Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point - Yuma Sun_ News
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Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point
By Sarah Womer, @YSSarahWomer | Posted: Friday, May 29, 2015 4:19 pm
Earning almost $1 million in scholarships during her
senior year, recent Yuma Catholic High School
graduate Loretta Peffers has made her final decision to
attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point this
fall.
Peffers, 17, shared that she learned of the news that
she had been appointed while out shopping with her
mom. She recalled receiving a text message from her
dad that included a picture of a large envelope with
her name on it.
“It was the envelope it’s called the BFE, or the Big
Fat Envelope,” said Peffers. “My mom and I were a
couple aisles away so I yelled, ‘Mom, drop
everything, we need to leave right now!’ And so we
run home and open it and it had my big certificate and
everything and it was just so exciting. We were
screaming and my mom started recording it too,
because she knew it was going to be a big deal. We started calling everybody and visiting everybody
that we could think of that we could show it to we were just so excited, because this was it.”
While she had initially applied to and received both Army and Navy ROTC scholarships, which were
fouryear, fulltuition awards, she had her heart set on attending one of the U.S. service academies –
particularly the U.S. Military Academy.
“The academy itself is diving headfirst into the military lifestyle from the getgo,” she said. “I was
definitely looking forward to an academy appointment, and I was very pleased when I got in. This is
what I wanted to do more than anything, so it’s really nice that I don’t have to pay to go there, and
I’m still going to get a quality education while I’m there as well.”
The opportunity will make her the fourth generation in her family to serve in the U.S. Army.
As a young child, she said she wanted to be like her dad and serve in the military. Then, when she hit
her middle school and early high school years, she thought she wanted to be a teacher like her mom.
“I hadn’t really had military service on the brain until the ROTC scholarships came up, I had gotten
Ready for West Point
Loretta Peffers, a senior at Yuma Catholic
High School, recently learned that she was
appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point and will be attending school
there this fall.
- 2. 3/23/2016 Yuma Catholic grad headed to West Point Yuma Sun: News
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fliers in the mail to attend their summer seminars and I went to the one at the Naval Academy,
because I didn’t know much about the Navy since I’d grown up with the Army,” she said.
“That’s when I figured out that military after high school was what definitely something I needed and
wanted to do. There was so many factors, including my love to be there and wanting to serve. With
the Army I would be following in my family’s footsteps my great grandfather, my grandfather, my
dad it all became clear, it was always sitting there, but that’s when I knew.”
Applying for the academies was a long process, she said, but she noted that it paid off in the end. She
received a nomination to both service academies from Congressman Raul Grijalva in February after
applying back in August and doing an interview in December. Additionally, she qualified for the vice
presidential and presidential nomination and applied for nominations from Arizona senators as well.
Recommendation letters from three of her teachers were also required as part of her application.
“There are so many different things you have to get done, but it’s all worth it,” she said.
With a 9 percent acceptance rate, Peffers said that she didn’t have a clear plan for what she wanted to
major in while at West Point, since she didn’t think she would get in.
“I’m really big on humanities. I love international relations. I love history, but keeping in mind my
service commitment, I really wanted to focus on one language… I feel like that would be really
useful, translating military intelligence would be really cool.”
She said she’s leaning toward majoring in Chinese, but Arabic is an option as well.
“I’m hoping Arabic isn’t going to be as needed soon, and Chinese is the language of the future.
That’s where everything comes from, that’s where a lot of negotiations are made, so I feel like that
would be really beneficial.”
In regard to the transition from moving to West Point, N.Y., from Yuma, she said that while it might
take her a while to acclimate to colder weather, she knows she’ll get used to it as she’s lived in a
variety of climates by living in seven different states.
“It’s still going to be a shock, but I’ll get used to it again,” she said, noting that while she was born in
Yuma, she attended 10 different schools growing up as her family moved to various duty stations.
Peffers, who was ranked No. 18 out of the 83 in her graduating class, was active in sports while in
high school and was also in the National Honor Society and in choir. She also logged more than 400
volunteer service hours during her four years at Yuma Catholic.
“Loretta Peffers’ tenacity and maturity has been witnessed daily during her attendance at Yuma
Catholic High School,” said Yuma Catholic director of counseling Terra Stallworth.
“Her positive attitude and diligence has allowed her to experience many accomplishments in
academics and athletics. Loretta’s ability to positively interact with her peers and adults can be
