Norton Applauds Huge Turnout at Service Academy College Fair and Sendoff, Marking a Turning Point of Increasing D.C. Interest in the Academies
WASHINGTON, DC – Well over 100 District of Columbia students, parents and other residents attended Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) Service Academy College Fair and Sendoff on Tuesday evening, which, according Commander Kerwin Miller, USN SN (Ret) (USNA '75), the chairman of Norton's Service Academy Selection Board, was the largest crowd for the event since Norton has been a member of the House. More than half of the attendees were D.C. students in grades 6-11, most of whom came with parents. The pre-college age group was a special focus of the College Fair to encourage early college preparation.
In order to give D.C. students and parents a comprehensive experience and encourage robust interaction, Norton combined the sendoff ceremony for this year's appointees to the service academies with a college fair. This approach allowed this year's service academy appointees to speak with aspiring service academy students as well as with service academy admissions officers and D.C. Academy alumni about the application process, the advantages of an academy degree and life in the academies. Moreover, the brief keynote remarks came from two former D.C. public school students who are recent service academy graduates – U.S. Navy Lieutenant James Billings, a 2005 Norton appointee, who graduated from Wilson High School and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and James Rimensnyder, a 2000 Norton appointee, who graduated from Wilson High School and the U.S. Naval Academy and is now a D.C. police officer. Each drew special attention because they were of the same generation as the middle and high school students who were in attendance. Rimensnyder is also a member of the Service Academy Selection Board, and its youngest member.
This year's six appointees include four young men and two young women – Albert "Jackson" George Wilkinson Biddle, IV (U.S. Military Academy/St. Albans School), Jacob Arthur Bishop (U.S. Military Academy/St. Albans School), Tess Jung Heimerman (U.S. Coast Guard Academy/Bishop O'Connell School), Patrick Anlon McGuigan (U.S. Naval Academy/Gonzaga College High School), Natalie Anne Herbert (U.S. Military Academy/homeschool and School Without Walls), and Roy Wallace Seitz-McLeese (U.S. Naval Academy/The Field School).
Of the six outstanding Norton appointees, Natalie Anne Herbet is perhaps the most unusual. She was admitted to all three major academies – the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Military Academy. She not only is the second ever homeschooled Norton appointee and the first ever homeschooled African American female Norton appointee, she also studies and can speak Chinese. Natalie chose West Point with the help of Maj. Pat Walker Locke, USA (Ret) (USMA '80), the first African American woman to receive her degree from West Point. Ms. Locke is also assisting in raising interest in the academies of D.C. public school students.
"We were elated by the best turnout and most successful academy event yet," said Norton. "I applaud the new D.C. academy students for making the District, their parents and their schools proud, the academy graduates who are real-time role models for the next generation of current D.C. students, their parents for their increased interest in the opportunities the service academies can provide, the D.C. schools for outreach efforts, this year's appointees, and particularly the Service Academy Selection Board and the service academy representatives who spoke and interacted with prospective students. I am especially impressed with the rapidly growing number of D.C. public school students and their parents who have taken an interest in learning more about the service academies as a viable and honorable future education."
Norton said she was grateful to the counselors and staff from Friendship Tech Prep Academy Charter School and JROTC Instructors from Bell Multicultural, HD Woodson and Dunbar who attended. D.C. schools represented by students and appointees included Dunbar, H.D. Woodson, Woodrow Wilson, Bell Multicultural, School Without Out Walls, Gonzaga, St. John's, The Field School, St. Albans, Bishop O'Connell, Friendship Tech Prep Academy PCS, Paul PCS, and the D.C. Public School Military Science Program (JROTC).
The service academies represented by admissions officers and alumni were the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis), the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs).
The academies and the Congresswoman will begin accepting applications for nominations to the Service Academy classes of 2018 in mid-July. Every year, the Congresswoman may make up to 40 nominations to the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy, who then compete for appointments to which they have been nominated. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy uses a direct appointment system.
Published: June 13, 2013