Challenge Accepted

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  Wai’anae, HI
  
  May 13, 2015
  
  Every year, Waianae High School’s JROTC program hosts the Waianae Adventure Challenge, also known as the WAC. Which is a series of activities that put JROTC cadets to the test both mentally and physically. This year marks the 10th Annual challenge which hosted 74 schools from across the nation. Senior Nathanael Endo, who is also the Searider Battalion commander, uses the challenge as a preparatory step for his future career in the military. In the fall, Nathanael will be going to one of the most elite military colleges in the world when he attends West Point.
  
  “Getting accepted into West Point was very amazing and exciting because it is my biggest accomplishment so far. I didn't know I was going to get in right away but I was one of the first choices, and so it is very enlightening,” Endo said. Having the courage to apply to one of the most prestigious military colleges in the nation, Nathanael has gained a new appreciation for his dreams of the future and what he plans to do when he gets there.
  
  “I want to go to West Point because that is where I feel that I will get the best military training to be an officer and to get leadership experience in general for the civilian world and the military world,” he expressed. After identifying his dream of going to West Point his junior year, he informed his Junior Reserved Officer Training Corps instructors. Raider Advisor, Pono Higa, shares his insight on how Nathanael became a better leader.
  
  “At the end of last school year Nathanael actually let us know as the instructors that he wanted to attend West Point. At that point we knew that we needed to give him a little bit more of advanced leadership skill. In order to be successful at West Point. So we put him in that role and he's faced a lot of challenges but we worked together with him to make it successful.” With the leadership skills he has developed with the JROTC program he has learned how to motivate his team the right way and to lead them to success.
  
  “I motivate them with different types of motivation. Some of them just need light talking to get motivated some take yelling like “ lets hurry up” either way it depends on the type of person I am motivating.” Not only has he motivated his peers to cross the finish line but has inspired them to start thinking about their career paths. One of Endos teammates, Christien Stephens, shares his side;
  
  "He is a great leader and he knows when to have fun and do work. I actually look up to him a lot because I wanted to go into one of the military academies as well, he said.” At West Point, the battlefield, or in the classroom, Nathanael will take the experiences learned from ROTC and the WAC with him.
  
  "I believe the leadership roles at WAC will help me at West Point because once I get there I get to go through basic training which is like WAC for 6 weeks. So getting this opportunity, it puts me one step ahead of my classmates.” Nathanael has lead his cadets to third place overall at this year’s WAC, but that is only the first step in Nathaniel's march of life.