Negative affects to DS changing HS

Mustang2008

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I will be retiring this summer and we have made the decision to move out of our current state. DS is a rising HS Junior. He is in AJROTC and has been more or less guaranteed to be the battalion commander his senior year, he is in CAP and although not guaranteed he is tracking to be the cadet commander by the end of 2019. Additionally, he was selected as the NHS Treasurer for his junior year. He is a straight A student and currently has a 4.8 GPA and is active in discus/shotput on the track team...advanced to All county and all district his first year. He is also planning to try javelin at the new school if available.

How will moving affect him? Any insight for those that moved their kids in the middle of HS? I have no doubt he will receive letters of recommendation to present to a new JROTC and CAP squadron. How do “would have been” recommendation letters fare in the application process? I know he will do well at the new school but he hasn’t been the one “groomed” for the senior leadership positions.

I know there are so many variables.
 
Military brats do it all the time.
The tough part can be breaking into new activities. They may have the same activities but he may not be able to just jump into leadership positions.
Fortunately, track is one of those sports that may be easier. Either his distances are better than the others or they aren’t. Team sports such as soccer, football and lacrosse can be tougher unless you are head and shoulders above those in your position. Even then it’s tough. I saw a kid who was an all county quarterback as a sophomore stuck on the bench behind a less qualified quarterback when he moved. Never played a down again.
 
I think that you may be putting too much weight on the JROTC stuff, as it relates to tipping the scales in favor of an Offer of Appointment or not.
If he will be a Junior and he is a straight-A student already, with Varsity sport experience, I think he already has his best foot forward. I would just say carry on the way he is going.
 
There maybe even more opportunities for him at his new HS. My DD moved HS and after a year on her new swim team was selected for a captain position her senior year. I wish I hadn’t worried so much. Military kids are resilient and those that are applying to ROTC or SAs will need that resilience and adaptability in their military careers. Perhaps a different or larger school may provide more opportunities or different ways for him to challenge himself and excel. Our second child will likely move 3 times in HS. She’s not interested in a SA but even if she had been, I would not worry as much as I did for the older one. I tell them, “bloom where you are planted”. Those are life skills that are invaluable and probably appreciated by the SAs. You never know what opportunities lie ahead.
 
My family was in the same situation. I retired and moved out of base housing and stayed local so DS could do his junior and senior year where he was football and baseball team captain, All-Met, and still holds the single season homerun record. Coach Johnson and staff dropped him from the USNA recruiting process and since football was more important to him than attending the Academy, he started the five school journey to his degree and commissioning.

I wouldn't have changed the move/don't move decision because he squeezed every drop out of his high school experience. Keeping him there though did not make any difference in the path he took.
 
I did the same thing with my DS. I retired and moved him as a rising Junior from a military heavy area to an area where there was little to no military. In fact, in the area we moved to, it was very unusual to have new people move in and he was the only kid in his high school class that did not start there as a Freshman. Now, he is a rising 2/C at the USCGA. We moved to a state that did not have a lot of representation at the Coast Guard Academy, so moving there may have been an advantage. He was also interested in USMA and we ran into some difficulties that I did not anticipate. First of all, the high school already had two candidates that they were pushing hard to get into West Point. When asking for letters of recommendation from his teachers at the new school, they would say that they already have two students who are in good shape to get into USMA and they didn't want to provide anymore competition. Sports was also another issue. At the previous high school he played on the varsity baseball team and lettered as a sophomore. The new high school's baseball program was a state power where varsity players were selected from a 13-14 year old travel program which sent two kids to Big Ten programs and one kid was a first round major league draft pick. Needless to say, my son did not make the team. What really made me angry was the push back I received from the local field force representative. This guy was not only involved with West Point admissions, but he was also involved with nominations. The FFR was at his congressional nomination and asked him if we moved to get him into a less competitive district. This guy also had influence on who received senatorial nominations by essentially running the process for one of our senators. He had previous relationships with families who already had siblings at the academy and would push certain kids to the front.

All that being said, my son is very happy at the USCGA, so it all worked out. But I was very annoyed that my son was treated as an outsider looking to take a slot from a local candidate. I served for 24 years and was doing my best to make a new life in a state I was unfamiliar with.
 
I did the same thing with my DS. I retired and moved him as a rising Junior from a military heavy area to an area where there was little to no military. In fact, in the area we moved to, it was very unusual to have new people move in and he was the only kid in his high school class that did not start there as a Freshman. Now, he is a rising 2/C at the USCGA. We moved to a state that did not have a lot of representation at the Coast Guard Academy, so moving there may have been an advantage. He was also interested in USMA and we ran into some difficulties that I did not anticipate. First of all, the high school already had two candidates that they were pushing hard to get into West Point. When asking for letters of recommendation from his teachers at the new school, they would say that they already have two students who are in good shape to get into USMA and they didn't want to provide anymore competition. Sports was also another issue. At the previous high school he played on the varsity baseball team and lettered as a sophomore. The new high school's baseball program was a state power where varsity players were selected from a 13-14 year old travel program which sent two kids to Big Ten programs and one kid was a first round major league draft pick. Needless to say, my son did not make the team. What really made me angry was the push back I received from the local field force representative. This guy was not only involved with West Point admissions, but he was also involved with nominations. The FFR was at his congressional nomination and asked him if we moved to get him into a less competitive district. This guy also had influence on who received senatorial nominations by essentially running the process for one of our senators. He had previous relationships with families who already had siblings at the academy and would push certain kids to the front.

