ROTC scholarship recipient Jacob Perry, center, poses for a photo with his family, from left, brother Luke, brother Alex, father Troy Perry, Jacob Perry, brother Nicholas Perry, mother Julie Perry and brother William Perry.
By Bill Petzold
Editor
CASS CITY — Ask a lot of high school graduates — and college graduates, for that matter — what they’ll be doing five years from now and they might just shrug and say “I don’t know.”
Not so for Jake Perry, member of the Class of 2014 at Cass City High School. In five years, Perry most likely will be an officer in the U.S. Navy with a degree in engineering — undergoing training to pilot either a plane, submarine or Navy ship.
Perry applied for and received a Navy ROTC scholarship. He was presented with a check for $180,000 worth of college tuition on May 14. The ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) scholarship provides Perry with a full four years of study at the University of Michigan.
“I’m looking into engineering of some sort, I was thinking chemical or nuclear probably,” Perry said.
Perry’s uncle, Lt. Nick Warack, an Owendale-Gagetown graduate, also received the ROTC scholarship, and currently serves as a Naval flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida. He explained what Jake’s next few years hold in store.
“He’ll go straight to college for four years,” Warack said. “In the summers he’ll have what they call summer cruises, and they’re four to five weeks where he’ll spend some time on the boat, some time on a sub and some time with an aviation squadron to kind of get a feel for stuff. Right after his commission, depending on what he does, that will determine his pipeline.”
At a certain point, Perry will have his choice of three “pipelines”: aviation, submarine or surface (serving on a battleship).
“I heard about it from (my uncle) and my cousin Erica who tried for it, and you have to go online and fill out this huge application — I want to say it’s 16 pages. It took me a long time to do,” Perry said.
Jake also had to pass a fitness assessment, which was not difficult for a young man who played football and basketball for the RedHawks.
Now that he’s landed the scholarship, however, there will be little time for resting on his laurels. In addition attending classes full-time, Perry will be attend Naval and military history classes, take part in physical education programs a couple times a week and wear a uniform once a week.
“He’s involved in the military, but it kind of helps ease him into the water,” Warak said.
“This has been one of the most selective years for Navy ROTC scholarships. They’re selective — they all look at the whole student, whether they’re in sports and that kind of stuff — but the Navy takes all of that and one goes one step further to ask: ‘Does this guy have leadership potential?’
“When you think of the small community that is the military, and then you go even smaller to get to the officer ranks, it’s been pretty challenging. Jake did a lot of work, and I remember back when he was pretty young he said this is what I want to do and he’s stuck with it.”