Nathan Ritter Mariposa’s Nathan Ritter has overcome a couple of significant hurdles in his quest to attend one of the nation’s most prestigious military academies. Congressman Jeff Denham announced last week that he had nominated Ritter for appointment to two of the academies.

Ritter, the son of Dr. Greg and Melissa Ritter of Mariposa, was nominated to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo.

On Monday, Ritter notified the GAZETTE that he had been offered attendance at West Point.

Ritter joins 22 other California nominees. He is currently a senior at Mariposa County High School.

“These Californians represent our state’s best, and I’m proud to nominate them to our nation’s military academies,” Denham said. “It’s truly inspiring that so many young and talented Californians desire to serve our nation by joining the armed forces.”

The nomination process is far from easy. To be considered for admission to the academies, all potential students must be nominated by either a member of Congress or the Vice President. Final appointments are decided by each academy.

The honor of attending a service academy comes with a commitment to serve in the military for a minimum of five years active duty and three years reserve, an eight-year minimum, upon graduation.

Ritter’s resume of academic, social and volunteer activities and honors is staggering. He is currently the captain of the Grizzly wrestling team and track team and president of the California Scholarship Federation. He is also the senior class secretary, all while maintaining a 4.3 grade point average.

Ritter has received academic awards for excellence in pre-calculus, advanced placement history, chemistry, algebra II, Spanish I, advanced biology, integrated science and geometry. He also received the school’s prestigious citizenship award as a freshman.

He has served two years as the Rotary Interact Club’s treasurer and president and volunteered to park cars at the fair with Rotary. He was the Spanish Club president and Track Club president.

Ritter was a National Youth Leadership Forum nominee, attended Rotary’s Camp RYLA and the California Boys’ State Academy. He participated in the summer seminars of the Air Force Academy, Naval Academy and a Navy Engineering Camp at Port Hueneme.

His volunteer work spans the county, the country and another country. Ritter spent a week in Mexico distributing wheelchairs, constructing wheelchair ramps and constructing a one-room schoolhouse for disabled students. He has volunteered every weekend from August to November since 2007 as a soccer referee for the local AYSO.

He is a volunteer at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church as an altar server since 2005 and has given his time at the annual Christmas bazaar. He tutored second-graders at Mariposa Elementary School in the summer of 2008.

Ritter is a member of the highly-awarded Grizzly Marching Band and assisted the Mariposa Marlins Swim Team helping younger swimmers since 2008.

Ritter has been a standout athlete, receiving his varsity letter in wrestling, coach’s award, most valuable player award and being named captain. He is also an Southern Athletic League Scholar Athlete.