Kent student accepted into prestigious US Naval Academy

While most 2022 Kentridge High School graduates will be relaxing and hanging out with friends before heading off to college, Laird DesMarais will be a “plebe” — rigorously training for his first year at the United States Naval Academy.

“It was my top college choice actually and so I was definitely feeling great when I got that call,” the 18-year-old varsity baseball player and Eagle Scout said. “It took a bit of time to sink in.”

DesMarais received the notification of his appointment to the Naval Academy in late January and, after graduation on June 11, he will only have a few weeks before he leaves home to begin “Plebe Summer.”

Over a period of six weeks, Plebe Summer is where freshmen, or “plebe midshipmen,” go through “moral, physical, and mental” training that prepares them for their first academic year at the Naval Academy. This means no visual media, no internet, no music, and only three planned phone calls during Plebe Summer.

“From what I understand, it’s not your average college experience [like] what I went through,” said his mother, Kim DesMarais. “It’s very disciplined, very structured.”

A remarkably prestigious institution, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is one of the hardest universities in the country to get into, with only an 8 percent acceptance rate. According to Niche.com, the Naval Academy is ranked No. 23 for their 2022 list of hardest colleges to get into, with some of the requirements being a high SAT score, passing a fitness assessment, and then receiving a nomination.

From the Naval Academy website, a nomination must come from an official source, like the vice president or a member of Congress. A few days before Christmas 2021, DesMarais received a principal nomination from U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, which means that he was the first nominee to be offered her appointment this year.

DesMarais decided to apply for the academy during his sophomore year of high school, after he had made Eagle Scout and was considering studying architectural engineering while also considering military academy options. “I was thinking, ‘how can I dedicate myself to service while also leading at the same time?’” he said.

DesMarais hopes that the military will enhance his “sense of structure and discipline” and allow him to become a better leader. “It gives me the opportunity to defend and represent the U.S. abroad,” he said.

Due to Plebe Summer dedicating so much time and energy to training, DesMarais will miss his hobbies like cooking, boating, fishing and hiking. “[I’ll miss] hanging out with my friends even though I’ll probably make some good friends at the academy,” he said.

DesMarais plans to study aerospace engineering at the Naval Academy and that if he goes into aviation after graduating, it will require an additional eight years of service in the Navy. When asked if he sees himself having a long career in the military, DesMarais said that he feels “the urge to go further” and would potentially like to become an admiral or a captain on a carrier.

When looking toward his future, DesMarais reflected on his family’s past to inspire his choice to apply to the Naval Academy. In the 1940s, his great-grandfather “flipped from the CCP” and was then able to “establish a livelihood” after emigrating to the U.S. from China. DesMarais also spoke of a relative on his father’s side who fought in World War II and earned the Silver Star: “That’s also kind of an influential part of me going into the Navy. That, and giving back to my community and society overall.”