Nov. 17, 2002 — Virgin Islands high school graduates seem to like the Coast Guard — and the Coast Guard Academy wants to ensure the interest continues. Academy staff will be on St. Thomas this week to suggest this option to graduating seniors.
Coast Guard Academy Staff Lt. Chris McMunn and Lt. Commander Larry Norris will be visiting St. Thomas from Nov. 19-22, and then going on to St. Croix. They will be visiting schools and the University of the Virgin Islands and talking to 11th and 12th graders and college students about the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and what it offers for prospective candidates and minority programs.
The tentative schedule:
Tuesday, Nov. 19
— 3 p.m. Meeting with Lt. John V. Reinert, resident supervisor of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment in St. Thomas, and Bob Armstrong of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
— 4 p.m. Media interviews, live radio talk show.
Wednesday.
— 8:30 a.m. Visit Sts. Peter and Paul High School.
— 12 p.m. Visit Charlotte Amalie High School and talk with 11th and 12th grade students and with JROTC. CAHS already has one Academy applicant: 12th grader Nkosi Thomas.
Thursday
— 8:30 a.m. Visit Antilles School.
— 10 a.m. Visit Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.and JROTC
— 12 p.m. Visit University of the Virgin Islands
Thursday evening or Friday
— Visit Civil Air Patrol.
— Media conferences
The Academy recruiters will discuss several Academy programs, including Minority Introduction to Engineering, Academy Introduction and Mission, Admission Requirements, and other areas of interest. Each student graduates with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering, electrical engineering, government, management, marine and environmental sciences, mechanical engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering, or operations research.
Admission requirements include: U.S. citizenship, age 17-22, unmarried with no dependents, high school graduate, and completion of either the SAT or the ACT assessment test.
In most cases staff will talk to honors students, which says something about admission requirements. The Coast Guard Academy site reports that over the past four years 90 percent of entrants have graduated in the top 25 percent of their class.
The Source carried an article in June of this year of the commissioning of Virgin Islander Flavel Blyden Jr. as Electronics Chief Warrant Officer; he was sworned in by another Virgin Islander, Commander Austin Callwood. (See Coast Guard Promotes Flavel Blyden Jr.
Other locals in the Guard include Alvin Dalmida Jr., Myron Dalmida, and Marvin Wells.
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