BHS senior DeLuca headed to U.S. Naval Academy
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008
BENTONVILLE - The planes Nick DeLuca is learning to fly now are tiny compared to the ones he hopes to fly in a few years.
The Bentonville High School senior got an early Christmas present in December - he received his appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He will major in aerospace engineering because he wants to be a pilot, DeLuca said Monday. DeLuca is learning to fly single-engine planes through lessons at the Bentonville Municipal Airport.
"I've always wanted to be a pilot," he said.
The Naval Academy is a fouryear college that provides the standard courses one would take for a given major, but it also requires courses that prepare the student to be an officer in the U. S. Navy. Incidentally, DeLuca was also accepted to the U. S. Air Force Academy.
DeLuca said he first started talking to guidance counselors about the Navy when he was a freshman and living in the eastern United States. His family moved to Bentonville two years ago, and his interest in the Navy has never waned. In fact, it was strengthened about a year ago when he was chosen to go on the Normandy Invasion Scholarship Program trip through BHS. He was able to learn more about people who served the country through military service as the group toured the locations of D-Day events.
"It only made me want to go more," he said. "I've never thought, ' Maybe I don't want to do this. ."
Wanting to attend the Naval Academy and actually attending are two different things. The process started more than a year ago. During the summer between his junior and senior year, DeLuca attended a summer seminar at the academy. It was one of the first steps toward applying to the school, he said. The seminar provided information about the academy and its admission requirements, as well as a glimpse of military life.
Then came the actual application process, parts of which were similar to what DeLuca would face at any college. He had to write a personal essay and provide other information about himself, including test scores, grades and extracurricular activities. He also had to endure a set of physical tests.
Admittance to the Naval Academy is based about 60 percent on academics, about 20 percent on the student's extracurricular activities and about 20 percent on "the whole person," DeLuca said. The first two criteria areas reveal what candidates have accomplished; the third tells who they are as people, he agreed. The latter criteria is at least in part determined through an interview with what is called a blue-andgold officer - an information officer who represents the Naval Academy.
Once the application process is complete, candidates lucky enough to be accepted are given letters of assurance, DeLuca said. They must then wait for a nomination from either a U. S. congressman or senator, or the vice president of the United States. Congressman John Boozman provided DeLuca's nomination after DeLuca was interviewed by a panel of academy graduates.
Once the nomination is received, the student must then indicate that he or she intends to attend the academy. The number of students who actually make it to this elite step are few. According to information provided by the academy regarding the class of 2011, 12, 003 people applied for the academy and only 1, 203 were admitted. DeLuca is in the class of 2012, which is still in the process of being formed.
DeLuca will begin two months of basic training June 27. In August, classes will begin, which are intermingled with physical training exercises. The summers are filled with visiting ships to learn about the various duties performed there. The college portion of the candidate's education lasts four years, then pilot training is another two years before the candidate's required years of service begin.
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