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During at our tenure here at the Academy, we are expected to make that transition to young men of character. Yet it is ludicrous to believe that we could do it all by ourselves, as we go along the way we need someone who is going to mentor us and point us in the right direction when we make mistakes.
While many faculty members at the academy are like surrogate parents while we are here in the Academy, there are few quite like LTC or Lt. Col. Willis Kleinsorge. “Colonel K,” as we call him here has been here at the Academy as a Middle School science teacher for more than 30 years. Yet saying that he is only a teacher, would be the understatement of the century. Colonel K is also in charge of the biking club, serves as a bus driver for many school events, and is very active in the Middle School Department. He attends every single school event and photographs them, whether it is a sporting event, drill meet, parade or band event. He is there because he cares about every single cadet. Colonel K sacrifices a plethora of weekends every single year, just so he can take cadets out to the mall, or to his farm. He looks out for every single cadet, regardless of whether he knows them or not. Because you see, teachers here at the Academy are not like teachers at a normal school. They have a bigger mission than just teaching us academic material and making sure that we are doing well in their class. Here, every single teacher is a parent-like figure. My first year at the Academy, I was fortunate to have Col. K as a teacher, I perfectly remember going to his classroom every day during 4th period. Right away, you can see how much he cares about us, and sees us not only as cadets, but as his sons. He devotes so much of his personal time for us, he serves as the middle school soccer and basketball coach. He will be the first one to notice if you’re having a bad day. Then he will try to cheer you up any way he can, because that’s who he is. You can ask every single cadet who’s ever had him in class and he will tell you, that while you do have to work hard, it is one of the most entertaining classes you will ever take. If you were to sum up Col. K in two words, it would be easy: Old School and Father. He still goes “by the book” the same way he did 30 plus years ago, but that’s never stopped him from being like a father to us. He will tell us when we are doing something wrong, but he will never just yell at us, instead, he will help us see what our mistakes are and will lead us to the right path. Colonel Kleinsorge truly is a father to many of us here, and I can honestly say that I would not be the cadet I am had it not been for his guidance and help. This is why I am so thankful to him, because in moments when my parents were not here, and I needed advice on something, he’d always be there. When I made a mistake and no one corrected me, he would. He made me pay attention to every single detail, because everything you did had to be done exactly as he said, otherwise it was wrong. He did things that we may have thought were silly or unnecessary. However, we were wrong, because everything he did had a purpose behind it, whether it was learning to follow instructions or paying attention to detail. Col. K always did things he believed would benefit us later on. Bottom line is, he gave us the foundations so that we could be successful later on. Just like I see Col K as a father, I also have a faculty member I see as my Mama Bear. Miss Rhonda Blaue may be the assistant to the president, but just like with Colonel K, her title does not even scratch the surface of what she means to the Academy. Since my first year, she has been like a mother to me and many other cadets in the Academy. She is the kind of person that will take you out for dinner when you are having a bad day, or that can see right through your fake smile when you are trying to hide one of your problems. She is one of the biggest reasons why I decided to stay at MMA. I knew that as long as she was here, I was always going to have a motherly figure in my life. I met Ms. Blaue four years ago on the England Ed Tour, when she was my group’s chaperone. Ever since that moment, she has cared for me like I was her son, and I have seen her like my mother. During the trip, she was overprotective and caring for all of the members of her group. Likewise, she would also have a lot of fun with us and would love it when we would take pictures with her. At the time I was 14 years old, so I was filled with delight to feel as if I finally had another mom whom I could have here at MMA. Since then, she has only become even more special to me, and our bond has greatly grown stronger over the past four years, as we now have a lot more trust in each other. Many times I have found myself sitting at her office, chatting with her for hours regarding just about anything that crosses our minds. Essentially, that’s what is so great about Ms. Blaue, she can relate very easily to all of us, and truly treats us like her sons, which makes it so easy for us cadets to talk with her. She listens to everything that we say, and even passes some of those comments on to the Academy president because she always has out best interest in mind. After every sporting event, you will always see her running around the mess hall with a copy of the newspaper, trying to find each one of the team members to congratulate them.. She routinely goes out of her way just so that she can do something special for all of us. My mother has always stated that she feels more comfortable knowing Ms. Blaue is looking out for us cadets. And we cadets feel the same way. In her, we have somebody whom we know will want to listen about our day and will always cheer us up. On the other hand, she will always be a shoulder to lean on and will be there to give us a hug whenever we need one. I can truly say that I consider Ms. Blaue my surrogate mother, because she does everything that a mother would do for her children, but the difference is that she doesn’t just do it with a few people, she is the mother of every single cadet here at the Academy. I would attribute most of my personal growth to Ms. Blaue and Col. K. I would not be as disciplined as I am today, had it not been for all of the attention to detail that Col. K made us have. I would have had many emotional and stress breakdowns, had it not been for Ms. Blaue’s constant support, and all of the hugs she gave me and talks we had. You see, that’s what makes MMA so different from every other school. Our teachers and faculty members interact with us on such a personal level that you start to see them differently. They become more like mentors and parents, people whom we trust with every single one of our problems, because deep down, we truly know that they want to help us. Bottom line, we cadets can grow a lot, but we are too young to be able to know everything (even if we believe we know everything). We need people to show us where to go, adults to help us stand up when we fall down, or to point us in the right direction. That’s the beauty of teachers here, because I can say that I have many mothers and fathers here at the Academy. Each one of them teaching me something different but equally important, and for all of that I am grateful, because without all of these men and women’s care and guidance. I would not be here, I would not be the Drum Major, and I would not have been able to accomplish everything that I have done. So to every single faculty member at MMA, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
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