Lynch graduates from the US Naval Academy

On May 23, 2008, the CNMI’s own Caroline Claire Lynch graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and was commissioned as an Ensign into the U.S. Navy.

She was among the 1,037 young men and women who successfully completed “four years by the Bay” to take their hard-earned places in America’s military service.

Caroline Lynch and Christine Torres, who graduated two days prior from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, have the noteworthy distinction of being the first females from the Northern Marianas to graduate from the United States Service Academies.

Lynch, the daughter of Margaret Rayburn, grew up and attended school on Saipan. She attended the Northern Marianas Academy and graduated from Saipan Southern High School in December 2003, completing her course work a semester early.

While in high school, she participated in volleyball and outrigger canoeing with both Marianas and Southern High School teams. She was also a member of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps Program. She has a sister, Violet, currently attending Bennington College in Vermont.

Many family members and friends traveled long distances from throughout the U.S. to witness her graduation. Several staff of the Office of the Resident Representative also attended the event on behalf of Resident Representative Pedro A. Tenorio.

Lynch was Resident Representative Tenorio’s first nominee to the U.S Service Academies. Having such strong credentials in high school, she was actually accepted into both the Naval Academy in Annapolis and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

“I congratulate Caroline on such an outstanding accomplishment. She has honored the CNMI through her stellar performance at the Naval Academy, one of the best educational institutions in the country, and has a bright future ahead of her in the U.S. Navy. She is an extraordinary young woman, and we should all be very proud of her. I have no doubt she will be a model Naval Officer and an exceptional leader of our great country,” said Tenorio.

Lynch received a Bachelor of Science in English. Her next duty station will be in Norfolk, Virginia as crew member on the DDG 61 Ramage. The USS Ramage is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer designed for combat operations against surface, air and sub-surface threats.

“I would encourage anybody thinking of going to a service academy to most definitely go for it. It was an amazing experience, a great education, and you have a guaranteed job at the end of it. It is really important to pay back what those who have gone before us have done, especially being from the Northern Marianas, where the military has had such an impact on all of our lives. The United States Armed Forces have an incredible history of service above self, in addition to forging young people into leaders of character,” said Lynch.

“While my Naval Academy experience was most definitely a challenge, it was the experience of a lifetime. If you are interested in applying for a nomination to one of the Service Academies (Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard), keep your grades up, get involved with your community, and enroll in a JROTC program. The early training I received with Manta Ray Battalion at SSHS stood me in good stead when I started out at the Naval Academy. At school, make sure you take a lot of math and science, as you will use it!” added Lynch. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]