Colony grad heads to service academy

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Natalie Lautrup is one of nine Valley graduates nominated by an Alaska U.S. senator to the Naval Academy’s class of 2019 this year.

For Lautrup, at least, the military is a family business, and has been for a couple generations.

Lautrup’s father, Joel, attended the Naval Academy, as did his father and his grandfather (Natalie’s great grandfather). Both Lautrup’s father and mother, Davelle, were in the U.S. Marine Corps, and her brother Jeff, soon to be a junior in high school, did a semester-long exchange at West Point and has expressed interest in the Naval Academy.

“There wasn’t any pressure for me to go there at all, but it was definitely something I was interested in and looking for (during high school),” Lautrup said, of the academy.

After attending the Naval Academy Summer Seminar prior to her senior year, Lautrup said she “fell in love,” and it soon became apparent that all the other colleges on her list paled in comparison to the Academy.

“It was a perfect fit,” Lautrup said.

So she applied, was accepted for the class of 2019, and was offered a foundation scholarship to enroll in a pre-academy, post-high school graduate program of her choice from a list of qualifying schools (about 50 applicants receive the scholarship each year, Lautrup said). Lautrup chose The Hill School, a private, coeducational boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

For the 2014-2015 school year, she had regular classes and played sports like she had at Colony High (The Hill School didn’t have varsity football cheerleading, which she did all four years of high school, but she was able to run cross-country and continue her four-year varsity track career at the Hill). She did, however, engage in higher learning, adhere to a more formal dress code and attend semi-weekly chapel services at the Hill, departures from public high school life.

The regimented schedule (which she will of course experience at the Academy) wasn’t a difficult fit given her family’s military history and penchant for planning, she said.

“I definitely see where that plays into our lifestyle,” Lautrup said.

Something she hadn’t anticipated in her dormitory life was forming international relationships with foreign students, like her Venezuelan roommate.

“I think a quarter of the school is international, (but) I mean what are the odds that a girl from Alaska and (a girl from) Venezuela would be together?” Lautrup said.

Enter the ‘plebe’

Last week, Lautrup left Alaska for Annapolis to begin a seven-week preparatory period of physical training for freshman entering the Academy casually called “plebe summer.” During this time she and her classmates will be loaded with running, push-ups, swimming, self-defense, boxing, wrestling and shooting instruction to get them into physical and mental shape and acquainted with their peers. They also take written tests during this period to be placed in the appropriate classes come fall.

“They really keep us moving and going,” Lautrup said.

Another requirement for the female “plebes” is for hair to be chin-length or shorter. Lautrup, whose hair recently fell to her waist, was advised by friends in the Academy to have it done at home in a salon, where she could be sure she got the style she wanted.

But Lautrup wanted to do something more. She chose to donate more than a foot of her hair to “Locks of Love,” a long-established nonprofit organization that provides for children with hair loss due to certain medical conditions.

“I work hard to take good care of my hair … so I really want it to go and help someone who’s less fortunate than I am, someone who’ll enjoy it. I’d hate to cut it all off and see it just go on the ground and in the garbage,” Lautrup said.

At the Academy

Lautrup said she expects her freshman year to be tough — being away from her immediate family and taking on a workload heavier than a high school student is used to — but she’s determined to get good grades and have a meaningful social life.

“I’m hoping I can just use my time really well and not get too distracted but still be … a normal college student,” she said.

Lautrup said she plans to continue her track and cheerleading career at the academy, which boasts NCAA Division I athletics. She also intends to pursue mechanical engineering at the academy due to her love of math, and hopes to see the fruits of her labor in that field during and after the completion of her service.

“It’ll open a lot of doors for me, which I’m looking forward to,” she said.

She’ll have at least five years to commit to the Navy or Marine Corps as an officer post-graduation, and she’s OK with that, she said.

“(It’s) a long process and definitely a big decision to make but I still believe … it’s worth every year and every obstacle,” Lautrup said.

Joining Lautrup as nominated members of the Naval Academy Class of 2019 are Alexandra Butler, James Goyette, Teresa Kennedy and Kamber Lucas of Wasilla, as well as Bryce Ward, Dakota Whittaker, Mackenzie Everett and Ryan Tracy of Palmer. Additionally, Chase Hammer, Derick Hanna and Emily Hart were nominated to the Military Academy at West Point for the class of 2019.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.