#USNA - Success through Failure, Hard Work, Determination and Perseverance

My son has taught me some very valuable lessons over the past few years. Most importantly to never give up on your dreams. He has been practicing karate since he was four years old and few years ago he went to take his black belt test and he failed the pretest. He was determined to become a black belt so he trained and practiced more to retake the test. Today he is a second degree black belt. When my son took his road test for the first time and second time, he also failed. He took those failures in stride and with a positive attitude when his identical twin brother passed on his first time. He overcame his failure by practicing and passed his road test on the third attempt and is now a licensed driver. His failures do not end there. He applied to the United States Naval Academy in his senior year of high school and did not receive an appointment. He was very disappointed, but overcame the disappointment with determination. He was accepted into many great colleges that I probably would not have been able to get into as back up plans, however he was very determined to get into the Naval Academy. He decided to pursue his dream by attending a very small military prep school called Greystone which is affiliated with the University of the Ozarks in Arkansas. He studied very hard taking 18 credits in his first semester with similar classes to the service academies and has been learning a lot about the Military. He earned a 3.9 for his first semester while also being a part of Arkansas Tech's ROTC program. Greystone has their students apply to at least three service academies. He had mock interviews for his nominations and service academy interviews. This year he received a nomination from Congressman Garbarino to the United States Naval Academy, a nomination from Senator Gillibrand to the United States Military Academy at West Point and a nomination from Senator Schumer to the United States Airforce Academy in Colorado. My wife and I are very happy to announce our son received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is still waiting to hear from the United States Airforce Academy as of today. We are very proud of our son Matthew who accepted his appointment to the United States Naval Academy and will be reporting in June 2022 to start serving this great country. We know he will have additional failures and disappointments in his life, however we know that through his attitude, outlook on life, hard work, determination and especially his perseverance he will succeed in all of his life challenges. I know that the lessons I have learned from Matthew will also help me in following my dreams. Thank you to all that serve or have served our great country. We are honored that Matthew will serve this country and that he is pursuing his dreams. Congratulations Matthew!! Mom and Dad love you!!!!