Greeley Grad Set to Embark on Journey to U.S. Naval Academy
William Wright never dreamed of joining the military while growing up nor was there much of a family legacy of going into the service.
His grandfathers served their country but that was by compulsion, not choice, he said.
Yet later this week, while most of his peers are preparing this summer for four years of college, Wright will be heading to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. for the start of what will be a 12-year commitment – four years of college, five years of service and three years in the reserves.
That difficult path may make many other young men and women hesitant but it doesn’t faze Wright.
“Whenever I would visit a school there’d be a little bit missing, and then when I went to the Naval Academy, I realized it was a great fit for me,” said Wright, who just graduated from Horace Greeley High School. “It was something that clicked. It just made sense.”
It was about a year ago when Wright talked to a family friend who was a West Point graduate, said his mother Pam. It was the first time that Wright seriously considered applying to one of the service academies, she said. Since West Point was close by, he was first interested in applying there, but his father had grown up in Virginia and was more familiar with the Naval Academy.
He was impressed after visits to both academies but the choice was clinched for Wright when he realized that the Naval Academy had competitive rowing, while West Point has a club team, his mother said. Wright has been a standout competitor with Greenwich Crew throughout high school.
“The more and more he focused on the Naval Academy, the more and more my husband and I learned about it, we started to realize it was a perfect fit for him, even though we were initially surprised,” Pam Wright said. “I think there are not many people who are suited to the regimen, to sort of being part of a big team.”
Wright, who is considering a major in mechanical engineering, said he wanted to have some assurances that when his schooling is done, he would have a meaningful career path.
“What it comes down to is when you finish school everything is pretty much still up in the air,” he said. “It can be difficult to see where you’re going, and with the Navy, it’s a very clear path for your future.”
Of course, it was no sure thing that Wright would be accepted. With a roughly 9 percent acceptance rate, it is roughly on par with being accepted to an Ivy League school. In the 17th Congressional District, Wright was one of 29 applicants to be accepted to one of the nation’s military academies.
During a socially distanced ceremony at the Chappaqua gazebo last Friday, Horace Greeley High School Principal Andrew Corsilia recited a long list of special qualities that the earnest Wright demonstrated during his high school years.
“I want to tell you that I admire you dedicating yourself to service and service to our country and to leadership,” Corsilia said. “It’s incredibly impressive. You are not taking an easy road. It is a road full of meaning and full of purpose and I appreciate that choice and I am incredibly proud of you.”
Rev. Martha Jacobs, Wright’s pastor at the First Congregational Church of Chappaqua, said his family and the community is proud of his accomplishment.
“I’m so proud of the decision he has made,” Jacobs said. “I really felt that we needed to somehow publicly acknowledge the sacrifices that he is making for the next part of his life.”
Wright, who has a twin brother and two older sisters, said when he arrives at Annapolis this week, he and the others reporting will be quarantined for two weeks as a result of the coronavirus. Then they will be subjected to plebe summer, which is basically boot camp, before the school year starts. Wright can expect 18-hour days, starting with daily 5 a.m. wakeup calls.
While many of his college-bound peers will look toward their newfound freedom away from home, Wright is taking in the longer view, well beyond the next semester.
“There’s always the lingering thought in the back of my head I will miss out on the college life of going out to parties and stuff like that, but (this is) something that I want to do to try and better my future,” Wright said.
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