By Joshua Huff, sports editor
PINSON — For some, the coming summer — should the coronavirus ordinances throughout the nation alleviate — offers a respite from the doldrums of winter and a chance to break out the beach towels and flock to desired destinations across the world; however, for one Pinson native, this upcoming summer will unlock a world that just a few months ago was more aspiration than reality.
Cole McKee. Photo courtesy of Lisa McKee.
Cole McKee, a graduating senior at the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, in Irondale, will soon make the life-changing trip east to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and follow in the footsteps of historical icons Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley, George S. Patton, among others.
“West Point is like the Harvard out of all of them, at least that’s what I keep hearing,” Lisa McKee, Cole’s mother said. “It’s the number one college in the United States.”
Cole, who was nominated by Rep. Gary Palmer, has nursed hopes of attending a service academy for a couple years now, Lisa said.
“He really just decided a couple of years ago that was something that really interested him,” Lisa said. “A friend of mine, who I work with, her son went to the United States Naval Academy. So, when we started to hear more about the Naval Academy is when he really got interested in the service academies.”
The arduous nomination process officially began this past summer. Cole filled out the preliminary application and submitted it in September. He was subsequently nominated by Palmer for each academy that he requested: West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. In addition, Senator Doug Jones nominated him for the Naval Academy, which was atop Cole’s preferred list.
Cole ultimately received an appointment to attend the Coast Guard Academy, the Air Force Academy and West Point. However, a future at each of those three service academies was not meant to be following multiple disqualifications due to a color vision deficiency.
“He’s not 100% color blind, by any means,” Lisa said. “But, that would limit his opportunities at the Air Force Academy, more so than it would at West Point … The Coast Guard Academy, we had read that they don’t give waivers either, but (Cole) did go ahead and apply. Like I said, he got the appointment, but then they disqualified him.”
Once Cole decided on his intention to forgo a traditional college path, he set about laying the foundation to have the opportunity to even be nominated, which is a feat in itself. To get into a service academy, prospective students must have an above average high school record and score well on the ACT or the SAT. Cole, whose GPA was a 4.3, scored a composite score of 33 on the ACT, but the academies utilize a Superscore, which takes the highest score from each section, and that bumped Cole’s score up to a 35.
Physically, candidates are required to participate in competitive team and individual sports that stress endurance (including running at least two miles), and personal training that includes pushups, pull-ups and sit-ups. Cole, who played baseball in middle school, turned to tennis in the final two years at the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School.
Cole McKee. Photo courtesy of Lisa McKee.
From a leadership standpoint, participation in sports, student government, public speaking and activities like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are important. To stay in compliance, Cole became president of the Honor Society, formed a non-school affiliated forensics team at the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, which Lisa added, won first place at every hackathon that the team went to.
Candidates must also be nominated by either a member of Congress or the Vice President. As mentioned before, the process is daunting. West Point accepts just 10 students out of every 100 applicants. The academy joins other institutions like Harvard, Juilliard, MIT, Stanford and the United States Naval Academy as the most difficult institutions to get into.
Throughout the early stages of this process, Lisa was admittedly skeptical of Cole’s desire to forge a path in the military, but when she saw his dedication and determination she became his “number one cheerleader.”
“The determination that (Cole) has amazes me,” Lisa said. “I wouldn’t say that he was a really athletic kid. He did well with it, but he wasn’t one who wanted to be outside running and doing all this stuff all the time. So, when he first started talking about going, I thought, ‘He’s never going to get in. He’s not going to be able to pass that fitness assessment.’ But, he got out there and started running and started exercising. He joined CrossFit back in the fall and ran a six-minute mile. He’s done really, really well.”
Cole will report to West Point on June 29, 2020, for West Point’s R-Day, which is the first step in the process that transforms teenage civilians into military officers. He intends to major in computer engineering along with a minor in cyber.
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Pinson native to forgo traditional college path, will instead attend West Point - Trussvilletribune
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