Three graduating V.I. high school students have won prestigious appointments to the nation's military academies for the coming year.
Jesus Soler, from Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, has been accepted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; Morgan Callender, from Charlotte Amalie High School, by the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Miguel Camacho, from Country Day School, by the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
Soler, the son of Janet Rivera and Kenny Ryan, is a member of the Eudora Kean ROTC, which, as an "Honor Unit with Distinction," is entitled to send an appointee to West Point. Callender and Camacho were appointed to the other two academies by Delegate Donna Christian- Christensen.
Soler said he is grateful to Col. David Waller and Sgt. Maj. Eugene Ward, who coached him "through the lengthy and tedious process of physicals, tests, forms and recommendations."
Before moving to the territory three years ago from New York, Soler attended Brooklyn Tech honors high school. He said has been very impressed by the dedication of the teachers here. "They work very hard to do the best for the students," he said. He expects to play football for West Point and has already attended football camp there. He plans to become an aeronautical engineer or an attorney — and was voted most outstanding litigator of this year's Moot Court competition.
Callender, who had not initially considered the military as a career, scored so high on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) tests that a representative from the military academies came seeking him. "As I looked at all the options they had to offer, I began to think seriously about the Air Force Academy," he said.
The son of Janice and Malcolm Callender (his dad is a Vietnam veteran), Callender aspires to become an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Camacho is the son of Miguel and Marian Camacho. He said he saw a Navy promotion at the impressionable age of 6 years, and since then the "Navy has been my lifelong dream."
He was accepted on early admission and guaranteed a place at the Naval Academy based on his impressive SAT scores. The military also offered him a four-year scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology if he didn't want to go to Annapolis. He was one of the 500 finalists across the nation for this year's Presidential Scholars program.
All three young men indicated they are working out in anticipation of a summer of "plebe camp," which begins at the end of June.
