Service Academy Nomination Board Announces Local Nominees

Washington, D.C. –Thursday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, Last month, for the first time in American Samoa, a Service Academy Nomination Board was selected by Congresswoman Aumua Amata. The board met in Tafuna to review applications and interview the applicants competing for a nomination to one or more of the four service academies.

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These academies include the US Military Academy, US Air Force Academy, US Naval Academy and the US Merchant Marine Academy. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy does not require a congressional nomination as part of its application process. The service academies are fully funded federal colleges whose mission is to train future officers to serve in their respective armed service. The process to gain admission into one of the service academies is extremely competitive as the academies are looking for candidates with high potential to become leaders as commissioned officers in the United States Armed Services.

"I would like to congratulate all the students selected for a nomination to the service academies. Their hard work and outstanding records resulted in their selection by the board and I am very proud of their achievements. I commend and sincerely thank the members of the board for their efforts and for sacrificing their valuable time to do this for the future of our children and American Samoa," stated Amata.

The board consisted of six veterans and active duty members across the armed services selected by the Congresswoman's office to perform this very important duty. The board reviewed all completed applications which comprised of the student's academic record, SAT/ACT scores, letters of recommendation, personal essay, and extracurricular activities such as sports, clubs, part-time jobs, and any other activity displaying the student's ability to lead and handle multiple responsibilities.

Of the thirty-nine completed applications received, the board selected the top seventeen students to be nominated by the Congresswoman to compete for an appointment to the service academies. The Congresswoman can nominate up to ten candidates to compete for one slot at each of the service academies this year.

"I would also like to thank those applicants not selected in this process. This is a very rigorous process and you should be commended for your efforts to compete. I encourage you to press forward with your educational aspirations," continued Amata.

Selection was based on the student's overall score received from the board and verification that they have applied separately to the academy or academies of their choice as only those applicants who have applied to the academies could be nominated if qualified.

Some applicants received nominations to more than one service academy as reflected below. Two of the applicants are students whose parents are from American Samoa and are currently serving on active duty on the mainland; one student is from American Samoa where she graduated from Manumalo Baptist High School, received her Associates Degree from ASCC last year and is now attending the University of Utah. Below is the list of the nominees in alphabetical order and the academy(s) they have been nominated to:

The board members were very impressed with the high caliber of the candidates and with the entire process to select quality students from American Samoa to compete for an appointment to one of the service academies. They praised the Congresswoman's initiative to form the board and highly recommend continuing this board process in the future to provide an unbiased and fair evaluation and selection process for academy nominees. The next step now for the nominees is to await the decisions of the academies if one of them is selected and offered an appointment for the class entering the academies this summer.

"Once again, I would like to congratulate our seventeen nominees and wish them the best of luck as they compete for an appointment to one of these prestigious schools. I would also like to thank and congratulate their parents for a job well done in raising such great young men and women, and their teachers and counselors for making education a top priority," concluded Amata.