All that being said, my son is very happy at the USCGA, so it all worked out. But I was very annoyed that my son was treated as an outsider looking to take a slot from a local candidate. I served for 24 years and was doing my best to make a new life in a state I was unfamiliar with.

Thank you for replying. This is more or less what I am worried about. The new school we are looking at has a well established Army Jrotc and the Colonel is a USMA alumni, he may have already decided who he wants to do a LOR for. I believe we are in a underserved area in SC but with moving to PA I am not certain. He will be able to get a presidential nomination but from what I read only 100 max with presidential noms can be appointed each year so getting a nom from another source is a must.

I do agree that if he perseveres through this transition it will be a positive.

DS also knows there are other paths like ROTC and OCS but he has his sights on USNA or AF academy. He did USNA summer stem last summer and I think we all fell in love with the USNA.
 
When asking for letters of recommendation from his teachers at the new school, they would say that they already have two students who are in good shape to get into USMA and they didn't want to provide anymore competition.

Just about the most pathetic, pitiful, provincial thing I’ve read about on this forum. Guess it’s not only lawn-mower parents who want to shield kids from the big, bad world.

Congratulations to your DS for rising above this petty behavior and finding a great path for himself.
 
My two cents for what it’s worth ...

We had my DS dialed with his BGO since the 7th grade. We knew our COM and he was working hard on his leadership roles, athletics and academics. We had to move from Fla to Calif because of my job. We asked will SD be a challenge compared to Fla for him. A alumni from Navy said you are moving to one of the two most competitive places in the country to try and become a Midn, the only place worse than SD is Newport Va. So we headed west knowing changing schools going into your Jr year is tough for any kid. We asked about baseball at his new school and was told don’t even bother you won’t make it. We found his new BGO who didn’t return calls or emails, I was worried I messed up his chances.

He just kept grinding along. He took up football, interviewed for his COM nomination and hit it out of the ballpark. He kept grinding after getting the COM asked he be considered for NAPS, he got a COM Nomination to KP, and won a NROTC scholarship for this fall.

All through it he remembered what a Navy Seal told him, how do you eat an Elephant, one bite at a time. He took it in stride and had many great highs and twice as many lows. He missed his friends but made new ones, he had to find new contacts and he did. He had to earn leadership roles in a new place where no one knew him.

I asked him this week after graduation if he regretted having to move cross country and having to change sports, schools and make new friends. He said sure there were times when he was homesick but one day one of the kids told him stop saying back home about Florida you live here with us now!
He said he didn’t think he would be the man he is today if we hadn’t moved and he had to work as hard as he did. He said in the end it was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
 
I moved 7 times while growing up, including 2x in high school. (Dad wasn't military..just climbing the corporate ladder). Moving was never a choice, we just did it and made the most of it. Fortunately I had things like sports and Boy Scouts that were easily transferable. It worked out well for me, as I had to move from suburban Chicago ( presumably a very competitive region) to a small Midwestern town my Junior year.

Look at it as an opportunity rather than an obstacle or excuse. You have know way of knowing how it will impact DS --just submit the best applications you can.
 
Look at it as an opportunity rather than an obstacle or excuse. You have know way of knowing how it will impact DS --just submit the best applications you can.

I moved our family when our four kids were 12, 11, 9 and 1. While it did not affect the youngest (he just commissioned), the other three went from being at the "top" of the pecking order of their old school, to being "the new kids" which most of you know is not good.

They picked them selves up and fought their way back and were made stronger for it. All four are now college graduates and of course the youngest is now an Army Officer.
 
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The Obama's decided to stick around Washington DC so that their youngest could finish out high school in the same school.
 
The Obama's decided to stick around Washington DC so that their youngest could finish out high school in the same school.
True...and Melania kept Baron in NY for months after the inauguration. Given a choice, I think all of us would choose continuity over disruption if the current school is a place where our kids are thriving. However, circumstances change. People are laid off, better opportunities arise, Uncle Sam says "move to Ft. Polk" and you do the best you can.
 
2 of my 4 changed schools during HS, one just before Junior year and one just before sophomore year. They both were appointed to USNA.
Could make for a great Essay topic.
 
True...and Melania kept Baron in NY for months after the inauguration. Given a choice, I think all of us would choose continuity over disruption if the current school is a place where our kids are thriving. However, circumstances change. People are laid off, better opportunities arise, Uncle Sam says "move to Ft. Polk" and you do the best you can.
True...but Trump did not allow envoy's kids to finish out the school year which had always been done.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html
 
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