A life of service

senior Ryan Rast pursues future career in the armed forces at West Point Military Academy

Many 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

with what I should write about in my prompts. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have gotten in.”

Ryan stayed after school many days and worked with Pinto to get each necessary aspect submitted in a timely manner. This connection formed when Pinto had Ryan in her AP Government class during the first semester of his senior year.

“Ryan, he kind of stood out to me in class,” Pinto said. “He’s really knowledgeable about history. He’s great to talk to about those kinds of things beyond the average knowledge any student would have. We kind of formed a connection right away. He came to me toward the end of August, and he said he was going to try to do this process.”

From this point forward, Ryan and Pinto worked together to make Ryan’s dream a reality. The qualifications go beyond just academic and physical. Pinto said “leading a life of high moral character” is important.

“Ryan is really a delightful person to have as a student,” Pinto said. “He always came in with a really positive attitude. I think one of the things that really stands out to me about Ryan is he’s very goal driven, and kind of nononsense. He’s not the kind of person who accepts excuses.”

Pinto said Ryan was able and willing to accept constructive criticism.

“He’s always trying to better himself,” Pinto said. “He has an unrelenting pursuit of this goal. I mean, there were so many obstacles and hurdles to getting it done. I just really admire that about him.”

While the application process began his senior year, Ryan worked toward his goal throughout all of high school. He became involved with many activities as soon as possible.

“I kind of knew from a young age that’s what I wanted to do, and so I took really hard classes throughout high school and tried to get involved with as many clubs as I could — but not just being a member, but being on the board or doing something that shows leadership roles,” Ryan said. “I tried to be a leader on sports teams and play as many sports as I could.”

Ryan also started an “I Quit” campaign during his junior year, encouraging student athletes to quit vaping.

“I feel like the biggest thing that helped me get into West Point or get accepted was the vaping project that I started with two other classmates,” Ryan said. “We felt like a lot of kids didn’t really know the true side effects of vaping. We just wanted to make sure people were informed — if they’re gonna make a bad decision, at least they know what they’re doing.”

The application process has many layers to it. A student’s academics, physical capability, commitment, intelligence and personality are all factors in acceptance. Ryan said it is all “nerve-racking.” After all of Ryan’s hard work, he said his acceptance was a relief and honor.

“I felt like a million pounds had just been taken off my shoulders,” Ryan said. “Being the best in the nation competing for a very select spot, I knew it was going to be tough and also I didn’t really have much of a backup plan.”

Ryan was not the only person to be thrilled by the news. Ryan’s parents, Jon and Kelly Rast supported him throughout the process and said they were proud of his acceptance.

“It was awesome,” Kelly said. “We were elated. We’re mostly so excited for him because we knew that he really wanted it. So proud, excited, happy, but like anything else, nervous when your kid starts a new journey in their life.”

At the core of all of the qualifications for West Point is a desire to serve your country. Pinto said this is something Ryan had to articulate in interviews and convey in essays. Ryan’s desire to serve is partially the result of a family history of military service. His grandfather was in the Navy and his uncle served as well. Ryan’s mother said this career decision was sparked from an early age.

“He’s always been interested in the military,” Kelly said. “But just in different ways from a young kid running around playing Nerf guns or whatever. He’s always been interested in history.”

Ryan plans to serve in the military as long as possible. When he graduates from the U.S. Military Academy, he will be a Second Lieutenant. Afterward, he hopes to go to Ranker school and possibly special forces.

“I’m really excited for the whole experience — it’s a different way of life, for sure,” Ryan said. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of days where I hate it. But, I’m sure there’ll be more days that I love it and just be thankful for the opportunity that I’m receiving and meeting the people I will be meeting and knowing that there’s a higher goal than just any other thing I could have done.” |elliephillips “He always came in with a really positive attitude. I think one of the things that really stands out to me about Ryan is he’s very goal driven, and kind of no nonsense. He’s not the kind of person who accepts excuses.” | socialstudiesteacher kathrynpinto