WASHINGTON, DC – In the midst of another impressive year for local appointments to US Service Academies, Congressman Bill Delahunt will sponsor a forum on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 for high school guidance counselors about the Academy Nomination process.

The two-hour Delahunt roundtable is scheduled to kick off at 9:00am at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s Bay State Conference Center, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay.

The forum will feature admission representatives from the US Military Academy (West Point, NY), Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD), and Air Force Academy (Colorado Spring, CO) – as well as the Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT), Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY), Norwich University (Northfield, VT) and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Also participating will be officials of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship program.

Forum presenters will outline procedures for pursuing a congressional nomination and admission to the Academies.  Tenth Congressional district residents who graduate from high school by June 2008 are eligible to apply for the 2008-2009 academic year.  The application deadline for next year’s potential nominees is November 1, 2008.

Last year, The Service Academies extended admission offers to over a third of Delahunt’s nominees.  Nationally, the average acceptance rate is ten percent. The Congressman attributed the high rate of success to the quality of the local applicants -- and to the members of the Tenth Congressional District Service Academy Nomination Committee. This panel of distinguished area residents rigorously reviewed each application.  Delahunt then forwarded the Committee’s recommendations directly to the Academies’ admission offices where offers were then made on a competitive basis.

For additional information on the April 9th forum, or about the nomination process please call the Congressman’s office toll-free at 1-800-794-9911.  In addition, application forms are available online through his congressional website at http://www.house.gov/delahunt/academy.shtml.

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