Local student prepares to attend West Point

CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY FORUM
Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing graduate Ryan Collier will attend West Point Military Academy in the fall. Collier went to Maryville High School before attending the Missouri Academy is junior and senior year.

Ryan Collier was just like any other sophomore in high school. He went to school, participated in multiple sports and enjoyed video games. Collier grew up in Maryville and attended Maryville High School. However, during his sophomore year, he decided he wanted to expand his horizons.

The Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing on the Northwest Missouri State University campus has been in place since August 2000. Since Collier grew up in Maryville, he had heard about the academy and knew that it could be a great opportunity.

Also, it didn’t hurt that his father, Ben Collier, is an associate professor in the Northwest School of Business. Collier’s mother is Deborah Toomey, an assistant professor in the Northwest School of Business and Collier’s stepfather is Richard Toomey, who is an associate professor in Northwest’s Department of Natural Sciences.

“It wasn’t expected that I go into the academy, it was definitely a thought,” Collier said. “It’s been in my mind for a while and I wanted the academic challenge that comes along with it.”

The Missouri Academy is a higher education, early-college opportunity for students who have completed their sophomore year of high school and are interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. However, there are requirements students must meet before they can qualify for the academy. The requirements include a student’s grade point average; ACT score, class rank and other activities the student is involved in.

“I felt like it would be somewhere I would enjoy more than high school,” Collier said. “I don’t know, I just didn’t like the high school environment very much. I have a lot of friends that are in high school and I have a lot of teachers that I like, but I just wanted to give the academy a shot.”

It can be overwhelming meeting new people at a new school, any student that makes a drastic change like Collier did knows that. However, during his freshman and sophomore years, he prepared himself for a possible change.

“I had a couple of college courses in high school and I thought that would help me,” Collier said. “It made the first semester more manageable, that’s for sure.”

The Missouri Academy is located right in the middle of campus at Northwest and the 17- and 18-year-olds endure a culture clash being thrown in with individuals two or three years older them. Collier was able to get involved in several activities with fellow academy students as well as traditional college students. Collier believes he made a smooth transition from high school to being on a college campus.

During his time at Missouri Academy, he was involved in several activities. He was head of the prom committee and dance club at the academy, an executive for the Science Olympiad, competed in math club, was a member of the Beta Club and a member of the Model United Nations. Collier was also involved in one activity that you may not necessarily think of when you think of the Missouri Academy.

“I thought it was great,” Collier said. “While growing up in Maryville, I have been a Northwest football fan for forever. I went to Alabama for the national championship games, I think for all five years. With me being a student now, I was able to go and be a part of the Shirtless Bearcats and I thought it was awesome. I had no problem making a nuisance and having a good time.”

With Collier graduating from the Missouri Academy Saturday afternoon, he received his high school diploma and an Associate of Science degree. Most students that attend the academy go on to a career in a STEM profession. Collier is planning on doing that, but he is going to make a detour on his way to his workforce.

Collier will be attending The United States Military Academy at West Point in the fall, and as soon as he walked through the Missouri Academy doors, he knew that a military academy was something he wanted to do. Northwest Department of Natural Sciences chair, Dr. Mark Corson was the one that piqued Collier’s fascination with the military academy.

“Every year, he (Corson) holds a meeting with all of the Academy students and talks to them about joining the ROTC or attending a service academy,” Collier said. “Dr. Corson really got me interested in it and he was really able to sell it. I looked into everything and it was even better than what he described. It’s a great education, it’s prestigious and they value well-rounded individuals.”

The day-to-day life of a student at West Point or any other military academy is far different than your normal college or university.

“It’s going to be a lot of discipline and a lot of getting yelled at, I am going to love that,” Collier said. “Honestly, it’s going to be following a strict routine of a very military lifestyle of lineups, roll calls, PT, classes are going to be tough and you are required to do a sport of some kind. They want to keep the cadets in shape.”

During the first year at West Point, the students will be given more responsibilities than what they are able to handle. The reason being is that West Point wants students to experience failure and pick themselves up from it.

“I feel like you have to embrace the fact that you are going to fail,” Collier said. “At West Point, they choose all of these people, about 1,300 people and those people are usually top in their school and really well-rounded. The students think they have everything together and then West Point is very organized and they will break you down and build you up. I have to trust the system.”

In order to be selected to attend West Point, Collier had to meet quite a few requirements dating back to his time at Maryville High School. West Point wants individuals that are well-rounded and willing to improve.

“I was always told by Corson that West Point was as hard to get into as getting into Harvard,” Collier said. “They want you to have leadership positions and show a lot of potential, a good GPA and a strong ACT score.”

Collier added that one of the crucial parts of the acceptance process is the interviewing process. Collier had to go through several mock interviews in order to prepare himself for the actual interview and he said that being able to sell your abilities helps during the interviews.

Just like each and every student at West Point, Collier will have to participate in a sport of some kind. Collier competed in football and golf during high school and has a couple of ideas of his sport of choice one he gets to West Point. He is interested in boxing, mixed martial arts and rock climbing.

It can be overwhelming making a drastic life change like Collier is doing. However, he thinks that West Point will be a great opportunity for him.

“I’m nervous for it,” Collier said. “I’m excited for it, there is a six-week summer program which I’m a little worried about, but I feel like I can get through it. They want to build ideal people and who are well-rounded leaders that are good people that follow the honor code and just are willing to help in any way that they can.”

Collier will attend a six-week training session this summer for West Point and will then spend four years at West Point. Although, it appears that he has his career path in order, Collier wants to try a few different things before deciding.

“I want to keep my options open,” Collier said. “I took STEM courses at the academy and I may dabble in economics, but I am required to be at West Point all four years. I am going to test out a few different career paths.”