Frenzy- if I give you a shovel, will you keep digging to get out of the hole you're in?
You are new to this, so you probably don't understand some of the nuances of the application, the SAs, and this forum. Know who is giving you advice and why.
1) look at the number of messages/join date. There are many individuals that are on here that have been advising students on admissions for quite some time and are also admissions reps. There are parents that have a different perspective. Sometimes cadets share their experience. And finally there are often current candidates that are often quick to tell it as they are going through the process. If you know anything about statistics, you should be able to pick out who's perspective/advice will be the most beneficial.
2) at the end of the day, West Point (and really every college) will boil your resume/CV down to a number. We call it the Whole Candidate Score (WCS). The algorithm that generates that score is designed to do a number of things - like reward areas that contribute to what the academy sees as beneficial to making a successful cadet, while also minimalizing the affect of individuals trying to game the system. So a high score on the ACT/SAT is good, but doesn't overcome poor performance in high school. Going to a competitive high school that sends many to college (and therefore is harder to have a high class rank) needs an adjustment to put its candidates on a level playing field versus that small/regular school where being at the top isn't as difficult. Leadership is a combination of the amount and the level that you reach. So yes, you could have done football for 3 or 4 years to pad your resume, but earning varsity letters and potentially being a team captain shows a level of commitment versus joining scouts or CAP part way through your junior year. That shows on the application in the amount of reward that you get for each activity. Higher leadership positions often take years to reach and are worth more towards your WCS. Student body president, NHS president, ROTC Bn Cdr, football team captain from the quick glance should be what you are striving to achieve over the next year to put yourself in the best position for admission, not adding low level membership activities like CAP and scouts (that you could have gotten similar leadership credit for if you started early enough).
3) understand the game. If you don't know the rules, you can't compete. You are competing for nominations, and from those nominations, appointments. Yes, more than one individual from a district can and usually does get in, especially if it is a competitive district that produces national caliber candidates. But also realize that means that the nomination to one service academy is often more difficult to receive, let alone multiple SAs. You need to know why you want to go to a particular SA. When posters here talk about the way you talk/respond with excuses, it might be a good indication that you might need to evaluate how well you'll fit in the Army. That attitude will come across in the nomination interview and could affect your chances, especially in a competitive district.
4) as stated, ROTC is not a back up to PAY for college, it is an alternative PATH to commissioning. If becoming an officer is not your mid-term goal, then you need to re-evaluate your interest in the service academies. I, for one, don't have time for LTs and CPTs who are only looking forward to some career outside of the military at the detriment of the mission and their soldiers. A quick way to determine that is whether or not an individual has expressed interest in ROTC. By the way, the ROTC application normally opens in February.