By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Mikayla Crone grew up knowing the United States armed forces.
She spent most of her life in Illinois and California at various naval bases while her father, Darrell, served in the U.S. Navy, and came away following his retirement wanting to attend one of the country’s three service academies.
It also didn’t hurt that her mother, Karen, was a combat corpsman for the Marines and is now an oncology nurse.
“I always kind of wanted to,” explained Crone, who is a senior at Burlington High School. “I talked to my mom and dad a couple of times, and they shot me down.”
Now, thanks to a letter from then-President Barack Obama and meeting the stringent requirements, Crone will head to the United States Air Force Academy in June as one of about 1,300 students nationwide that receive an appointment.
The appointment is a four-year, full scholarship, as well as a monthly stipend and medical and dental coverage. When finished, cadets receive a Bachelor of Science degree in their field and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the Air Force.
Crone said she also explored her military options through ROTC, but when she finally began receiving pamphlets in the mail for the service academies, her parents relented.
“Then they said I could,” she explained.
She was originally “certain” she would be most interested in the U.S. Naval Academy. In fact, she had received an ROTC Navy Scholarship from Purdue.
But in October, Mikayla received a free recruiting trip to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and it changed her thinking.
“I think I was laying in a cot, and ‘Taps’ came on,” she said. “I knew it was a sign.”
She plans on majoring in astronautical engineering, and the academy has one of the top aerospace programs in the country.
She will leave in June for six weeks of basic training at the Air Force Academy, and will be the equivalent of the Naval Academy plebe – a “doolie,” or fourth-class cadet.
She will then work her freshman year to be promoted to a third-class cadet.
“I’m just excited to be with people like me,” Mikayla said. “I think I’ve grown up with the military. I’m excited to be with people who have the same morals I do.
“I’m excited to see how I grow.”
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