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Alex Roth at Culver Military Academy |
One of the great aspects of the Fort
Thomas community is the Fort Thomas Independent Schools system. Our
schools regularly make the cut on various national and local “best
of” lists for education. But just because our schools have a
tradition of excellence doesn't mean that they're the best fit for
every student. Alex Roth is living proof that students should
remember to find the school that fits best for them, even if it isn't
in the Fort Thomas district.
Sixteen-year old Roth is preparing to
start his academic year at Culver Military Academy, a prestigious
military school located in Culver, IN. Roth's interest in Culver came
after hearing his father, Marc, reminisce about his days attending
Culver's summer camps. “My dad always used to talk about how
awesome it was, and how much fun, and how much of a life changer it
was for him. We went up and visited once or twice and I thought the
campus was really cool, so I wanted to try it out,” said Roth.
After following in his father's
footsteps and attending summer camp at Culver, Roth was hooked. (You might remember Roth's fundraising efforts to attend the summer camp by selling "Cookies for Culver" around town.) He
enrolled full-time at the Academy for his sophomore year. “I
really liked the type of friends I made at Culver and how close I
became to them. I really wanted to have that experience full time,”
said Roth.
Getting accepted into Culver Military Academy rivals that of college
admittance procedures. “At first you need to register to see if
you are even accepted, which obviously is a lot of letters, filling
out applications, a lot of sending in school papers and medical
forms. And then it's to the point of can you even afford it? Now that
we're accepted, are we even going to be able to get financial aid?
Are we going to get into the Unit that we want? It's
process after process,” said Roth.
The school consists of 9 Units (3 Companies, 3 Batteries, 2 Troops,
and 1 Band), in which students are given the opportunity to choose
which one to enter during their time at Culver. As a member of a
Troop Unit, Roth works with horses on a daily basis. “Ever since
summer about three years ago, I've been very active in riding
with them,” said Roth. “There's about 94 horses in the
stables, and those horses range from show jumping to polo to rough
riding. Throughout the school year and throughout your time at
Culver, you get to ride a lot of different types of horses and find
out what the horses are like. You learn how to take care of them.”
He also participates in two horsemanship sports – polo and
rough riding. Being able to work with horses each day was a big
selling point for Roth when deciding to make the transition into
becoming a full-time Culver student. “Pretty much everyday I'm
riding a horse for at least 2 ½ hours a day. Sometimes it's up to 5,
and on the weekends I could be riding all day. I've always loved
horses, so I try to fill up my time with them as much as possible,”
said Roth.
Roth's
experience with horses has allowed him to be a member of the Black
Horse Troop. Culver's website states that “as an escort to
presidents, emperors, kings, and queens, the Black Horse Troop has
represented the Culver Academies to the world for more than one
hundred years. In recent years, the Troop has presented at one time
as many as ninety riders on mounts selected from a stable of more
than 110 black horses.” The Black Horse Troop is best known for
having participated in more Presidential Inaugural Parades than any
other school. Roth plans to join the Black Horse Troop for their
appearance at the 2017 Presidential Inauguration.
Daily life at Culver Military Academy
is certainly different than that of a traditional high school. Here,
Roth breaks down a typical day at Culver from start to finish: “Since
it was my New Cadet year last year, I had
to do a lot more cleaning than I have to do this year and next year
since I'm returning. As a new kid, I usually woke up at 6:30am to
clean my room, get dressed, and take a shower. Then Breakfast
Formation was around 7:20 each each morning depending
on the day. So that was marching into the dining hall. Breakfast
ended around 7:50am, and then after that we would have an inspection
before classes started at 8:30am. Then I have four classes a day, but
each are one hour and twenty minutes each, so it's a block school
schedule. It's pretty different than most schools. Then that ends at
3:15pm. Then you have a break period called Teacher
Time, which you can go to any of your teachers and have
tutoring time. That's right before Sports, which starts
at 4:15pm. From 4:15 until 6:00 you have sports. Then if it's a
Thursday, all the units will have Retreat, which lasts
about fifteen minutes to honor the lowering of the flag. If it's not
Thursday, then between 6:00 and 8:00, I have free time to eat dinner
whenever with my friends. We can really go whenever. From 8:00 until
10:00 is dedicated homework time, where you have to be either in the
barracks or in the library studying with your friends. And then 10:00
to 11:00 is Closing, and that's just down time you have
before you all go to sleep.”
Some
of Roth's daily responsibilities at Culver have been performed by new
cadets for the past 100 years. According to Marc Roth, Alex's father,
“Alex finished his Sophomore year as a Corporal. Next
year, his "first make" (rank for the 1st half of the year)
will be Stable Sargent. (He will be promoted to Sargent and tasked
as the ranking member in the 100 stable horse barn to help prepare
all students for military parades.”
There is one similarity between Culver
Military Academy and Highlands High School – both institutions take
academics very seriously. “They have a very, very good system
for preparing students for college,” said Roth, who hopes to
major in Computer Science and Engineering at Ohio State University in
the future. Culver's teachers and staff are well-connected, and
focused on helping students get into their top choice colleges.
The classroom atmosphere, however, is
more intimate than some other public and private high schools. “The
teacher to student ratio is a lot smaller. I believe it's 11:1. The
biggest class I had last year had twenty students in it. I had
another class that only had eight of us in there, so it can really
vary a lot,” said Roth. Since the school uses block scheduling,
the classes are semester-long courses. A Humanities class is the only
one that is year-long. “It's not as spread out as a normal
school, so you really have to keep with the pace or you're going to
fall behind really quickly,” said Roth.
Roth will soon be heading back to
northern Indiana to start his next year at Culver. He cites his
friends as being one of the things he misses most when away from the
Academy. “One of the biggest things you take away from Culver is
definitely the friendships,” said Roth. While he's looking
forward to reuniting with his friends, there is one thing he
definitely isn't excited to do once the school year kicks off again.
“I definitely don't like cleaning, obviously,” joked Roth.
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