, to your credit, you learned the ropes. It’s over, and this summer something clicks. You realize that life’s default path isn’t your vision of the future.

Without your full and complete attention, you will end up in a location that fate selects—not you. To persuade that invisible force to open doors of your preference demands that you make active decisions and then follow through.

For you, the desire to attend the University of Notre Dame pushes you forward one objective at a time. UND has been part of family lore your entire life. Mostly because of their legendary football team, but also their exemplary scholastics. When you research their academics, you find that distinguished professors teach even freshman classes, and their varied majors cover all of your scientific areas of interest. Plus, they have an orchestra.

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I post this every to remind Americans what happened 48 years ago.

In January, 1968, the intelligence ship, the USS Pueblo, was captured by North Korea. Its crew was not released until December 23, 1968, after being tortured and beaten. Here’s a pictorial of the story, from the official USS Pueblo website:

Click for more pictures

Here’s the story, as retold by Oliver North: