Ackerman Names Students To Service Academies

At the reception Ackerman recently hosted at Queensborough Community College in Bayside (r. to l.) were: Lee Seeman of Great Neck, a member of Ackerman's Citizens Review Board; Christopher Karl Chua of Bayside (Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs); Conor Krebs of Williston Park (Naval Academy at Annapolis); Nancy Barriga of Flushing (Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point); Ackerman; Ryan Waldorf of Great Neck (West Point); Stephen Chang of Flushing (Naval Academy); Kevin Lee of Flushing (U.S. Military Academy Prep School), and Henry Wan of Whitestone, a member of the Congressman's Citizens Review Board.

Congressmember Gary Ackerman (DQueens/ L.I.) last week announced that six students from Queens and three from Long Island have received appointments to the prestigious United States Service Academies. All of the students are recent graduates of local high schools or academy prep schools and were nominated by Ackerman last December.

Mory Diomande of Corona, Josue Gonzalez of Whitestone and Ryan Waldorf of Great Neck, Long Island were appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Christopher Karl Chua of Bayside and Christopher Paek of Flushing have been appointed to the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Stephen Chang of Flushing and Conor Krebs of Williston Park and Martin Meehan

of Port Washington, both in Long Island,

were appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and Nancy Barriga of Flushing was appointed to the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York.

Ackerman recently hosted a reception for the students at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, where he congratulated each of the appointees and presented them with certificates of Special Congressional Recognition. "These young men and women are among the best and brightest in our community," Ackerman said. "They are the future leaders of our military and I thank them for choosing to serve our great country and the American people. I am proud of each and every one of them."

The service academies are four-year post-secondary institutions that combine educational excellence with military officer training. Appointees to the service academies are selected from nominations received from congressmembers throughout the country. Ackerman is assisted in the nomination process by his Citizens Review Board, a diverse panel of community leaders from Queens and Long Island. Students nominated by Ackerman compete against students from across the nation and must meet the highly competitive educational and extracurricular standards set by the individual institutions.

Last October, Ackerman sponsored a "U.S. Service Academy Information Night" for high school students from Queens and Nassau Counties who were interested in applying to one of the U.S. Service Academies. The event, held at Bayside H.S., included members of Ackerman's staff and representatives from each of the academies who answered questions and discussed the requirements and procedures for applying.