Ben Watson, a graduate of Saline High School and a member of St. Andrew Parish in Saline, stands with his parents at a picnic for new recruits who will attend the United States Military Academy at West Point this fall.Grads say Catholic education a natural fit at United States Military Academy
PLYMOUTH — Duty. Honor. Country.
Those three words make up the motto for the United States Military Academy, more commonly known as West Point.
For 214 years, young men and women have studied and trained at the New York school to be the next leaders of our country’s military, defenders of the nation’s freedom.
This fall, 1,290 first-year cadets will enter West Point, with 29 hailing from Michigan. From that constituency, Archdiocese of Detroit schools and parishes are well represented, with five who are Catholic school alums.
For these young cadets, the same sense of honor, duty and sacrifice that inspired them to join the military was instilled in the discipline and structure built into a Catholic education.
Riley Page, a member of Holy Name Parish in Birmingham and a graduate of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, will head to West Point in the fall as a new cadet.“As a kid, I was always interested in the military,” said Riley Page, a Brother Rice graduate and member of Holy Name Parish in Birmingham. “As a freshman, I was on the swim team, and our senior captain was going to West Point. I became not only interested in fulfilling military service, but getting a great education. I went to the summer camp and decided then and there that this is what I was called to do.”
Page’s father, Timothy, said Riley doesn’t have any immediate family members in the military, but that his son’s Catholic education encouraged his call to service through the discipline of putting others first.
“The service-orientated part of Catholic education for me is a big reason why I think he chose West Point, the mentality of you are here to help others,” Timothy Page said. “Those things go together in the Catholic school system, so it seems like a natural draw to go into a life of service in the military.”
Riley Page said the moment he decided to go to West Point came during a high school retreat, “Kairos.”
“I was on a religious retreat — “Kairos” — and there I knew I wanted to be a West Pointer, I knew what I wanted to be at the retreat.”
A quality education in addition to the call to serve played a part in drawing some local Catholic school grads to West Point, even if they didn’t originally consider attending a military academy.
“Originally, I thought I’d go to the University of Michigan or Michigan State University, then I figured I wanted to serve others,” said Wynter Nickless, a Divine Child alum and parishioner. “My decision came down to wanting to serve. I never thought about it before I visited Schoolcraft College and met the West Point district rep. I’m most excited for boot camp; it’s going to be a new experience. Divine Child is like a college-prep school; it has a challenging class load, so I feel it prepared me academically.”
Ian MacKinnon, a graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, said he feels ready to tackle the challenge of West Point because of the academic and spiritual preparation he received.
Students who will attend the military academy at West Point gather for a picnic lunch in the spring to meet one another and learn about life as a cadet.“I chose West Point because of the challenge, the history, it’s not the easy path to take,” MacKinnon said. “Obviously, Detroit Catholic Central is a good school, and it’s an all-boys school, and West Point is 80 to 85 percent boys. The camaraderie is similar, and there were some very bright kids at DCC, so I’m used to having that competition.”
MacKinnon said serving in the military was always appealing to him, but after attending a summer camp at West Point, he knew for sure he wanted to be a cadet.
“With the education, West Point seemed like the right fit,” MacKinnon said. “Between my junior and senior year, I went to the summer camp, and I also went to the Air Force camp. It’s a weeklong camp, simulating life as a cadet with class, field training and living in barracks. After that, I just felt West Point was right for me.” Be it the academic challenge or the value in service to others, Archdiocese of Detroit schools seem to instill a sense of duty, honor and service that make for prime candidates anyone considering serving in the military.
“The call to serving my country is really what did it for me, it goes in line with what Brother Rice taught me about service,” Page said. “On the Brother Rice swim team, those values were instilled in me, and (it’s the same) at a school like West Point. What they taught me at Brother Rice, I feel naturally carries on at a school like West Point.”
