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FORT SCOTT —
Mallory Shelton wants a challenge and she wants to serve. She believes she’ll have opportunities for both at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.
The Fort Scott High School senior was nominated for an appointment to Annapolis by U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts. The service academies themselves make the final decisions, and Shelton recently received a letter offering her an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 2016.
Now the final choice is hers, and she has made it. Come Induction Day, on June 28, she will be at Annapolis.
“This is the most wonderful opportunity I could have,” Shelton said in a telephone interview. “I want to help others, and there’s no better way do that than by serving your country, and no greater honor.”
She said that both her grandfathers, along with several aunts, uncles and cousins, have served in the military.
“My family has played a huge role in this,” Shelton said. “They have pushed me to challenge myself and do things that might not be the most fun.”
Her father and stepmother are Steve and Jennifer Shelton, and her mother and stepfather are Tami and Bob Campbell.
She said that she started looking at colleges that would push her academically and athletically, and thought that the U.S. Naval Academy might do that.
In the letter Shelton received from Vice Admiral M.H. Miller, academy superintendent, he wrote that the academy’s program “will prepare you morally, mentally and physically.”
“That’s what I was looking for,” she said. “I want to challenge myself morally, mentally and physically. I think this will be a perfect fit.”
She has been active in basketball, volleyball and track throughout high school, and won numerous honors.
“Being athletic will help me with the physical aspects, pushing yourself past where you can go,” Shelton said.
In her junior year, Shelton, an honor student, was selected as a Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Ambassador, and she has also been active in music and Student Council at Fort Scott High School.
She hasn’t decided yet whether she will aim for a military career or possibly go to medical school.
“There are so many options in the military,” Shelton said. “They pretty much find options for everybody. They just have such a wide array, so I’m sure I’ll find something I love.”
At the bottom line, she said, she just wants to be the best possible person she can be.
“I feel that if God gives you talents, you should put them to use,” Shelton said.
And many of the 72,000 men and women who graduated from Annapolis seem to have done a pretty good job of that, including President Jimmy Carter, Sen. John McCain, 20 other members of Congress, 52 astronauts, 73 Medal of Honor recipients and two Nobel Prize winners.
Mallory Shelton wants a challenge and she wants to serve. She believes she’ll have opportunities for both at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.
The Fort Scott High School senior was nominated for an appointment to Annapolis by U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts. The service academies themselves make the final decisions, and Shelton recently received a letter offering her an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 2016.
Now the final choice is hers, and she has made it. Come Induction Day, on June 28, she will be at Annapolis.
“This is the most wonderful opportunity I could have,” Shelton said in a telephone interview. “I want to help others, and there’s no better way do that than by serving your country, and no greater honor.”
She said that both her grandfathers, along with several aunts, uncles and cousins, have served in the military.
“My family has played a huge role in this,” Shelton said. “They have pushed me to challenge myself and do things that might not be the most fun.”
Her father and stepmother are Steve and Jennifer Shelton, and her mother and stepfather are Tami and Bob Campbell.
She said that she started looking at colleges that would push her academically and athletically, and thought that the U.S. Naval Academy might do that.
In the letter Shelton received from Vice Admiral M.H. Miller, academy superintendent, he wrote that the academy’s program “will prepare you morally, mentally and physically.”
“That’s what I was looking for,” she said. “I want to challenge myself morally, mentally and physically. I think this will be a perfect fit.”
She has been active in basketball, volleyball and track throughout high school, and won numerous honors.
“Being athletic will help me with the physical aspects, pushing yourself past where you can go,” Shelton said.
In her junior year, Shelton, an honor student, was selected as a Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Ambassador, and she has also been active in music and Student Council at Fort Scott High School.
She hasn’t decided yet whether she will aim for a military career or possibly go to medical school.
“There are so many options in the military,” Shelton said. “They pretty much find options for everybody. They just have such a wide array, so I’m sure I’ll find something I love.”
At the bottom line, she said, she just wants to be the best possible person she can be.
“I feel that if God gives you talents, you should put them to use,” Shelton said.
And many of the 72,000 men and women who graduated from Annapolis seem to have done a pretty good job of that, including President Jimmy Carter, Sen. John McCain, 20 other members of Congress, 52 astronauts, 73 Medal of Honor recipients and two Nobel Prize winners.
