The Highline Times recently ran a press release that Aviation High School Senior Drew Hidalgo was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. We then felt compelled to follow up upon learning that, before his college plans were formalized, his parents sold their Boise, Idaho house and moved with their two black labs and chihuahua to the Seattle area because their son wanted to enroll at Aviation High School when he was 14. They first moved to Des Moines, then to Alki.

Drew has one sibling, his sister Ashley, 23, who was already away at college, attending Boise State. However, his father owns a recreational vehicle rental business and convenience store, Outdoor Rentals, in Boise, with a summer trade, boats and gear, and winter trade, snowmobiles and ATV's. He spends just one month here in the spring, and two in the fall. Eva gets away to Boise when she can. So Why did his parents, Tom and Eva, change their lives around to suit their young teen?

""He did well all through grade school, pulling straight-A's," said Tom, an Air Force veteran. "My son is real honest. He has a '10' as far as integrity. My wife and I had made a pact when we first had our kids that for 18 years we'd do everything and anything for them to succeed. He said he wanted to do this. I said, 'Son, you are going to leave all your friends behind who you are growing up with. How do you feel about that?' He said. 'Dad, I'm not worried about my friends. I am worried about my career.' That's all I needed to know."

Eva recalled, "He came to me and asked what do I think about Aviation High School, and I said, 'It's in Seattle- Washington! I said, 'Get all the information together and we'll see what happens', thinking it would just be a phase that would pass. He did, and they responded. They contacted us and said they wanted to interview him.

"They only pick 1000 students to attend each year so it was an honor for him to be chosen," she added. "He and I were on a teleconference with Aviation High School (faculty) and he amazed me with his answers. That was when I knew that was what he wanted to do."

So what gave him the big idea?

"I was flipping through a Farmers Almanac one day and noticed a little blurb about Aviation High School and I was really driven to go to the Air Force Academy," said Drew. "We talked about it. After a few months of contemplation we thought it was a good idea to make the trek out here to attend Aviation High School. It's a good school to get noticed. President Obama invited us earlier this year to see him speak because he said our school was a lighthouse for other science and technology schools around the country.

"Growing up, my dad was in the Air Force, so I always had that military ideal in the back of my mind," Drew said. "At first I thought the Air Force Academy was really where I wanted to go. Last year I went to the leadership seminars for both the Air Force and West Point Academies and I felt I was a better fit for West Point.

"I really look forward to being an officer in the Army, leading others and knowing I am making a difference," he said. "There is always controversy over here about what we are doing overseas. It's those (negative) kinds of reactions I want to change. I want to help people in a way that people around the world will say, 'Wow. They're doing something good and there are just a few bad apples', rather than this gung-ho stereotype that you often hear about on the news."

Over 15,000 men and women apply to West Point. Of those, about 4,000 are scholastically qualified, Drew said, adding that this year just 1,100 were appointed to West Point due to federal budget restraints. You must also get sponsored, or "nominated" by a senator or congressman. He was nominated by our congressman, Jim McDermott, 7th District, perhaps a bit ironic considering the congressman's stand on the wars our nation is engaged in.

Actually, Cong. McDermott has a panel of area West Point graduates that interviewed Drew, and others, in his downtown Seattle office. He sent a congratulatory letter to Drew that hangs in the Hidalgo hallway, framed, along with his acceptance letter from West Point.

The Army pays for each student's entire education. You actually draw a check from the Army because you are technically enlisted. As a "plebe", a freshman, Drew will receive about $150 a month. Everything is paid for, for four years to get your bachelor's of science. They value a West Point education at $400,000.

At the end of the four years Drew graduates as a second lieutenant, and then has to repay by serving in the Army a minimum of five years, depending on the academic program.

Eva pointed out, "So when people say he has a 'full ride scholarship', no. He will be paying, and possibly with his life. Of course I am worried. He's my baby. I am sending him off."