Hartsville High’s Pulling earns prestigious appointment to U.S. Naval Academy
Jacob Pulling, Hartsville High School student who has been appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Hartsville High School’s (HHS) Jacob Pulling will enter the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2027 in June after earning appointment to the prestigious Academy earlier this year. Pulling will begin a challenging six weeks of basic midshipman training as part of what the Academy deems “Plebe Summer.”
Approximately 1,200 candidates are selected each year – from a pool of well over 10,000 applicants – for the Academy’s “plebe” or freshman class. Each student is required to participate in Plebe Summer. During this time, plebes have no access to television, movies, the internet, or music and also have restricted access to phones.
Pulling, a student in the HHS International Baccalaureate Programme, is a highly motivated individual with keen interests in STEM subjects and history. A star golfer for the Red Foxes, he earned selection as the 2023 Region 6-4A Varsity Boys Golf Player of the Year, and he has served as a golf captain of the squad for the past three seasons.
He served as the school’s yearbook editor this past year with previous experience reporting for the HHS newspaper. Pulling is a member of the National Beta Club, the Key Club and the National Honor Society, and he works at the Hartsville Country Club as a head cart attendant. He also has interests in hunting, fishing and woodworking.
HHS Principal Corey Lewis offered high praise of Pulling’s work as a student and member of the community.
“Jacob’s appointment to the Naval Academy proves that the opportunity exists for students attending public schools in Darlington County to compete with the best students in the nation,” Lewis said. “Jacob has demonstrated that it is possible to excel in some of the most challenging courses that Hartsville High School offers, earn high test scores, find success in extracurricular activities, and serve his community. I look forward to Jacob’s continued success in the years to come.”
The pressure and rigor of Plebe Summer is carefully designed to help plebes prepare for their first academic year at the Naval Academy and the four years of challenges that await them. As the summer progresses, plebes rapidly assimilate basic skills in seamanship, navigation, damage control, sailing, and handling yard patrol craft as well as infantry drill and weapons training.
Other daily training sessions involve moral, mental, physical, and professional development along with team-building skills. Activities include swimming, martial arts, basic rock climbing, and obstacle, endurance, and confidence courses designed to develop physical, mental, and team-building skills. Forty hours are devoted to the instruction of infantry drill and five formal parades.
Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen.
U.S. News and World Reports has recognized the Naval Academy as a top five undergraduate engineering school and a top 20 best liberal arts college. Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects such as leadership, ethics, small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, and military law. Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a Bachelor of Science degree in a choice of 25 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years of service as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.