With service academies you don’t pay in money, but you pay in your time and service. It’s a big commitment, and if you’re really not sure and it’s for you, don’t go just for the free college.”

Ethan Courville, who's going to West Point

PORTSMOUTH — Eight members of the Portsmouth High School Class of 2022 won’t have much time to celebrate their summer vacation after being awarded diplomas tonight, June 3. They’re all shipping off to U.S. service academies later this month.

Here’s who they are, and where they’re going:

• U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Annapolis, Md.: James Andersen, Colby Fahrney, and Amory Kirwin (deferred for one year due to injury)

•  U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, Col.: John Maedke and Garen Seibert

•  U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA), West Point, N.Y.: Maria Chytka, Jack Pacheco, and Ethan Courville

As far as anyone can tell, no other PHS class has featured this many seniors selected for service academies.

“I cannot recall a graduating class that has come close to this many U.S. service academy acceptances,” said School Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy, who is in his 26th year in education, spanning several districts and high schools. 

“As a former high school principal myself, I am very familiar with the process and how selective it is,” Kenworthy added. “This number speaks volumes about the quality of the PHS Class of 2022. Congratulations to each of these students and their families. All of us in the Portsmouth School Department are very proud of them and wish them the best of luck in their military careers.”

And no, these graduates don’t seem to mind the fact they’ll be leaving their friends, family and the beach behind between June 23 and 30, depending on where they’re headed. In fact, they can’t wait.

“It’s worth it, to get yelled at,” Maedke joked. “It’s not a summer you’d normally think of, but it’s still a summer.”

Their eagerness may be explained by the fact that most of them have been planning this journey for years. They’re also proud to be part of such a large contingent of seniors who chose the service academy route.

“I’m a little bit biased, but I think we’re one of the smarter classes our school has had,” said Seibert. “I also think we have a very high military influence not only in our school, but in this grade in particular. I’m a military kid myself, which helped make this decision.”

Born in Delaware, Seibert’s family moved to Alabama, Belgium, South Korea, and Japan before arriving in Portsmouth to begin high school. “I’ve been around the block. Japan was probably my favorite; I lived there the longest out of any of the assignments — fifth grade to eighth grade,” he said.

Others have been exposed to officers who had a big impact on their future plans. “Being around Newport and the War College, you see and interact with a lot of people in the military,” said Pacheco, whose dad works for a Navy contractor.

Maedke once met an alumnus from USNA, who told him all about service academies, while Courville first learned about West Point when he went there for a Boy Scout Camporee when he was about 12. Chytka comes from a military family, so that along with her Girl Scout experience led her to West Point.

“When I visited West Point, I just walked on campus and felt it was right,” she said. “I felt like I fit. I walked into one of the lectures about sleep deprivation, and I recognized all the points from my dad, because he had already been teaching me this stuff.”

Anderson’s reasoning for choosing the service academy path was a bit different. 

“If I’m being honest, I first realized I wanted to go to the military in some way through movies and video games when I was a little kid,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is so cool; I want to do this.’ I mean, if you watched ‘Top Gun’ as a kid, you want to do this.”

His father, who works for a Navy contractor, arranged for a meeting with a fellow employee — a retired two-star admiral. “He told me all about the Naval Academy, how to become an officer,” Anderson said. “That was back in middle school, and I said that’s what I want to do. I started looking into it more and realized it was a prestigious school with a good engineering tract. I’d be meeting all these people that I would be friends for life and I said, ‘This is where I want to go.’”

Why a service academy?

That’s the message this group has had for younger students at PHS, where they recently hosted an informational session on service academies for underclassmen.

“A lot of them are thinking about the ROTC route or OSC, and I tell them no — I think you should really go to the service academy,” Anderson said. “You can only go there once and it’s such a unique experience. There are so many neat traditions there and you meet so many great people. They have a reputation of developing the very best military leaders. I don’t think that’s something you want to pass up.”

But it’s not for everyone, these seniors are quick to point out. For Pacheco, a free education and no student debt is very attractive for many students thinking about applying to a service academy, but it’s not necessarily the best reason.

“There are things you learn from the academy that you wouldn’t learn from any other college —  just the character-building and the leadership-building. I think it really does set you up later in life,” he said.

Courville nodded. “With service academies you don’t pay in money, but you pay in your time and service. It’s a big commitment, and if you’re really not sure and it’s for you, don’t go just for the free college,” he said.

At a minimum, students in service academies must put in five years of service after their education, Seibert pointed out. “Depending on whether you get further education or what career you’re doing, it could me more,” he said.

Even the laborious multi-stage application process to get into a service academy is not for everyone, they said. “Patience is a huge part of the whole process. It takes forever to get anything done,” said Courville. “It’s hurry up and wait. You have to get stuff in quickly and then wait for months.”

Future plans

Six of these eight students took the engineering path at PHS, which was helpful since many service academies are focused on STEM and engineering, they said. Although their future is unwritten, some of them shared their goals for the future. 

Maedke was thinking about becoming a pilot and perhaps going into the medical field after finishing service. Chytka has always been interested in aerospace and may be looking into the U.S. Space Force. Seibert is thinking of becoming a mechanical engineer and perhaps exploring a career field called Foreign Area Office which opens up after 10 years of service. 

“They work with ambassadors in foreign countries,” he said.

These students have a sense of camaraderie and friendly competition among then, which includes some gentle ribbing since they’re going into different branches of the military. 

“I hate Army and the Air Force,” proclaimed Anderson, who’s going into the U.S. Naval Academy.

“There’s a reason we’re so high above sea level,” retorted Maedke, who’ll be entering the U.S. Air Force Academy. “Because we’re above y’all.”

Boom.

All joking aside, they’re ready for their next adventure.

“They’ve already assigned us with a bunch of workouts to do so we’re already physically fit by the time we get there,” said Seibert. “And once we’re there, we’ll be memorizing basically everything we can about the military.”

“Like the number of windows in a certain building on campus,” added Chytka. “There’s something called ‘knowledge,’ at least at West Point. Essentially it’s almost to tease you into learning facts that aren’t necessarily imperative. It’s like stress training, but a different type.”

They also toss around the word “fun,” even when discussing the more demanding aspects of training.

“After six weeks of pushups and getting yelled at, in the Air Force we go off to Jacks Valley and do the obstacle courses and eat cold MREs (ready-to-eat individual field rations) for every meal,” said Seibert.

Courville said he’s received some advice on how to best prepare himself for the experience.

“One of the tips I got is: Have a sense of humor, but don’t show it. You have to recognize that some of the stuff you’re doing is ridiculous, and it’s kind of ridiculous on purpose, but you have to be able to laugh at yourself. But don’t actually show it, because that will get you in trouble,” he said.