Submitted by Kristen Berry
O’NEALS – May 19 at Minarets High School was the annual Senior Scholarship Award Night. Although lots of scholarships were given out, the most prestigious went to Grant Hall.
Hall received a full ride scholarship to The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. West Point is one of the five service academies, and one of the top academic institutions in the nation.
15,000 individuals applied and Hall was one of about 1,200 individuals who were accepted for admission.
Hall attended the senior SLE (Summer Leaders Experience) last summer, where he was one of a thousand kids selected to attend a week long seminar. After that, he began one of two application processes: one with the college and another seeking nominations to the Academy. He sought out Presidential, Congressional, and Senatorial nominations. After submitting, Hall received the Presidential nomination, was selected to interview for the Congressional nomination, received a nomination from Congressman McClintock District 4, and interviewed and received a nomination from Senator Dianne Feinstein.
After finishing all of these applications and getting the nominations, West Point sent an offer of admissions, which Hall proudly accepted. He will be attending there for the next four years. Following graduation from West Point, Grant will be commissioned as an officer in the United States Army. He’ll be majoring in Chemistry and has aspirations to join Speech and Debate as well as Crew. He is reporting to West Point on June 29.
Everyone in the community expected nothing less from the Minarets High School Valedictorian with the 4.23 GPA. It is no wonder Hall has amounted to so much. The future West Point student had nothing but thankfulness to express how he feels,
“I am extremely blessed with this opportunity to serve my country and attend the Academy and would also like to thank everyone in the community for supporting me along the way,” says the gracious young man. “I wouldn’t have been able to make it without your help.”
Kristen Berry is a Minarets student and reporter enrolled in Digital Writing
