16 | feature / the standard / senior issue 2020
A life of service senior Ryan Rast pursues future career in the armed forces at West Point Military Academy
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any seniors are anxiously awaiting the start of their college lives. For senior Ryan Rast, this experience will be different than the typical freshman lifestyle. This fall, Rast will be attending the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Here, he will not only be challenged academically, but also learn the skills needed for a life of service. “West Point is different from other universities in the fact that you’re all getting [a] college education, but you are also training to be a future officer,” Ryan said. “And so, obviously there isn’t the partying that goes on at the normal colleges like KU and K-State. But yet, there’s a lot of different opportunities that you get, being in the military.” Ryan will learn how to drive tanks, fly helicopters and much more, while also being given a challenging academic load. According to Ryan, each cadet graduates with a bachelor’s degree in science. “I’m definitely scared of the academic courses,” Ryan said. “They are pretty tough. I’ll be eventually taking Calculus III and that sounds scary. I didn’t know you could do math like that. But, I mean, they’re there to help you. They don’t want you to fail.” The honor of being accepted to the U.S. Military Academy was the result of years of hard work. Since the acceptance rate of the West Point Academy is only 9.6%, each cadet is carefully chosen and must be nominated by a member of Congress.
“[The nomination by a member of Congress] is needed because the military academies are all federal installations,” Ryan said. “If they are going to invest money into you by paying the college, books, you know, all the above, they want to make sure that they’re getting the right kids and people who aren’t going to quit.” Part of the application process was interviews with Senator Jerry Moran, Senator Pat Roberts and Representative Sharice Davis. Rast said this included sitting in front of a panel of veterans and explaining why he was the best candidate. Apart from interviews, the process included submitting essays. Social studies teacher Kathryn Pinto helped Ryan with the entire process. “Ryan had to write a lot of essays for all these interviews,” Pinto said. “I got to read his essays that he was submitting. He talks about basically wanting to do this since he was a child which is really fun. He has some great influences from both his grandfathers. It’s a really strong back story.” Pinto is familiar with the application process because her son attended the U.S. Naval Academy and is currently serving in Japan as a Naval officer. Pinto’s familiarity, along with her critique, made her instrumental in Ryan’s acceptance. “She helped me and read all my papers,” Ryan said. “Every time I had a question or I was emailing someone, I always went to her and talked to her to make sure she doublechecked, and triple-checked all my work and made sure I sounded intelligent. She’d help me word stuff and come up
