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Schools

Whiz Kid: Hayley Catherine Smith

A New London Science and Technology Magnet High School Senior sets sail for the U.S. Coast Guard

For the first time since 1985, a student from New London will be going to the . Haley Catherine Smith, a senior at the , has a 3.94 grade point average, is ranked fifth in her senior class, and is president of the National Honor Society.

For the past four years, Smith has been a cadet in the Naval Junior Officers Reserve Training Corps (NJROTC), advancing through the ranks to become Cadet Lieutenant Commander and serving as Company Commander for the 2009-2010 school year. Find out why this week’s Whiz Kid changed course from going to college to joining Coast Guard.  

You’ve been a member of NJROTC throughout high school. Had you always planned to go into the military after graduation?

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I didn’t decide until this year that I wanted to go into a military branch at all. My commander asked me “What do you want to do after high school?” He told me about a Navy scholarship. I would go to a normal college and take ROTC. I applied to that and got accepted.

So originally you were planning to go directly to college?

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I was accepted to Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. My major for RIT was going to be biomedical engineering. I had taken basic engineering classes my freshman and sophomore year, then I ended up switching more toward a science curriculum and started with the biomedical engineering. [Biomedical engineers] design the machines and programs used in hospitals. It’s something I’ve always been good at, so I thought I’m going to pursue that. After I’d chosen my major, I started to think, ‘I have an interest in it but I don’t know if that’s what I want to do.’ I really liked engineering.

When did you decide to apply for the Coast Guard?

I applied for a Coast Guard at the same time. I had been accepted to my college and was setting up room and board and all that. I was pretty much ready to go, and then I found out from the Coast Guard I had been accepted. When I heard that, there was just something inside me that told me that was where I have to go.

What attracted you to the Coast Guard?

I chose the Coast Guard because it’s more of a family unit than the Navy. I liked that it was closer to home and protecting our home shores. The Coast Guard’s not really that far away from my high school but we had never had much contact with it until my junior year. I’m in NJROTC and Senior Chief Brian Smith gave the option to a few cadets to be able to sail on the Coast Guard Eagle this past summer.

What was that experience like?

It was incredible. It gave me an insight into what the Coast Guard really stood for. I got to interact with cadets. We would ask them why they chose the Coast Guard and their answers were really inspiring. We got to set sail and help make dinner in the galley and climb the rigging--that was the coolest thing. The most impressive thing was you could go up and look at the stars and see no light pollution. To see that in person is really incredible. The captain would point out constellations to us.

I’m guessing that being in NJROTC as a member of drill team and armed and unarmed color guard takes up quite a lot of your time, but are you involved in other extra curricula activities?

NJROTC does take up a lot of my time, because we do a lot of community service hours. This year I haven’t done too much. I have a part-time job--I’m a bartender at my stepdad’s bar. (I just turned 18 in January.) For three years, I’ve been on the swim team. I was co-captain of the soccer and tennis teams. I’m also a member of the National Honors Society, which I’m president of this year for our school.

Now you’ve been accepted into the Coast Guard Academy, what’s the next step for you?

I got accepted to the Coast Guard Academy Scholars Program. Most cadets go straight into the freshman year and swab summer, a summer-long boot camp. That’s where they do all the yelling and everything you see in movies. Then they start their academic year. I’ll be sent to a prep school for a year. I have the grades they’re looking for but I didn’t score quite high enough on the SATs. I’ll be going down to the Marion Military Institute in Marion, Alabama, for a year. At end of that, I’ll take my SATs again and then hopefully start my freshman year at the Academy.

Do you know what you want to study?

I really like engineering and the Coast Guard is my chance to do that, because it’s pretty much an engineering school. I want to eventually be an architect and the closest thing the Coast Guard has to that is civil engineering, so that’s what I plan to major in.

How do your parents feel about your decision to join the Coast Guard?

They’re very excited. They’re very proud. My grandfather was in the Navy and my cousin was in the Navy. Nobody else from my family has joined the Coast Guard yet, so I’ll be the first one.”

The last person to join the U.S. Coast Guard from New London was also a woman, Andrea Marcille, who now holds the rank of captain and is director of the Leadership Development Center at the Coast Guard Academy. But am I right in thinking that it’s still a pretty male-dominated environment?

The Coast Guard is the only military branch where a woman can do every job a man can do, so the playing field is level but the percentage is still higher for men. Not many women are into engineering but, hopefully, we can change that!

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