Why Attend A Service Academy

For as long as I can remember, I feel as though I have been raised in a military environment. At a very young age my parents taught me to value discipline, manners, and to show and treat people with respect. In addition to these ‘staples’ of my upbringing, excelling in academics and on the athletic fields was where I further grew as a leader and learned to work with others to further distinguish myself from my peers. I knew based on my priorities and values that I was different from others by not only the way I carried myself but how I spoke to my peers and elders and the respect that I commanded. Perhaps those values were aided by both my grandfather’s serving in the military and my uncle attending West Point, a graduate of the class of

Twenty-six years ago I a 17-year-old boy joined the United States Army. I served my country faithfully for 22 years, two months and four days; I served in the Transportation Corps. My time in the army was a special period in my life. I gain a lot of life experiences as well as professional ones; the military shaped and molded me into the husband, father son, and brother that I am today. During my service, I grew up and learned several life lessons that would serve me well in and out of the army. To get a real understand on how the military shaped me into the person, I am today; I must first give you some insight into the person I was before I left for basic training. I graduated high school in 1991 just four months’ shy of my 18th birthday;

One of these individuals is my dad. My dad graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and has served in the Air Force for over 20 years. I have a sense of the challenges from his experiences that I will face at a service academy. People often ask why I want to go to a service academy, knowing what I am going to be facing and my answer is always the same; I want to protect the freedom that others have protected for me. I want to join the Americans, living and deceased, who have fought to protect our

My goal of serving our country with meaningful purpose and responsibility is clear to me. I am confident that attending the United States Naval Academy is the most effective way for me to achieve this objective, and for this reason, I request your

I would like to attend a military academy because I would like to be the best that I can be, while at the same time, serving my country. Education at the AFA is comparable to the best universities in the country, including my prospective major, Astronautical Engineering; so, the service academy is an excellent academic choice for me. Additionally, only the best-of-the-best attend these academies, and being surrounded by such great people will be terrific to make new friends and network.

I have aspired to attend a service academy since I entered high school in 2012. My interest in attending a service academy is derived from my goal to serve as an officer in the military. While many other universities offer quality educations, the service academies teach beyond the typical academic subjects. The academies instil values of duty, country, and honor in each individual that graduates from the academies. Furthermore, he academies are challenging programs with a commitment to serving the nation upon graduation and I am sure I am up to the challenge. Another reason that I want to attend a service academy is, throughout my life as a military child, countless service members have inspired me to join the military with their selflessness

ct to gain from the Air Force Academy experience and how will it help you in your Air Force career? (250 to 300 words, 3000 characters max)

I seek to enhance my leadership abilities as a future officer in the armed forces, as well as dedicating time tailored to serving my country as a future officer via a military academy graduate. I want to be more than just a dot on a statistical demographic for the future; I want to genuinely innovate and make a difference – regardless of which academy I receive an acceptance letter from or branch I enlist to serve.

Service academies have proved throughout history that they are capable of producing some of the most influential military leaders . One example being Chester Nimitz , a fleet admiral in world war two who was the commander in chief of the pacific fleet. Chester Nimitz was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and there he received what has become my reasons for attending a service academy. I wish to attend a service academy because its alumni have proven repeatedly to have received quality education, preparation and a challenge that prepared them for the stresses of leading troops in difficult times.

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

My primary reason for wanting to attend West Point Military Academy and serve as an active duty U.S. Army officer is to become the best version of myself that I can possibly be and to further hone my innate abilities and unique skill set to serve my country to the best of my ability, and help make the world a better place both on and off the battlefield.

Every successful leader is built upon the strongest foundations. A foundation that is a conglomerate of scholarship, leadership, service, and character ensures the optimal potential of an individual. The importance of these pillars is most apparent in National Honor Society. The scholarship of an individual sets them above the herd; however, their character, the force that drives them to achieve the impossible, is the mold that shapes the leader they’ll become. Furthermore, service opportunities not only open member's’ eyes to the compassion needed in leaders but also the skills in management, cooperation, and perseverance demanded from them in the community.

Leadership Development, and the desire to serve my country are two main reasons that have guided my life towards wanting to attend a service academy. Always having to ability to demonstrate great leadership has been an extraordinary part of my life. I have had the opportunity to meet past graduates, and they showed me how services academies take special pride in developing there cadets into fine young men and women. The United States Military Academy produced several people (ex: Robert E Lee, Ulysses S. Grant) who are not only prodigious leaders, but have had a tremendous impact on the U.S.A itself. Personally, I have always believed that everybody has the duty to serve their country in some sort of way. Being able to attend a Service Academy

I joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Veteran with over 24 years of leadership experience in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). During my last ten years in the USMC, I held leadership billets working in executive positions which required continuing leadership education, and I am confident that if accepted into The Shadow Program, the knowledge gained will assist me in being a stronger, valuable leader to

My first visit to the Naval Academy was on family trip while in grammar school. On this and subsequent visits, the young men and women who chose to devote their lives to country and service greatly impressed me. As a high school student, I had the good fortune to experience Academy life via my acceptance to the competitive Summer STEM program, my invitation to Candidate Visit Weekend, and my participation in the Elite Throws Sports Camp. Through these first-hand experiences, I grew in awareness and commitment to an Academy education as an opportunity to enable me to serve my country. Moreover, I am honored to be a member of a gold star family, via my uncle Senior Master Sergeant Peter Bondi, recently deceased on active duty, and to have had a grandfather who served in the National Guard. Eulogies delivered for my Uncle Peter reflected a life of service and were a source of inspiration that fueled my resolve to serve.