Academy Introduction Mission

Archie H. Schmidt

Are you ready for one of the most incredible experiences of your young life? The United Sates Coast Guard will bring top high school juniors to participate in an event that's like no other. The event is AIM (Academy Introduction Mission) Week at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

For seven action-packed days, you'll live the life of a Coast Guard cadet. You'll experience the thrills, challenges and rewards of the Academy's mix of academic, military and physical training. You'll go sailing and tour a Coast Guard vessel and aircraft.

AIMsters come from every part of the U.S. They're intelligent, educated, motivated, dedicated, adventurous team players.

AIM Week is unlike any other program! It is intense and unique. After AIM, you'll understand why the Coast Guard Academy is one of the highest rated, most selective colleges in the country.

During the week that you're at the Academy you'll share experiences like sailing, military training, athletics, dances, picnics, and an overview of academic majors. AIMsters are under no obligation to apply for admission to the Academy. The Coast Guard Academy is the only military service academy where admission is based solely on individual merit.

As an Academy graduate, you'll have one of the most important jobs in the country – a commissioned Coast Guard Officer. You're responsible for protecting lives, property and the environment. When you come home from AIM Week you'll know what it takes to make it in the Coast Guard Academy.

As the smallest of the five U.S. Service academies, the Coast Guard Academy offers the elite higher education, rigorous professional development, and honor and tradition of a military academy but with a more personalized approach.

The Coast Guard Academy offers an integrated life experience which emphasizes academics, physical fitness, character and leadership, in order to graduate officers of the highest caliber. Graduates go directly to positions of leadership in “The Shield of Freedom”, one of the most admired organizations in the world. The Academy also features an impressive teacher-student ratio and picturesque waterfront campus which instills a traditional small college feel.

One of the most impressive sights on campus is the Barque “EAGLE”. The EAGLE offers future officers the opportunity to put into practice the navigation, engineering, and other professional theory they have previously learned in the classroom. Upper class trainees exercise leadership and service duties normally handled by junior officers, while underclass trainees fill crew positions of a junior enlisted person, such as helm watches at the huge wooden wheels used to steer the vessel. Everyone who trains on EAGLE experiences a character building experience. To maneuver EAGLE under sail, the crew must handle more than 22,000 square feet of sail and five miles of rigging. Over 200 lines control the sails and yards, and every crew-member, cadet and officer candidate, must become intimately familiar with the name, operation, and function of each line.

If you're interested you can obtain information and an application from the Academy at U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 31 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320-8103, or by calling 1.800.883.USCG (8724), Admissions at 1.860.444.8500, or you may contact Lou and Marianne Conti, Academy Admissions Partners, Flotilla 9-10, Fort Myers - Cape Coral, Florida at 239.772.3856.

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