Eagle Scouts lead the way in business, on sports teams and at our nation’s military academies.
How fitting, then, that the man who led the graduates this year at the U.S. Naval Academy is an Eagle Scout. (Especially considering one in 10 midshipmen earned Scouting’s highest honor.)
Midshipman Thomas Wester, of Brookfield, Wis., was top of his class at the graduation and commissioning ceremony held on May 27, 2016, in Annapolis, Md.
And like many Boy Scouts, Wester later joined Venturing, which is the Scouting program for young men and young women who are 13 and finished with eighth grade or 14 through 20.
Wester served in a high-level leadership position within Venturing; he was the Central Region Area 3 vice president of administration from 2011 to 2012.
Wester (on right in the photo above) majored in applied mathematics at the Naval Academy. Sounds like a lot of work.
While there he received the Trident Scholarship, which is the academy’s highest award for research. He spent his senior year working on a thesis called “Mathematical Modeling Immune System Dynamics in the Presence of Cancer and Immunodeficiency.” I’m impressed.
Wester presented his research at national and international conferences and published several articles.
But he didn’t spend all of his time studying, researching and writing.
He was on the academy’s varsity offshore sailing team and raced more than 8,000 nautical miles during his career. He participated in the Bermuda Ocean Race, Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race, the Annapolis to Newport Race, and several inshore regattas, including Hampton Bay Race week and the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta.
What’s next? He’ll attend graduate school this fall at Stanford University to earn a master’s in Management Science and Engineering. Then he’ll report to San Diego for assignment as a surface warfare officer.
Congratulations, Tom! You’re a terrific representative for Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts and Venturers everywhere.
Hat tip: Thanks to Bob Vogt and Jessica Ayala for the tip.
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