Naval Academy is first class for Michael Albrecht
Home-schooled Annapolis senior plans to attend flight school
By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer
Michael Albrecht admits it. He’s impressionable.
Watching the movie Top Gun was the one single thing that got him
excited about the prospect of flying fighter and attack planes.
"Top Gun got me," he said.
Then there was the gift his parents gave him for his 13th
birthday—a half-hour training flight over the mountains in the Salmon area.
Making those adolescent dreams of being airborne become a reality is
another thing, however.
It’s been hard work, bends in the road and detours, and hours of
book study for Michael Albrecht, 24, whose itinerant family has most recently lived in
Picabo.
Having been home schooled, Albrecht took a somewhat different and
longer path into the Naval Academy, compared to students who graduate from public or
private schools.
But now he’s a senior, or, more accurately, Albrecht has attained
the rank of first class midshipman in the Class of 2000 at the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md.
On May 20, 2000, Albrecht will graduate with 971 of his fellow class
members and be commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.
His order of merit, or class ranking based on grades, military
performance and physical testing, places Albrecht in the top third of his class—a
quality point rating equal to a 3.3 grade point average.
Though he never had a computer before being issued one as a first-year
plebe at Annapolis, Albrecht has become a whiz at networks and is majoring in Computer
Science.
After graduation, Albrecht wants to become a Navy pilot. Early in
February 2000, he’ll find out if he has attained his preferred first choice of
attending flight school.
His parents, Evelyn and Mark Albrecht, are proud of their son. So are
his younger sisters, Emily, 15, and Rebecca, 13. Helping Michael fulfill his dreams has
been a family effort.
"It’s been tough, but the payoff at the end is worth
it," said Michael.
One fringe benefit of being a midshipman came over the Christmas
holiday when Albrecht attended the second annual Idaho All Service Academy Ball held Dec.
27 at the Doubletree Riverside in Garden City.
He was one of about 30 Idaho cadets from five U.S. service academies at
the formal gala presided over by Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.
Wearing his military uniform, Albrecht got to do some of the
introductions in front of the audience of 300 people. And he renewed his acquaintance with
Gov. Kempthorne, whom Michael met during his plebe or freshman year at Annapolis.
In addition, Albrecht and fellow Naval Academy student Jon Vanbragt of
Ketchum spent a day over the Thanksgiving holiday talking to students in 15 different
classes at Twin Falls High School.
Not only did they impart some of their knowledge to the high school
students, they earned three extra days of leave for their effort.
And extra leave is always desirable for a military person like Michael
Albrecht. His life is more structured than the average 24-year-old, but that’s not a
bad thing.
For instance, he’s got 30 days of leave coming right after
graduation, but he’ll probably start working right away in Annapolis on Temporary
Active Duty.
He plans to get married in October in Boise to 17-year-old Sky
Bergdahl, another home-schooled student who is the daughter of Jani and Bob Bergdahl of
Croy Creek.
Michael is looking at entering flight school in late November or early
December 2000.
Becoming a fighter pilot takes roughly three years, starting with a
two-month stint at Whiting Air Field about 20 miles east of Pensacola, Fla. He will spend
six months to a year in Pensacola flying training planes.
You get your wings as a fighter pilot after three years, but you have
to commit a total of seven years of your life to the program.
That’s because the lure of $80,000 a year starting salaries for
pilots in the private sector is strong, and the U.S. Navy wants to make sure that all the
money it has spent on educating pilots like Albrecht isn’t wasted.
So far it hasn’t been wasted on Michael Albrecht.
The government rates the value of each individual education at the U.S.
Naval Academy at roughly $180,000 for four years, Albrecht said.
Albrecht started seeing some dollar signs after his sophomore or
youngster year, when his grade of "A" in Data Structures class qualified him for
the offer of an $80,000 starting position in computer programming in the Washington, D.C.
area.
That’s when he made his decision.
He said, "I decided I wanted to fly, I wanted to have some
fun."
Moving around
Life hasn’t been a bed of roses for the Albrecht family.
Michael’s father Mark Albrecht is a social worker most recently
employed by Idaho Health and Welfare in child protection. The family has moved around
quite a bit.
Michael was born in Illinois. His family lived in Wenatchee, Ellensburg
and Cheney in Washington State. In the woods outside of Salmon. Three or four different
places in Hailey. In Picabo. And Michael spent his senior year in Juneau, Ak.
He went to Christian school for a year in Garden Valley and spent a
year in public school in gifted classes.
"I was home schooled my last three years in high school, mainly
because we were moving around so much," Michael said. "My mom was real good at
science, engineering and math, and my dad was good in the humanities, so they complemented
each other very well."
The self-study curriculum in home schooling really improved his study
habits, Michael said. Being home schooled was drawback, however, when it came to applying
to college.
"It took me four years of applying to get to the Naval Academy,
mainly because I was home schooled," he said. "They didn’t seem to know
what to do with home-schooled kids.
"When I first went to Annapolis, I thought I was the only one who
was home schooled. But I learned there were a few others."
Albrecht’s first step to the Naval Academy after his 12th-grade
year of high school was attending Trinity Bible School in Ellendale, N.D.
There he played a little football and obtained his GED and corrected
one of the problems—not having a high school diploma.
He worked a year in construction in the Blackfoot area. One day, he
walked into the U.S. Navy Recruiting office in Idaho Falls and asked, point blank,
"what’s the fastest way to get into the Naval Academy?"
"Well, they pull a lot from Nuclear Power School," he was
told.
So Albrecht enlisted in the U.S. Navy, took the test for Nuclear Power
School and went to boot camp at Orlando, Fla. He did well there.
He graduated at the top of his class in "A" school for
machinists, then graduated seventh out of 250 in Power School, designed to study power
plants. During that time, he kept applying to the Naval Academy.
"My home school packet was thick and comprehensive," he said.
"Finally they looked at everything and decided to give me a chance."
He paid his $2,000 entry fee to help pay for uniforms, books and
laundry services. The education itself has been essentially free, and he’s made $700
a month as a midshipman.
Michael has plowed his way through Chemistry, Calculus, Physics and
Engineering classes. He has just finished his senior-year Thermodynamics and Steam
classes.
His major is Computer Science. He is overloaded this year with courses
like Advanced Networks and Advanced Software Engineering, Algorithms and Network Security.
For supplemental income, he intends to launch a home page with the
domain name of Entertainmentdeals.com, acting as a middleman by providing links and
advertising.
The 6-2, 220-pounder with the required 20-20 vision for fighter pilots
has spent a summer based on the USS Fife in Everett, Wash. He’s been to
Quantico and Pensacola.
But the summer before his senior year was the most memorable.
Stationed on the amphibious carrier USS Belleau Wood at Sasebo,
Japan, Michael traveled and saw a lot of that country. More importantly, he spent a month
in Virginia flying Hornet FA-18 fighter and attack planes.
"I had 20 minutes of stick time flying in formation off another
plane. It’s not as easy as it looks. It’s challenging. But it sold me on flying.
I decided that’s what I want to do," said Albrecht.
And, if all goes according to plan, that’s where Michael will be
when he attends flight school later this year.
In the meantime, he’ll enjoy the rest of his demanding senior year
at Annapolis, where he is treasurer of the racquetball club he helped form.
He laughed, "I spent four years applying to Annapolis, and I
figure I only have to spend four years here."
