Amata announces 2021 nominees to the service academies
Washington, D.C. — Thursday, Congresswoman Uifaatali Amata is delighted to announce the nominations of 22 excellent students for consideration by the service academies.
Each year, these nominations are selected on the high quality of the students’ combined academic records, essays, along with letters of recommendation from their teachers, church leaders and local community leaders, plus the required verification that they have already applied separately to the academy or academies of their choice.
“This year, we have a strong class of nominations to send to the academies,” said Congresswoman Amata. “Each of these deserving students has developed a good academic record and obviously worked hard. Congratulations upon reaching this point, already a true accomplishment. Thank you especially to the families of these students, along with pastors, teachers and other influencers. The outcome is highly competitive, but each of these students is on pace to make American Samoa proud.”
This year, 10 female and 12 male nominees separately completed the applications process necessary for the nomination.
As usual, some applicants apply for and receive nominations to more than one service academy. This time, there are a combined total of 37 such nominations among the 22 students. The most service academy nominations went to the U.S. Military Academy with 15 nominations. There are 12 nominations to the U.S. Naval Academy. Ten nominations were sent to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Two of the students are already respectively at Air Force Academy prep and Naval Academy prep, and they qualified for their nominations.
This year, there were no applicants for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from American Samoa, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy does not require a congressional nomination as part of its competitive application process.
The service academies are fully funded federal colleges whose mission is to train future officers and leaders that will serve in their respective armed service. The admissions process is extremely competitive, as the academies seek candidates with high potential to become leaders as commissioned officers in the United States Armed Forces. The outcome depends on the upcoming decisions of the academies. Any students who are offered an appointment for the class would then enter their academy in the summer.
“These students have made a major effort to go through this process, and in doing so, they are willing to serve the nation in uniform,” continued Congresswoman Amata. “In a group of this size, there will be a variety of next steps in their educations and career tracks. We are cheering them on, and we will keep them in our prayers.”
Here is the list of nominees along with their high school or most recent school, and the academy/academies to which they are nominated: