yuma catholic grad headed to west point - yuma sun_ news

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3/23/2016 Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point Yuma Sun: News http://www.yumasun.com/news/yumacatholicgradheadedtowestpoint/article_2dbe3cbe065911e5b00cef6ffa973a4c.html?mode=print 1/3 Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point By Sarah Womer, @YSSarahWomer | Posted: Friday, May 29, 2015 4:19 pm Earning almost $1 million in scholarships during her senior year, recent Yuma Catholic High School graduate Loretta Peffers has made her final decision to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point this fall. Peffers, 17, shared that she learned of the news that she had been appointed while out shopping with her mom. She recalled receiving a text message from her dad that included a picture of a large envelope with her name on it. “It was the envelope it’s called the BFE, or the Big Fat Envelope,” said Peffers. “My mom and I were a couple aisles away so I yelled, ‘Mom, drop everything, we need to leave right now!’ And so we run home and open it and it had my big certificate and everything and it was just so exciting. We were screaming and my mom started recording it too, because she knew it was going to be a big deal. We started calling everybody and visiting everybody that we could think of that we could show it to we were just so excited, because this was it.” While she had initially applied to and received both Army and Navy ROTC scholarships, which were fouryear, fulltuition awards, she had her heart set on attending one of the U.S. service academies – particularly the U.S. Military Academy. “The academy itself is diving headfirst into the military lifestyle from the getgo,” she said. “I was definitely looking forward to an academy appointment, and I was very pleased when I got in. This is what I wanted to do more than anything, so it’s really nice that I don’t have to pay to go there, and I’m still going to get a quality education while I’m there as well.” The opportunity will make her the fourth generation in her family to serve in the U.S. Army. As a young child, she said she wanted to be like her dad and serve in the military. Then, when she hit her middle school and early high school years, she thought she wanted to be a teacher like her mom. “I hadn’t really had military service on the brain until the ROTC scholarships came up, I had gotten Ready for West Point Loretta Peffers, a senior at Yuma Catholic High School, recently learned that she was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and will be attending school there this fall.

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Page 1: Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point - Yuma Sun_ News

3/23/2016 Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point ­ Yuma Sun: News

http://www.yumasun.com/news/yuma­catholic­grad­headed­to­west­point/article_2dbe3cbe­0659­11e5­b00c­ef6ffa973a4c.html?mode=print 1/3

Yuma Catholic grad headed to West PointBy Sarah Womer, @YSSarahWomer | Posted: Friday, May 29, 2015 4:19 pm

Earning almost $1 million in scholarships during hersenior year, recent Yuma Catholic High Schoolgraduate Loretta Peffers has made her final decision toattend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point thisfall.

Peffers, 17, shared that she learned of the news thatshe had been appointed while out shopping with hermom. She recalled receiving a text message from herdad that included a picture of a large envelope withher name on it.

“It was the envelope ­ it’s called the BFE, or the BigFat Envelope,” said Peffers. “My mom and I were acouple aisles away so I yelled, ‘Mom, dropeverything, we need to leave right now!’ And so werun home and open it and it had my big certificate andeverything and it was just so exciting. We werescreaming and my mom started recording it too,because she knew it was going to be a big deal. We started calling everybody and visiting everybodythat we could think of that we could show it to ­ we were just so excited, because this was it.”

While she had initially applied to and received both Army and Navy ROTC scholarships, which werefour­year, full­tuition awards, she had her heart set on attending one of the U.S. service academies –particularly the U.S. Military Academy.

“The academy itself is diving head­first into the military lifestyle from the get­go,” she said. “I wasdefinitely looking forward to an academy appointment, and I was very pleased when I got in. This iswhat I wanted to do more than anything, so it’s really nice that I don’t have to pay to go there, andI’m still going to get a quality education while I’m there as well.”

The opportunity will make her the fourth generation in her family to serve in the U.S. Army.

As a young child, she said she wanted to be like her dad and serve in the military. Then, when she hither middle school and early high school years, she thought she wanted to be a teacher like her mom.

“I hadn’t really had military service on the brain until the ROTC scholarships came up, I had gotten

Ready for West Point

Loretta Peffers, a senior at Yuma CatholicHigh School, recently learned that she wasappointed to the U.S. Military Academy atWest Point and will be attending schoolthere this fall.

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http://www.yumasun.com/news/yuma­catholic­grad­headed­to­west­point/article_2dbe3cbe­0659­11e5­b00c­ef6ffa973a4c.html?mode=print 2/3

fliers in the mail to attend their summer seminars and I went to the one at the Naval Academy,because I didn’t know much about the Navy since I’d grown up with the Army,” she said.

“That’s when I figured out that military after high school was what definitely something I needed andwanted to do. There was so many factors, including my love to be there and wanting to serve. Withthe Army I would be following in my family’s footsteps ­ my great grandfather, my grandfather, mydad ­ it all became clear, it was always sitting there, but that’s when I knew.”

Applying for the academies was a long process, she said, but she noted that it paid off in the end. Shereceived a nomination to both service academies from Congressman Raul Grijalva in February afterapplying back in August and doing an interview in December. Additionally, she qualified for the vicepresidential and presidential nomination and applied for nominations from Arizona senators as well.Recommendation letters from three of her teachers were also required as part of her application.

“There are so many different things you have to get done, but it’s all worth it,” she said.

With a 9 percent acceptance rate, Peffers said that she didn’t have a clear plan for what she wanted tomajor in while at West Point, since she didn’t think she would get in.

“I’m really big on humanities. I love international relations. I love history, but keeping in mind myservice commitment, I really wanted to focus on one language… I feel like that would be reallyuseful, translating military intelligence would be really cool.”

She said she’s leaning toward majoring in Chinese, but Arabic is an option as well.

“I’m hoping Arabic isn’t going to be as needed soon, and Chinese is the language of the future.That’s where everything comes from, that’s where a lot of negotiations are made, so I feel like thatwould be really beneficial.”

In regard to the transition from moving to West Point, N.Y., from Yuma, she said that while it mighttake her a while to acclimate to colder weather, she knows she’ll get used to it as she’s lived in avariety of climates by living in seven different states.

“It’s still going to be a shock, but I’ll get used to it again,” she said, noting that while she was born inYuma, she attended 10 different schools growing up as her family moved to various duty stations.

Peffers, who was ranked No. 18 out of the 83 in her graduating class, was active in sports while inhigh school and was also in the National Honor Society and in choir. She also logged more than 400volunteer service hours during her four years at Yuma Catholic.

“Loretta Peffers’ tenacity and maturity has been witnessed daily during her attendance at YumaCatholic High School,” said Yuma Catholic director of counseling Terra Stallworth.

“Her positive attitude and diligence has allowed her to experience many accomplishments inacademics and athletics. Loretta’s ability to positively interact with her peers and adults can be

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3/23/2016 Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point ­ Yuma Sun: News

http://www.yumasun.com/news/yuma­catholic­grad­headed­to­west­point/article_2dbe3cbe­0659­11e5­b00c­ef6ffa973a4c.html?mode=print 3/3

attributed to her numerous experiences living a military family life. Loretta’s self­confidence anddetermination is reflected in the classroom, on the field, and in the community.”

Sarah Womer can be reached at   or 539­6858. Find her on Facebook at or on Twitter at @[email protected]

Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer