Tyler Legacy’s Noah Kimmel gets ready for Naval Academy

Published 5:45 am Friday, May 17, 2024

Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of stories highlighting graduating high school seniors in Smith County.

Tyler Legacy High School senior Noah Kimmel’s high school experience has been a time of learning essential life values and taking on challenges.

“I tried to make sure that I challenged myself throughout high school but it’s been really fun,” Kimmel said. “I’ve gotten to meet a lot of really cool people and experience a lot of cool teachers and be really involved, which is a great opportunity.”

Kimmel has been a swimmer for the Red Raiders all four years of high school and was named captain as a junior and senior.

“I’ve had a lot of really great influences, especially on the swim team … for freshman year and sophomore year,” he said. “I think I really liked the building of that swim team culture.”

Before joining the swim team, Kimmel played football and baseball.

“I hadn’t really been a swimmer but I just kind of showed up that summer before freshman year,” he said. “But the older guys, the juniors and seniors were really welcoming and really included me.”

Kimmel was motivated by the tenacity of the older swimmers.

“When I was a freshman, the seniors were swimming at state,” he said. “They had done a lot of and put a lot of hard work into the pool. It kind of inspired me to … mimic the same kind of hard work and determination that they had.”

As Kimmel reflects on his time in high school, he recalls qualifying for state in swimming as his best memory.

“That was really big to me because I got to kind of swim at the highest level,” he said. “I was the only junior … while the rest of the team were seniors. It was really cool to experience.”

Kimmel has been motivated to instill that same energy into school, as well as his younger teammates.

“The freshmen and the sophomores on the swim team, they mean a lot to me,” Kimmel said. “I’ve really enjoyed being able to work with them for the past year or two and seeing how they’ve grown and really developed … especially this last district championship.”

Earlier this year, the swim team was named the district swimming & diving champions for the fourth consecutive year.

“I’m not super fast,” Kimmel admits. “I’m not the way … the seniors were when I was a freshman. I’m not that fast … but I like working hard to inspire the team to get them to a place where they could compete.”

When Kimmel was a sophomore, he was inspired by a senior named Hayden McCullough to apply to the Naval Academy.

“I like the way that he was approaching things,” Kimmel said. “What he told me about the mission and the ideas behind the Naval Academy and that got me interested.”

Since then Kimmel had been able to visit the academy and talk to the students as well.

“I like what they’ve become, like how the academy prepared them for life and the service that they’ve done,” he said.

Kimmel opened up an application for the academy, wrote an essay and a resume. He also needed a congressional nomination so he appealed to U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn on his behalf.

“I got mine from Congressman Moran,” Kimmel said.

After he graduates from the Naval Academy, Kimmel plans on serving the required five years.

“I can choose to attend or go out into the civilian world,” he said “But I’m not really sure yet. None of my family was in the military so I don’t know a whole lot … to figure out whether I’d want to do that.”

Back in November, Kimmel was awarded a significant scholarship from the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps of $200,000 in recognition of his achievements and commitment to excellence.

“My parents have been really supportive of me,” Kimmel said. “They liked what the academy had to offer … they’ve talked to other parents who have seen good experiences, even though it’s hard.”

According to the United States Naval Academy’s website, the Candidate Fitness Assessment includes basketball throw, pull-ups, shuttle runs, crunches, push-ups and 1-mile run all in 40 minutes.

“I had to do a little bit of training for running,” Kimmel said. “I’m not super used to gravity but I think I did alright.”

The academy also requires swimming a minimum of 100 yards and tread water for 15 minutes for the Physical Readiness Test.

Kimmel hopes to get into the medical field through the Naval Academy and eventually become a physician but says he is flexible with his career path.

“They say (the academy) is a great place to be from, not a great place to be at,” Kimmel said. “So, it’s hard work … it’ll be tough, but I think that’s one thing that kind of drew me to it … that challenge. I think that’s going to prepare me to serve our country and then after that serve the community.”

Tyler Legacy High School’s graduation is set for 8 p.m. Saturday at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.