Local students head to West Point
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POLSON — Two Polson High School students have achieved something very rare.
“Two kids from a school this size is a statistic anomaly,” Cash Sisler said.
Sisler was talking about nominations to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for himself and classmate Tel Motichka.
Motichka also was selected for both West Point and the Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, so he had to make a choice.
“I don’t know how to read the ocean. I can build a fire and know how to handle a gun. I can stay out in the woods at night,” Motichka said, explaining how he made the decision.
Both have ancestors or relatives who served in the U.S. Army. Sisler’s father was a military policeman and his grandfather was in the Army. On his mom’s side, he has general in his lineage.
Two of Motichka’s uncles were in the Army and also his great grandparents.
The young men had to be nominated by either Montana Senators Max Baucus or Jon Tester or Representative Steve Daines. They also had to be accepted by the service academy.
What does a student do to gain entry to such a prestigious institution?
Both young men agreed that taking the hardest courses available at PHS was important. Intelligence, motivation, leadership ability and athleticism seem to be high on the list, also.
“The military is looking for a well-rounded individual,” Sisler said.
“It’s not just intelligence. Leadership is the biggest trait they’re looking for,” Motichka said, and Sisler agreed.
“You have to be physically capable of handling Army training and then, obviously, have good character,” Motichka said.
“You have to accept challenges and not shirk away from stuff that might be hard,” Sisler added.
As well as being highly ranked academically, Motichka and Sisler both have competed in cross-country for all four years. Sisler also played a year of soccer and was involved in speech and debate. Motichka ran track and wrestled for PHS.
Motichka served as a team captain in both wrestling and cross-country and also had leadership positions in 4-H — in the barns, with swine projects and competing in shooting sports and horse packing.
He’ll said he’ll miss hunting and fishing and all Montana has to offer.
Close to completing his Eagle Scout project, a people and pet water fountain in Travis Dolphin Dog Park, Sisler also built another fountain at Kerr Dam fields. He also started a chess club at PHS and grew it to one of the largest clubs in the high school.
Cadets compete in everything at West Point from athletics to academics. Both young men are looking forward to that competition.
“I’ll give it everything I have,” Sisler said, “and hope that’s enough to secure a good class ranking.”
“I would say I’m pretty competitive, not over the top,” Motichka said. “... It makes sense to have a system where people are ranked on their competition against others and themselves. Class ranking is how you get your job assignment.”
Their classmates are writing essays for scholarships now, but Motichka and Sisler already spent hours at the computer, completing forms and working on essays.
Motichka spent the end of August in 2013 typing essays and scrounging back for all the leadership he’d ever done.
“The online application is brutal,” Sisler said. “They want to know just everything about you.
Representative Steve Daines required the candidates to go before a review board in Bozeman that gauged the students as individuals.
Sisler pointed out that it took the whole community, the schools and proud parents Marcie and Trevor Motichka and Julie and Matt Sisler to produce two West Point cadets.
Motichka and Sisler will ship out at the end of June to become plebes, as freshman cadets at West Point.
