La Grande High School student nominated for four service academies

Dec. 28—LA GRANDE — The news La Grande High School senior Ava Palmer recently received from the office of Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, was four times better than what she thought possible.

Bentz announced he is nominating Palmer for acceptance into four United States service academies — the United States Naval Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy and the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

"I thought you were allowed only one," Palmer said. "I started dancing around the house because I was so excited."

Palmer is one of only 15 students in Oregon nominated by Bentz for service academy appointments in Oregon's Second Congressional District and the only student from the Union, Wallowa and Baker county area. Palmer is among just five students nominated for multiple academies and the only one nominated for as many as four.

"I am honored to nominate these outstanding young Oregonians to America's service academies," Bentz said in a press release. "Years of hard work, dedication and commitment to character have earned these future leaders these much-deserved nominations."

Palmer said her first choice among the academes she has been nominated for is the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Palmer said she hopes to someday become a Naval fighter pilot, something she's wanted to do since watching the Navy's Blue Angels flying while she was living in Pensacola, Florida.

"I was so impressed with their discipline of motion and their bravery they displayed by flying so close together," she said.

All of the 15 students Bentz nominated were recommended to him by his Service Academy Nomination Board, one composed of retired and active duty military officers. The board made its recommendations to Bentz based in part on the students' academic performance, extracurricular involvement and character.

Palmer said she was anxious while being interviewed by members of Bentz's Service Academy Board.

"I was a nervous wreck because I have such great respect for them and I so admire their dedication," she said.

Serving on Bentz's Service Academy Nomination Board include Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Paula Brown; Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jeff Smith; Retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Rich Halsted; Retired Oregon Army National Guard Lt. Col. Kirk Mickelsen; and Retired U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Darren Root.

The nomination board also based its recommendations on the basis of essays the students submitted about themselves. Palmer wrote in her essay about the Finnish concept of "sisu" and how she has used it to overcome difficult situations.

"Sisu is often explained as the ability to face adversity to succeed, to never say die with courage, with resoluteness," Palmer wrote in her essay.

She wrote that she learned about sisu from her step-grandfather David Bolka, who Palmer said rose from a small iron ore town in northern Minnesota to become a Naval captain and the first director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Palmer is a member of the La Grande High School's National Honor Society chapter, a member of the swim team and captain of the tennis team. She serves as vice president of its Future Business Leaders of America chapter and is her school's senior class representative.

She also works as a lifeguard at Veterans' Memorial Pool and is a member of the ROTC program at Eastern Oregon University. She participates in physical training workouts and takes military science classes at Eastern as a member of ROTC.

Palmer is the daughter of Tara Palmer, a family nurse practitioner at Grande Ronde Hospital's Regional Medical Clinic. She is a veteran who served in the U.S. Coast Guard for eight years.

Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer. Contact him at 541-624-6016 or dmason@lagrandeobserver.com.