DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

 

South Warren High graduate Meyer Gable received personal recognition from Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, as the youth is set to serve in the Merchant Marine Academy.

Guthrie congratulated Gable on Wednesday at the Warren County Courthouse’s veterans courtyard as Gable’s family, friends and mentors gathered in support. The prestigious academy requires candidates who’ve proven themselves in leadership, academics and athletics, Guthrie said.

“It’s extremely difficult to get into these academies, and one of my great privileges is to nominate wonderful young men and women that get the opportunity to go represent this area at just some of the best schools in the world,” Guthrie said. “I don’t think anybody’s wanted it more or worked harder than you have, and it’s absolutely well deserved.”

The academy — which is “100% military and 100% college,” per Guthrie — enrolls students who’ll complete a bachelor of science. At the same time, the midshipmen acquire real-world, hands-on experience aboard military or commercial vessels across the world, according to the USMMA website. Upon graduation, they choose from two options: working five years in the U.S. maritime industry and serving eight years as an officer in a reserve unit of the Armed Forces, or serving five years of active duty in the Armed Forces.

“Working hard is just kind of part of it … but to be here, it’s almost unreal,” Gable said. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for everybody surrounding me, my coaches, my teachers, my friends, my parents.”

South Warren, especially its football program, prepared him well, he said.

“The football program, it’s life changing at South Warren,” Gable said. “Coach Smith and all the other coaches, they really develop all these students as young men — I really do appreciate that a lot.”

Gable said he’s always wanted to go into the military and also attend college. Once he learned about the academies, it seemed a near-perfect fit.

“I’m very proud for Meyer,” his mother Sara Gable said. “I’m so proud of him that he wants to serve his country.”

Horowitz’s reporting with the Daily News is provided through a partnership with Report for America.