Chapter 7: Fall Semester: Junior Year 1982

With the start of their Junior year, the routines of school were pretty well known. Once again they tried out for track; this time they both pushed and made their Varsity teams. They shared all their classes, this year, which included Religious Education, Honors English, AP US History, Pre-calculus, and Regents Chemistry. They had a few other classes, but they were more Teacher's Assistants than students, in those, even if they did still get graded for their time and effort.

David continued to excel in the NJROTC program, starting the year as a Cadet Chief Petty Officer. He set a high standard for his fellow cadets. He considered that a good thing, since there was at least one Senior who was looking at an appointment to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Learning to put in the effort now would go a long way to easing her experiences once she got there. He even got the Commander to agree to give them a close proximity to the coming experience for those who might go to the academies. That lead to two hours of rigorous training, where for the first time the Commander became a hard task master who could not be pleased.

They did PT, then weapons inspections, and drill and ceremony, all under the watch of a very demanding Commander, who was screaming at them, making them make mistakes, and then dressing them down for those mistakes. When it was over, they discussed what they'd experienced and how real it was to what they could expect. His answers were not warm and fuzzy. He explained how it would be like that every morning for the Plebes for the first few weeks, but worse. It was done to get them into a different mind set; one that was believed to help weed out the weak and prepare the rest for the pressures of school and training they would be subjected to over the coming years.

The experience did not thwart the desires of the young woman, Mona, aiming to go to Annapolis. She became more resolved to attend and to do well. This lead to her becoming a close friend of David and Meri's. She'd come over and study with them for a couple of hours each day. The areas of study she'd previously had difficulty with became easier with their help. They went out together on weekends, though she never had a steady boyfriend; she had decided to focus on school, rather than a relationship. When she graduated from NDHS that spring, she was the Salutatorian. She'd been behind one other person all through school; he was heading to George Washington University to study Political Science and planned on running for public office some day in the future.

David and Meri made plenty of friends, but Mona was one of the few that got really close to them. They would be friends for a very long time. They stayed in touch all through her years in the Academy and beyond. They were sure to write her frequently, offering her support. It was a surprise, for many, when she graduated in 1987 as the class Valedictorian, but not to David and Meri. They attended her graduation and took her out to diner that night. The next day she was heading out to to her first command, as Ensign Mona White, where she would begin her service in Naval Intelligence.