Springville student heads to Naval Academy

The moment Andrew Lorimer found out he was accepted into his dream college wasn't exactly what he had imagined.

Instead of celebrating or calling relatives, the 18-year-old Springville resident, still groggy from getting his wisdom teeth removed earlier that morning, couldn't even get excited when he opened his acceptance letter to the United States Naval Acadmeny. Rich Lorimer, Andrew's father, said it was 'just hilarious” when Andrew called to tell him he was accepted and had 'zero excitement” in his voice.

'I'm kind of sad that I didn't get that excitement because I was kind of out of it,” Andrew said. But he said the acceptance letter 'made it hurt a lot less.”

Andrew, who graduated from Springville High School in May, will attend the Naval Academy this fall. Andrew said he plans to major in systems engineering and maybe minor in Spanish and hopefully serve in the Marines after graduation.

In April, he was one of a handful of people selected to meet Hillary Clinton during her first campaign stop at Kirkwood Community College's Jones County Regional Center in Monticello. He called her 'a nice woman,” but said he wasn't ready to commit to supporting her.

Andrew's acceptance into the Naval Academy was the culmination of years of interest in the military and the influence of multiple family members who also served. Andrew said his grandfather, who was in the Marine Corps, inspired him to work to become a Marine too.

Andrew knew for sure he wanted to go to the Naval Academy after attending its summer seminar last year. The seminar was a five-day program in which the Naval Academy put high school students through a normal week at the school complete with early morning workouts and classes.

'I enjoyed the discipline of it a lot,” Andrew said. 'It's nice to be in an environment where everyone else was taking it seriously, no one was just there because they had to be there.”

To get into the school, Andrew had to go through a long application process which included a pre-application, getting multiple letters of recommendation, an in-home interview with a representative from the Naval Academy and a nomination by a senator or U.S. representative from Iowa. Andrew received two nominations, which is uncommon for military academy applicants, from former Sen. Tom Harkin and former Rep. Bruce Braley.

Andrew is one of about 1,200 students accepted to the Naval Academy this year - about 17,000 applicants apply each year. Members of the new class, who are called plebes at the Naval Academy, have to report to the school Wednesday for 'I-Day.”

Andrew and the rest of the freshman class then will go through six weeks of basic training, called Plebe Summer, before the school year begins. The training will include skills such as navigation, sailing and shooting along with physical training such as swimming, rock climbing and martial arts.

Rich said that while he and his wife Julie are proud of their son and believe he will get a 'world class” education, he has mixed emotions about Andrew moving away and joining the military.

'Well, like any parent I absolutely dread the thought of my child going into harm's way,” Rich said. But, he said, the leadership skills Andrew will be taught in the military are 'phenomenal thing to learn and serve him well throughout the rest of his life.”