4 PCEP Students to Pursue Military Careers in Armed Forces Service Academies

While the majority of their peers head off to colleges this fall, four Plymouth-Canton students will begin military careers in U.S. Armed Forces Service Academies.

Plymouth High School Senior Linda Erickson will join the U.S. Military Academy, Salem High School Student Ciarra McCarthy will join the U.S. Air Force Academy while Canton High School Seniors Michael Wilyard and Saul Park will join to the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy, respectively.

For McCarthy, she has always been interested in the military and after looking at the academy, she said she knew it was for her because of the way it was structured, the academic programs offered and the opportunities presented there.

"I just gravitated towards the Air Force - It's the most suited for women as far as equality goes, so that's definitely a plus," McCarthy said. "Also, I want to go into civil engineering. Air Force civil engineers have a really cool job - they'll deploy you all around the world with the first wave of soldiers to go down and you'll go down and build the base, design the building or whatever they need. That's really interesting to me."

Erickson was actually accepted to the Military, Naval and Air Force Academies and only made her decision to attend the Military Academy in West Point this week. 

"I can't decide if I'm more excited or nervous," she said. "One of the things that happen before you go into the academy is summer training and that is pretty much going to be the hardest six weeks of my life. But I think going through that experience is going to be, not necessarily fun, but life changing and I really look forward to that aspect of it. 

Wilyard said he wants to study economics at the Military Academy and was considering finance as his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). 

"There was a story that a West Point cadet told me that stuck with me," Wilyard said about why he chose the Military Academy versus other branches. "If you go to Annapolis and tour the campus there or go out to Colorado and tour the Air Force campus, you'll see a lot of cool things like miles of planes and ships and things like that. But on West Point's campus, you'll see statues of people like Dwight Eisenhower, General Patton, General MacArthur, George Washington. To me the Army is more about what people can do than what technology can do."

Park had a completely different reason for choosing a career in the armed forces. He said it was more of an honor concept. 

"I feel like a should repay my country," he said. "As a South Korean, I exist because of the United States' involvement in Korea during the Cold War."I want to feel like I've accomplished something for the general good."

All four students will leave for their respective academies this summer, well before their classmates step foot on traditional college campuses. And all four said that while they will miss their families, Skype and other technologies will make it easy for them to stay in touch with home.