One of West Point?s finest returns to his hometown

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

West Point cadet Isaac Freel, who just completed his third year at the prestigious military academy in upstate New York, was at Rogers City High School (RCHS) Monday morning as part of the Cadet Public Relations Council. The program leverages the academy?s most powerful recruitment tool: the cadet. Freel?s PowerPoint presentation in front of students covered all aspects of the military academy experience, so students might consider pursuing a nomination and appointment to West Point.

?IF YOU put the hard work into it, then your chances of receiving a recommendation are a lot higher,? said Freel, the son of Colin and Esther Freel. He was home schooled while his parents lived in Rogers City, but also attended RCHS classes. Colin was a RCHS math teacher. ?I?m not going to say it is guaranteed, but if you put the work into it, then it is more likely.? Every application requires a nomination from a member of Congress or the vice president of the United States, so applicants need plenty of time to work with their elected officials. Freel told the students about the three pillars of the academy: academic, physical and military.

?I want to make sure and cover those three pillars, and hopefully spark an interest in people looking at colleges,? said Freel. ?We also try to get them information on different opportunities like ROTC and the other academies as well. It is West Point focused, but it also is Army focused as well.? When Freel left for New York, his parents moved to Georgia and are currently working at a Christian school. ?WEST POINT has pretty much dominated my life, as far as being there, studying and just being focused on doing well academically and physically,? he said. ?The first year was really tough, as far as academics goes. I put

a lot of time and work into that. I was pretty good with the physical part.? During the second semester, and more into his second year, he realized his priorities were not in order. ?I started to see that my walk with God was more important than my grades,? said Freel. ?That really helped a lot. I was devoting more time to eternal things.? Last summer, Freel became involved in a leadership detail and was responsible for the military development of 10 cadets. ?That was a really good opportunity,? he said. ?Then, I started dating Hannah that summer, so that made things a lot nicer, and more bearable as well.?

Freel also became more devoted in a Christian group called Navigators. At the start of his senior year, he?ll be leading one of four regiments. This summer, when he?s not in Georgia, he?ll be in Uganda, Africa for seven weeks as part of a humanitarian mission. Eventually, Freel would like to open a construction business in Africa. ?That?s why I went to West Point, to get a hands-on engineering experience. That was the best place I could see that could give me that.?