The Laker/Lutz News

West Point

Dade City teen is heading to West Point

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It began as an errant wish, then slowly evolved into a burning desire. Now, it’s reality.

Aiden Hopping, a 17-year-old home-schooled student from Dade City, has been accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, completing the rigorous entrance requirements and receiving an appointment nomination from U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis.

“It will be a huge change. But, I’m not nervous. I’m excited and eager, just ready to get started,” Hopping said.

“It’s the camaraderie, the sense of doing something great, serving your country, participating in athletics, the whole service academy life, being part of a school not many people get into … all of it,’’ said Hopping, who was an all-state defensive end at Hernando Christian, where he played football and basketball.

Aiden Hopping (center left) meets with U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (center right), along with his father, Pete (far left) and his mother, Sue (far right). (Courtesy of Hopping family)

Hopping and his parents, Pete and Sue, are scheduled to leave for West Point on July 12. They plan on driving through the night in the family camper, giving Hopping plenty of time to orient to his new surroundings. His parents will drop him off so he can begin a scaled-down version of basic training — due to the coronavirus. They plan to return often for support.

Hopping has designs on becoming an infantry officer, perhaps joining the Special Forces, and he hopes to compete in football with the Army Black Knights.

“Aiden is a solid guy spiritually, academically, physically and emotionally,’’ Hopping’s mother said. “We’re definitely proud of him. We are at peace with his decision. We believe this is the Lord’s will for him.’’

Hopping, the only boy in a family of seven children, first got the military desire when he visited the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia, during a vacation nearly three years ago. No family members or close friends had been in the military, so Hopping’s idea was somewhat novel — and not initially accepted by his parents.

“We had to pray a lot,’’ Hopping’s mother said. “We were hesitant about the military. But, we let it sit and he didn’t push us. That would’ve been kind of disastrous. We got comfortable with it and now we have complete peace about it.

“He went for it as hard as he could, and he was blessed to be accepted. There will be tears, of course, but we’re very excited for him. He’s ready to go off and be part of this.’’

Hopping is accustomed to a life of independence and self-reliance. His parents, retired engineers, have a 20-acre farm. Initially, the family lived in a 1,400-square-foot “garage,’’ which now serves as a storage area.

They completed a 2,700-square-foot home on the property, where Hopping (then 13) did most of the interior woodworking. The family takes care of cows and goats, while growing a lot of the food used for meals. He’s accustomed to hard work, whether it’s chores, keeping up with his schoolwork or practicing football, perhaps his biggest passion.

With a sturdy 6-foot-1, 215-pound build, Hopping hopes to keep building up his body and landing a spot on Army’s football team.

He’s also an accomplished runner, having taken first and second place while competing individually in 5-kilometer races.

Speech and debate are his greatest out-of-classroom academic pursuits. He consistently placed high in National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) Informative Speech and Lincoln/Douglas Debate contests. He also took first place in the 12th Judicial Circuit High School Mock Trial competition.

“It has really been a valuable experience for me,’’ Hopping said. “It came easily to me and helped me to become a more well-rounded person. Speaking confidently in front of people is an important skill to learn, regardless of what you pursue. You learn to think on your feet and present a logical argument. It’s a great mental exercise, and it translates well to learning how to organize your thoughts and assume a leadership position.’’

Hopping’s background was helpful for the military academy vetting and nomination process, which generally emphasizes academics (60%), extracurricular activities (30%) and physical fitness (10%).

The discipline required for home-schooling should help Hopping’s academic transition. The U.S. Military Academy utilizes the Thayer method of instruction, which requires students to study materials before attending class, where they will then be expected to apply that knowledge.

“I think I will be prepared,’’ Hopping said.

Hopping counts his faith as the major preparation component in his life. The family attends the First Baptist Church of Land O’Lakes.

“It sets your moral compass and gives you the instinct whether you should do something or not,’’ Hopping said. “It’s pretty much everything in my life.’’

Faith guided Hopping through the process, which culminated during a 30-minute interview with Bilirakis’ service academy board. They wanted to know Hopping’s purpose and his intentions. Hopping said he’s hoping for a military career of at least 20 years.

“I’ve been dreaming about this for a while,’’ Hopping said. “I’m really excited about it and ready to get started. I’m grateful for the opportunity.’’

How to get into a service academy
Here are some things to consider if you’re considering entering a military service academy.

