Students take a step towards serving America

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Congressman Lamborn poses with the nominees for the Air Force Academy. Lamborn personally presented each certificate of nomination and shook the hands of the nominees.

Jacqueline Mielke, Ranger Review Reporter

Saturday, February 18, forty-four high school seniors and juniors attended a ceremony to receive certificates of nomination into a service academy from Congressman Doug Lamborn at Doolittle Hall on the base of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Out of 115 students, only forty-four were chosen for this honor. Those academies students were nominated to were the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Merchant Marines and the U.S. Military Academy.

Five seniors from our very own Lewis-Palmer received nominations. Ethan Hollenbach, Eric Mielke, and Julian Uy were nominated for the Air Force Academy. Michael Hartling received a nomination for the U.S. Naval Academy, and Keaton Ladd was nominated for the U.S. Military Academy.

Hartling said that he is not confident at all that he will be accepted into the Navy because there are over 12,000 applicants and only 1,200 of the applicants are accepted. If he gets accepted, he is afraid of getting yelled at but is hopeful that he will wrestle for the Navy in the near future.

The competition for other service academies is just as strong as the Navy’s. Uy is also not very confident that he will be accepted into the Air Force Academy because of the intense competition.

“Basically, I’m afraid of freshman year just because I hear it’s the hardest thing ever,” Uy said. “I’m looking forward to meeting everyone else afterwards during high school reunions and being able to say ‘Hey, I’m doing something awesome.’”

Congressman Lamborn stated at the ceremony how fierce the competition was for the nominations. Several of the nominees were either playing in a varsity sport, captain of a varsity sport, active in church and youth groups, members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, lettered in sports and academics, were Eagle Scouts, attended Boy’s or Girl’s State, or were involved with several community service projects.

The nominations do not guarantee entrance into a service academy. It is merely another step that helps in the brutal process of applying to college.