Middletown, Highlands Teens Will Attend U.S. Naval Or Coast Guard Academy

HIGHLANDS, NJ — Four students who graduated this spring from the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) will attend U.S. service academies in the fall.

Three MAST graduates will attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. They are: Nicholas Billows of Oakhurst, Samantha Foret of Middletown and Zijie Ye of Highlands.

Jack Cohen of Middletown will attend the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

For admission to the U.S. Naval Academy, students must first be nominated by a U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator or the vice president. In a typical year, approximately 5,000 candidates receive nominations and only 1,400 students are granted admission.

Likewise, admission to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy is highly competitive and based on merit. Each year, the Coast Guard Academy admits about 300 cadets from thousands of applicants.

“The Marine Academy of Science and Technology has a very proud record of students admitted to U.S. service academies,” said MAST Principal Earl Moore. “We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of these individuals and we are confident that they will be excellent representatives of MAST and the county at their respective academies.”

In addition to the students who received service academy appointments, several other MAST students received a total of more than $1 million in ROTC scholarships that were presented at the MAST graduation on June 18.

Three graduates received Navy ROTC scholarships in the amount of $180,000 including James Baeta of Red Bank who will attend Georgia Tech University; Claire Haughian of Keansburg who will attend Villanova University and Samantha Vo of Roosevelt who will attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Nico Cordova of Middletown who will attend the University of Arizona, received a $180,000 Marine Corps Option Navy ROTC scholarship; Donovan Post of Oceanport who will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received a $180,000 Army ROTC scholarship; and Devin Schultz of Oakhurst who will attend the Maine Maritime Academy Navy ROTC Preparatory Program, received a $20,000 Navy ROTC Preparatory Program scholarship.