It’s Competitive — For the Class of 2022, there were more than 42,000 applicants to the five military service academies. Only 4,100 slots were available, putting the acceptance rate at about 9.6%, similar to an Ivy League school.

Build Your Resume — You should have a high-level academic load, along with extracurricular activities, community involvement and athletic pursuits.

Service Commitment — In exchange for tuition, room and board, you are required to serve five years of active duty in the U.S. military.

Heavy Requirements — In addition to SAT/ACT scores, high school transcripts, letters of recommendation and writing samples required by civilian universities, military service academies mandate a congressional nomination, a physical fitness test, a medical exam and personal interviews.

Start Early — Military service academy officials recommend starting the application process no later than the junior year of high school.

By Joey Johnston

Published July 08, 2020

Some things truly are priceless

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Remember finding a coin or arrowhead and wondering if it’s worth anything?

Imagine having a large document signed by Abraham Lincoln, passed down from one generation to the next, and not really knowing its value or its history with the nation’s 16th president.

For now, it has a safe and protected place in the home of 84-year-old Martha M. Fountain, a lifelong resident of Zephyrhills.

Dated December 15, 1864, Martha Fountain proudly holds ‘The President’s Thanks and Certificate of Honorable Service’ signed by Abraham Lincoln at the Executive Mansion in Washington City.
(Doug Sanders)

She lives in a community that was founded in 1909 by Capt. Howard B. Jeffries as a retirement colony for Union Civil War Veterans.

A newspaper man himself, Jeffries would not have missed the opportunity to write about Martha.

She has been the artifact’s owner since her husband’s death in 2016.

Married for 31 years to Guy Joseph Fountain Jr., Martha remembers the document hanging in her husband’s office of the Best Way Electric Company in Dade City.

“I’m not much into history,” Martha explained during a recent interview in her home, with her caregiver at her side. “I don’t know much about my husband’s family history,” she added.

Following six months of research with several military websites and The History Center at the Pioneer Florida Museum and Village north of Dade City, the remarkable life of the man named on the Lincoln document begins to emerge.

It turns out Guy Fountain had a great-great uncle named Samuel Warren Fountain.

He was only 15-years-old at the outbreak of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861.

Samuel had to wait until 1864 before joining an infantry of the 8th Corps of the Army of West Virginia, which became famous for having future U.S. presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley serving in its ranks.

As part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, Samuel Warren Fountain served under Maj. Gen. David Hunter during the Civil War. Hunter later achieved fame as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
(Robert Massey)

Samuel Fountain graduated from West Point on June 15, 1870, four months before the death of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Lexington, Virginia.

Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 8th U.S. Cavalry, he was active for the next 20 years in military campaigns against Geronimo and Sitting Bull.

He once described a skirmish in New Mexico as “rough country where horses cannot go.”

During the Spanish-American War, Samuel Fountain served first commanding a squadron of the 8th Cavalry in Cuba.

As Adjutant General in the Philippine Islands, a captain on his staff was John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, who later served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front during World War I.

In 1904, when Fountain was a lieutenant colonel, he was put in charge of security at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

According to the Arlington National Cemetery website, a local newspaper reported this:

“Under his direction the members of the guard controlled the great mass of people…and on the last day of the Fair, when disorder and vandalism were feared, every officer and member of the guard was on duty, and so placed that when the lights were out and the World’s Fair at St. Louis had passed into history, not a disorderly act had occurred, or a dollar’s worth of property had been destroyed.”

Ironically, Geronimo was also at the fair as a living exhibit intended as a “monument to the progress of civilization.” Under guard, he made bows and arrows while Pueblo women seated beside him pounded corn and made pottery. Geronimo also sold autographs and posed for pictures.

President Abraham Lincoln’s signature remains legible after 154 years.
(Doug Sanders)

Samuel Fountain was a brigadier general a year before the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in the nation’s capital. He gave a speech about Abraham Lincoln during his appearance before the Union League Club of Philadelphia on February 9, 1921:

“Other men have reunited a divided nation, or liberated an enslaved race, or carried to conclusion a fratricidal war, or swept immoral institutions from the earth by consummate Statesmanship; but no man ever combined and carried through, chiefly by the clarity of his mind and the purity of his character, several such gigantic enterprises in half a decade.”

Samuel Fountain died on Nov. 15, 1930, five months after the birth of Guy Fountain, and six years before the death of Capt. Howard Jeffries in New York City on March 20, 1936.

Martha Fountain recalls turning down an offer to sell the Lincoln document still in her possession.

