By: MMACHS Staff

MMACHS alumni have found their way to many prestigious universities throughout its 20+ year history, but the Class of 2025 will have the honor of producing the school's first ever admit to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Roy Heath, who moved to the United States from China with his mom at a very young age, says an appreciation for the opportunities this country has given him was a large influence on his decision to pursue West Point. "Because I immigrated to this country, I always felt and obligation to serve."
His journey started back in February of 2024 with a string of applications, essays, and paperwork, and culminated in a physical fitness exam this summer that included pullups, sit-ups, pushups, a mile run, a shuttle run, and a test that involved throwing a basketball as far as you can from a kneeling position. "They don't tell you what the minimum standard is because they don't want you to shoot for the minimum. They just tell you the maximums." Roy's academic and physical preparations paid off, as he becomes the first ever Guardian Knight to earn the honor of becoming a cadet.
Now that Roy has made it into the Academy, he hopes to parlay his experience at MMACHS into a career in healthcare administration. "When I graduate, I pick a branch of the Army to go into. There are a ton of different branches you can choose from, and I'll owe five years of service starting out as a Second Lieutenant. As far as majors go, the one I'm looking at is in systems and decision making sciences, and hopefully I can get a master's degree afterwards. There are opportunities to do that while I serve."
Roy says that part of his draw to West Point was to continue to be a part of a close-knit community, like the one he found here at MMACHS. "I'm excited about the camaraderie. To be around like-minded people and forming close relationships with them, knowing all of them will move on to be successful and having that kind of network is something I'm really excited for."
Despite his excitement, he knows that he'll face challenges along the way. "The challenge will probably be the trainings. The summer training coming up, they call it "Beast", so there's a lot of stuff with that like the gas mask training that I'm not looking forward to. That might be a little difficult but I'll get through it."
Looking back on where he started his journey, Roy credits the inspiration he found from his mom for getting him to where he is today. "She grew up very poor and couldn't afford an education for herself", he says. "She was always really smart, and she was admitted to the best high school in her area of China, but she could only afford a month of tuition. So, she never really got to live out her academic success, so I'm really motivated to do that for her, and to give her some sense of that academic success. She always wanted me to do something like this because she never got the chance to."
The MMACHS faculty, staff, and community are all incredibly proud of Roy and can't wait to see what he does with this amazing opportunity.
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