Haines High School senior Haley Boron was home alone quarantining last month when she got a call from U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski telling her she’d been accepted to the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“I was in my house, tears streaming down my face, and I just started dancing and singing.” It was a phone call she’d been hoping for four years to get, she said.
Boron set her sights on the academy as a freshman and has been working through a rigorous application process ever since. She’s had to pass fitness and standardized tests, earn a congressional nomination, write essays and undergo interviews with academy representatives.
Boron was one of 10 Alaskan students Murkowski nominated to the Air Force academy this year. Each state has a limited number of students it can send to military academies. The U.S. Air Force Academy allows up to 15 Alaskans to be enrolled at any given time.
“For four years we have seen her focused on this goal more than anything else she has been involved in and she’s been involved in a lot of things in school,” said Boron’s mother and Haines School principal Lilly Boron.
Lilly Boron said as she’d watched her daughter focus on her goal, she knew she might have to prepare for bad news.
“I opened the door and Haley had this strange look on her face and she had tears in her eyes and I said, ‘Oh my god, you got the call.’ I couldn’t tell if it was good news or not. She said, ‘I’m in.,’ Lilly said. “I can’t be more proud of her, or more inspired. It’s definitely a strange feeling to send your daughter off to basic training, so I’m adjusting my mindset now.”
Boron’s father Matt Boron also prepared for the worst when he saw his daughter in tears. Matt Boron and Haley traveled to the academy in Colorado Springs last October to tour the campus. Like Lilly, he’s excited for the opportunity his daughter earned and coming to terms with sending his child far away.
“Any parent from small town Alaska is a little bit apprehensive about sending their child off to some huge university. It’s a lot for Haley, too,” Boron said. “(When we were visiting) She was like, ‘Oh my god they have a Subway on base. I was like, ‘Yeah, they have a lot more than a Subway on base.'”
Boron will start six weeks of basic training in June before she begins classes. After four years, she’ll earn a Bachelor of Science and be a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force. She’ll then fulfill a four-year contract, starting out as a second Lieutenant.
Boron is at least the fourth Haines student to be admitted to a prestigious military academy in recent years. Others include Anne Hansen, Blake Hamilton and Karl Kurz