But, with no children, she is undecided about its future.

At this point, she’s not sure what she will do with it. Before doing anything, she plans to consult her lawyer, John Council.

Council has had his own brush with preserving history, having a law office in Dade City at the historic red brick jailhouse, where the last legal hanging in Pasco County was carried out on Jan. 4, 1918.

Freedom student is going to West Point

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A Freedom High student recently received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.

Dean LaGattuta received word that he’d been accepted into the prestigious service academy on Jan. 20. He accepted the appointment on Jan. 31.

Ironically, LaGattuta, 18, was visiting the West Point, New York campus when he received the good news.

Freedom High senior Dean LaGattuta received his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy on Jan. 20. He accepted his appointment on Jan. 31. (Courtesy of Dean LaGattuta)
Freedom High senior Dean LaGattuta received his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy on Jan. 20. He accepted his appointment on Jan. 31.
(Courtesy of Dean LaGattuta)

“It was just complete disbelief. I really couldn’t believe that I found out while at West Point,” the high school senior said. “It was just a dream come true that I was appointed.”

LaGattuta will report to West Point on June 27, shortly before his birthday.

“I’ll be spending my nineteenth birthday getting my head shaved,” he said, with a chuckle.

LaGattuta also applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but has yet to hear back about his appointment status.

However, he has always viewed the U.S. Military Academy as his top choice for post-secondary education.

“Just hearing from West Point so early, and then speaking with my admissions major, he’s the one that really sold me on West Point—that they really wanted me—and that’s what really encouraged me to go there,” LaGattuta explained.

The ambience of the campus and its rich history were two aspects that stood out to LaGattuta, as he was weighing his college options, which also included the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, George Washington University and Georgetown University.

“I love the seclusion of the area. I love being by the Hudson River. It’s just an incredibly beautiful campus, surrounded by rolling hills—something we don’t have here (in Tampa),” he said.

“I was always a history buff, and it’s all the same architecture as it was 200 years ago. Even the new buildings they’re constructing—they’re matching the architecture to the previous buildings. I just love that feel that you’re not just in history, but you’re also becoming part of history,” he said.

To be considered for the service academy, LaGattuta underwent an application process that seeks to identify candidates who demonstrate leadership skills, have strong moral character, excel in academics and can surpass the required physical fitness standards.

In December, he was one of 14 students nominated for appointment to a United States service academy from the 15th Congressional District by U.S. Rep. Dennis A. Ross.

Eight Tampa area students were nominated, along with four from Valrico and two from Lakeland.

Appointments by service academies are usually made between January and April, and sometimes as late as May, according to Gary Clark, chairman of the District 15 Nomination Board.

Clark said a U.S. service academy (Military, Naval, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and Air Force) typically accepts only between 1,000 to 1,200 applicants out of the 17,000-plus that are sent in from across the country.

Last year, the District 15 Nomination Board nominated 12 students. Seven received appointments.

A 2014 study by the U.S. News and World Report found the U.S. Military Academy to have a 9.5 percent acceptance rate — the fifteenth most selective among all colleges and universities in the United States.

Knowing that his college years will be spent at the U.S. Military Academy is a weight off of LaGattuta’s shoulders.

“I still have to focus on my (high school) grades, but having that uncertainty of where I’m going to be in the coming months gone, I’m so relieved. It’s just really a blessing,” he said.

The appointment means LaGattuta is obligated to spend at least 10 years in the military, including four years at the Academy and six years on active duty.

“This is really going to be the start of a long journey, and I hope for a long career,” he said. “I definitely see myself surpassing the required amount of years of service, and I’m really looking forward to the years ahead.”

While keeping his career options open, LaGattuta is intrigued by some professions within the military.

“Right now, I’m interested in doing…Army Intelligence or something with cybersecurity, because it’s such a growing necessity, especially in an increasingly technological world in warfare,” the high school senior said.

For now, LaGattuta will be busy for the rest of the school year and over the summer.

He’s currently on the Freedom High varsity tennis team, and is serving as chairman of Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Youth Leadership Council.

Over the summer, he’ll teach leadership classes at the council, serve meals to the homeless at the Trinity Café and work with underprivileged children at A Brighter Community, the oldest nonprofit preschool in Hillsborough County,

He’s also aware that he needs to take advantage of the time he can now spend with family and friends.

“For the next four years, there’s going to be a limited amount of time that I can see my family and friends once I go up (to West Point),” he said.

Published March 9, 2016