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Virgen’s View: Unique group recognized

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As we are amid graduation season, I’ve always been impressed with student-athletes who have earned academic honors and athletic awards while landing acceptance into a college.

It’s fascinating really, especially when you take into account that there is so much to do in Orange County.

This generation might be more known for always being on their cellphones, but not every teenager is like that. There are special youth among them. And, still rare those that actually go on to college in the military. This is a rare group for sure.

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The West Point Parents Club of Orange County will be honoring these unique people Sunday at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. It’s the Hail & Farewell Banquet that recognizes incoming recruits and graduates of West Point who originate from Orange County. Still more from Southern California will also be recognized.

Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger will be in attendance, along with other members of the community, as well as representatives of local politicians.

Close to 100 people, including families and friends of those being highlighted, will be at Mesa Verde Country Club.

For the incoming recruits, several of whom compete in sports, this is a great event for them to attain insight about where they are headed from the graduates who made the same decision out of high school.

This was the case for Carolyn Bockrath, a volleyball standout out of Newport Harbor High.

Her father, Joe, said last year’s Hail & Farewell banquet was “incredible.”

“Meeting graduating seniors and sitting at the table with actual other cadets was surreal,” said Joe Bockrath, who is chairperson of this year’s special event. “My daughter asked a million questions of the cadet seated at our table and you could see that Carolyn was really getting ready. Then our new commissioned officers spoke on where they were headed and how hard but rewarding the last four years had been. It was priceless.”

Carolyn Bockrath ended up having a big first year at Army. She earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors and was also named the Rookie of the Year for Army Athletics

She led the league with a .391 hitting percentage and also earned second-team All-Patriot League honors, as she helped Army advance to the Patriot League Tournament for the 16th consecutive year. Bockrath was third among Patriot League freshmen with 2.61 kills per set, and was second on her team with 271 kills in the regular season.

Below are some of the incoming recruits and graduates being highlighted on Sunday.

Cadets of 2019 class: Leslie-ann Yang, Edwardo Alviso, Avik Alam, Stephen Broadus, Daniel Castro, Elizabeth Challenger, Jessica Domingue, Giuseppe Ghironzi, Taylor Gordon, Caleb Lim, Taylor Maruya (hockey), Dakota Millsap, Jonathan Moynier, Robert Niscior, Samantha Polen, Jason Pulido, Jonathan Taylor, Leslie Yang and Ashley Yoo.

The graduates: Irvine High’s Elizabeth Challenger (water polo), Edison’s Stephen Broadus (wrestling), and Huntington Beach High’s Kelsey Minato (basketball).

steve.virgen@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveVirgen

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